Rose Elliot’s Pine Nut & Carrot Roast with Mushroom Sauce

Serves 6

Ingredients

25g/1oz butter
1 onion, finely chopped
225g/8oz carrots, finely grated
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
225g/8oz pine nuts, grated
2 tbsp chopped parsley
squeeze of lemon juice
2 free range eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg

For the sauce

7g/1/4 oz dried mushrooms, rinsed
600ml/1 pint water
25g/1oz butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp vegetarian Madeira or fortified wine
2 tbsp shoyu sauce

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4
2 Grease and line a 500g/1lb loaf tin
3 Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the onion, without browning, for 5 minutes, then add the carrot and celery and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
4 Remove from heat and add the pine nuts, parsley, lemon juice and eggs.
5 Season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
6 Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until golden brown and firm in the centre.

To prepare the sauce:

1 Put the mushrooms and water in a saucepan, bring to the boil then remove from heat and leave to soak for 40 minutes, then drain, reserving the liquid and chop the mushrooms.
2 Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry for 10 minutes until lightly browned.
3 Add the mushrooms and gently cook for 30 minutes until tender.
4 Mix the cornflour with the reserved liquid, Madeira and shoyu, then add to the mushroom mixture. Bring to the boil, stirring until slightly thickened. Season to taste.

Turn the roast out onto a plate, slice thickly and drizzle with the mushroom sauce. Serve with roast potatoes, sprouts, carrots and all the trimmings for a classic vegetarian Christmas feast that will be a sure-fire hit year after year.

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