Cashew Nut Loaf with Parsley Stuffing

Kitchen Play List: Thunder ~ Only You Can Make Me Cry
                                     Dizzee Rascal ~ Dirtee Disco
                                     Martina McBride ~ Some Say I'm Running
                                     Simply Red ~ Something Got Me Started
                                     Slash ft Fergie ~ Beautiful Dangerous
                                     The Beach Boys ~ Do It Again

I left the decision for our main Christmas meal up to My Love this year...and very quickly the reply came back with this loaf. I wasn't disappointed either. For those who are familiar with the British cook book author Rose Elliot you will probably have tried this loaf. Or maybe not? lol. It's from Vegetarian Christmas

I first made it about 5 years ago for the first Friends' Christmas Gathering and it went down a storm and we both loved it too. It isn't hard to make once you get started and smells so good baking in the oven. My Mum was here when I made the festive loaves for the holidays and she was practically drooling as this one baked. lol. 

The flavour is very savoury and it has a beautiful creamy texture. And looks very good when sliced and served, due to the parsley herb stuffing layer that runs through the centre. I serve it with low fat roast potatoes and parsnips, steamed carrots and sprouts and sometimes broccoli. And always have a boat of veggie gravy for those weird gravy loving folks! ;o) lol 

Now I'm not the biggest lover of white bread and rarely eat it. But this recipe does need white breadcrumbs. I have tried it with wholemeal and it loses something...so that's why this loaf is a 'High Days and Holidays' dish. I hope you give it a try and as always I would be happy to hear how you got on...

Cashew Nut Loaf with Parsley Stuffing ~ How lovely does it look, eh?

Cashew Nut Loaf with Parsley  Serves 6
(Recipe from Vegetarian Christmas/Elliot)

Herb Stuffing
1 small onion
25g/1oz/ 1/2 cup of fresh parsley
125g/4oz/2 cups white breadcrumbs
50g/2oz/4 tbsp softened vegan margarine
1/2 tsp dried marjoram and thyme
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Loaf
50g/2oz/4tbsp vegan margarine
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
225g/8oz/1 3/4 cups unroasted cashew nuts
125g/4oz white bread, crusts removed
2 large garlic cloves
200ml/7 fl oz/scant 1 cup water or vegetable stock
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
grated nutmeg
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 quantity of Herb Stuffing

Make the stuffing first...Peel and grate the onion. Chop the parsley. Place the onion and parsley in a bowl and add the softened butter, dried thyme and marjoram. Season with salt and pepper, then mix all the ingredients together well. Set to one side. 

For the loaf...Set the oven to 200'C/400'F/Gas Mark 6. Prepare a 450g1 lb loaf pan. Fully line the tin with parchment paper. 

Melt most of the remaining margarine in a medium sized pan, add the onion and saute for about 10 minutes until tender but not browned. Remove from the heat. 

Grind the cashew nuts in a processor with the bread and garlic, then add to the onion together with the water or stock, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg and lemon juice to taste. 

Put half of the cashew nut mixture into the prepared tin, top with herb stuffing, then spoon the rest of the nut mixture. Smooth over. Dot with the remaining butter...(I don't! ~R~) 

Bake for around 30 minutes until firm and lightly browned. Cover the roast with foil if it gets too brown before then. Cool for a minute or two in the tin, turn the nut roast out onto a serving dish and then carefully peel away the paper. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and/or slices of lemon. Serve. 

Our Cashew Nut Roast nestled in amongst our veggies..lol Love that green from the stuffing.

Enjoy! 
~R~

Festive Desserts enjoyed over the last few days...

Sorry for the last posting today but I have been visiting with a good pal and his family. I am home now and quickly trying to remember the desserts we have served. I say served because I haven't eaten all of them..lol. I'm starting with the Friends Christmas Gathering and then the dessert I made for me and My Love for Christmas Day. Usually we would enjoy a Vegan Traditional Christmas Pudding with custard..we are English! lol. But as dried fruits are now on My Love's Death Food list I offered to make something different. 

Chocolate Lover's Pudding Tea Cups with Physalis Fruit

Those of you who follow regularly will know that I collect tea cups and saucers and espresso cups etc. In one our local £1 shops I found these little silicone cupcakes cases with plastic saucers. I love them...and they also work well as dessert cups. I made the pudding and filled each cup then stored them in the fridge until needed. Once topped with Physalis fruits as a contrast to the dark bitter chocolate they were a huge hit! lol. 

Pineapple Upside Down Dessert Slice

This was the second dessert option at the Friends Christmas Gathering. It was a little more dense than an Pineapple Upside Down Cake as it is dredged in juices and left to chill before serving. I enjoyed this a great deal..but sadly My Love is Pineapplephobic and wasn't as impressed. lol. Ooops. And this dessert got better the longer it sits. I had a small piece whilst typing this post and it was much better than on the 23rd! Good to know for forward planning desserts. 

The next dessert wasn't technically a dessert but it was what was made and eaten after lunch for the Little Ones' Christmas Party. I made up a batch of simple vanilla sugar cookie dough and split it between the three of them and gave them the cookie cutters and let them go! lol. They had a blast and when it came time to topping them I glazed them with a very thin layer of water icing and let them get creative..lol. It was mad but fun! I think they did a good job!

M's Christmas Cookie Creations

M favoured the Father Christmas and Christmas Tree cutters and loved the mini chocolate coloured drops toppings. I thought they looked great...

J's Christmas Cookie Creations

J favoured the Christmas Bell and the Turkey cutters...and for his toppings went with coloured sugar strands and then snowed chocolate strands over the top of them! Nice.

N's Christmas Cookie Creations

N was set on having Christmas Angels and then cut out a couple of Christmas Trees at the end. She was also crashed out asleep when it came time to top them so I hope she appreciated my pink sugar crystal and pink heart toppings I did for her. 


And finally....the dessert I came up with for our Christmas meal. Pear is probably one of the only fruits left for My Love to enjoy and I had come up with the idea of a simple tartlet with a chocolate creme and poached pear splayed in the centre. Then found this recipe and went with it. lol. I will try my version in the future but I have to say this was one of the most delicious desserts I've ever eaten. It was light, not too sweet and the pastry melted in your mouth. The melted dark chocolate layer, vanilla creme layer and pears were a delight to eat. I will most probably be posting this recipe in the next couple of days...it is a keeper. 

Rustic Pear and Chocolate Galette Slice with Vanilla Soy Ice Cream

Perfect! And quite simple to make and as with the Pineapple dessert it is completely chilled before serving and gets better the longer it is sat. Bonus. 


Although it has been lovely having all this formal food and rich offerings....I am looking forward to getting back to normal now. Although I suspect My Love isn't as the New Year bring the Elimination Diet part of the 'Sally' investigation..so it will be white rice and garden peas for each meal for a few weeks! 


So tomorrow I will be back with regular recipes and musings. I hope the holidays are being kind...


~R~

Festive Savoury Meals enjoyed over the last few days....

As we're still in the Holiday period over here in England. we are celebrating Boxing Day..I am offering you a pictorial blog posting of all the savoury courses of the meals we've enjoyed over the last three days. I start with the dishes served at the Friends' Christmas Gathering..then the Christmas Dinner that My Love and I enjoyed..in between these formal dinners we lived on various leftovers..no hardship at all. lol. And we do realise how fortunate we are to have this lovely food filling our cupboards and fridge. Tomorrow I will do a similar post with the desserts that we served. I will post up the recipes of the ones you haven't seen before but some of them you will recognise from recent postings. And if you want to try a dish before I post the recipe then feel free to email/message me and I'll provide you with the recipe straight away...

And please note that these aren't my best photographic work..lol...most of them were taken in seconds...on my kitchen work surface before some helpful person took them to the table to serve..ah well. It's the thought that counts right..so please ignore shadows etc..lol 

Hoping the holidays have been kind to you and you are all safe and well.. ~R~ 

D's Battered Tofu slice with Maple/Vinegar Drizzle served on Thai Rice with a Cabbage & Parsley Salad. 

This starter was created and made by my pal D..it was visually beautiful and tasted even better. I have never eaten tofu cooked this way and was completely won over and shall be trying it myself very soon. I will be posting the entire recipe with extra photos soon. Thank you D for getting the Friends' Christmas Meal off to a very good start. 

Susan V''s Thanksgiving Loaf with Roast Potatoes and Parsnips

Believe me...there is a loaf buried under the potato and parsnip mountain..somewhere. I have made this loaf a few times now and it's always greatly received and enjoyed. I always roast plenty of potatoes and parsnips for the pals as they are devoured! lol. This was one of two choices for the main meal during this meal. 

Rose's Christmas Galette ~ Goodness me..shadowstastic! lol

This was the second option on the table. This galette is a simple wholewheat crust that has a filling of sprouts, carrots, leeks, shallots, cox apple and cashew nuts which are cooked then mixed with a 'blue cheeze' style sauce. Then put into the cooked shell and baked until hot. It's really very tasty. I think everyone had a piece of each option...lol. 

The table is also filled with an abundance of steamed veggies...sprouts, green beans and I think carrots. I also served up a large dish of Festive Red Cabbage which is another of Rose's recipes. Slow casseroled red cabbage cooked in red wine and garlic until tender. Another popular dish. I also had a bowl of homemade Cranberry Sauce and a boat of veggie gravy. 

We had a great night and although it was a smaller gathering this year it was just as enjoyable and I'm already looking forward to next year's. And it would be remiss of me to not show you one the main highlights of the night...A's fantastic Christmas Hat that she made herself and looked splendid. 

The stars around the band flashed constantly and the rim and top were covered in christmas cake decorations...it really was a sight to see..lol

So that was the savoury part of the meal...now onto the Christmas Eve Little Ones' party. I have no photos but we did serve them Cheezy Pasta with Garlic Bread with a Pepper and Tomato Salad..all which was devoured. They had Christmas Orange Jelly with Mandarin Oranges set in it for dessert and then we baked Christmas Cookies but the photos for that come tomorrow. 

Christmas Day dinner was a quiet affair after all the formal dining. We ate comfortably on our laps watching the Christmas Top of the Pops Show...because we could! lol 

Rose's Cashew Nut Loaf with Parsley Stuffing filling.

We had a Cashew Nut Roast with Parsley Stuffing filling with Hassleback Roast Potatoes, Roast Parsnip, Festive Red Cabbage, Sprouts, Carrots and Broccoli.

Christmas Dinner 2011

Today we have a friend F joining us for dinner and we shall be having the traditional Boxing Day dinner of leftovers with pickles and other various treats. Gotta love leftovers...lol. 

So that's the savoury update and remember if you want the recipes just get in touch. Tomorrow I'll post the dessert part of this blog...so be warned for the drool factor..lol. 

Happy Holidays...
~R~