Christmas roast recipe

By Tom Norrington-Davies

This easy vegetarian recipe for Christmas roast is nutfree. Lots of very finely diced veg and mushrooms are baked in a loaf tin with cheesy breadcrumbs on top, to make a moist veggie roast with a crunchy topping for those who would rather not have turkey.

Serves 6

Takes 1½ hours to make, 50 minutes to 1 hour in the oven

Cheap

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 green pepper, very finely chopped
1 leek, very finely chopped
1 carrot, very finely chopped
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 celery stick, very finely chopped
300g field mushrooms, very finely diced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
200g mature Cheddar, grated
110g dried breadcrumbs

METHOD

How to make christmas roast

1. If you are making veggie gravy, keep all the trimmings from the vegetables. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pepper, leek, carrot, onion and celery and cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes; if they produce lots of juices, cook them out. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Fold in the egg, 150g of the cheese and 100g of the breadcrumbs. Mix well and season. Transfer to a greased, base lined 28.5cm x 13cm x 6cm deep loaf tin. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.

3. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until set and the top is golden. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out, slice and serve with gravy.

To freeze: Bake the roast and cool in the tin. Turn out, wrap in foil and freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat in the oven at 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5 for 45 minutes, until piping hot throughout.