Nut Roast

(Serves 3-4 people).

1 onion, chopped
25g olive oil
225g mixed nuts, eg almonds, walnuts
100g bread
150ml vegetable stock or water
2 tsp marmite/yeast extract
1 tsp mixed herbs (thyme and parsley work well)
1 beaten egg
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook the onion gently in the oil until transparent. Grind the nuts and bread together in a liquidiser until they are quite fine (or do them separately).

Heat the stock and yeast extract until boiling, then combine all the ingredients and mix well. The consistency should be like porridge, not too stiff. Turn the mixture into a shallow greased baking dish, or loaf pan; level the surface, sprinkle with a few extra breadcrumbs, and bake at 180C for about half an hour until golden brown. Turn out and serve sliced.

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This is an excellent meal for vegetarians (and many meat-eaters enjoy it too!) It works well to serve as a veggie alternative to roast meat, as it goes well with roast potatoes, mint sauce, cranberry jelly, yorkshire puddings etc.

Use a mixture of nuts, according to preference. We generally use about equal quantities of almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, but you could use just one variety for a more pronounced flavour. Note that peanuts (even in small quantity) tend to give a strong peanut-butter taste, which is fine if you like peanut butter. If not, don't put peanuts in this.

Vegemite would probably work instead of Marmite, or even Bovril if serving to people who are not vegetarians. But it's rather bland if you don't include this at all.