Chestnut – Clinical Alimentary

We are nearly in Veganuary and what could me more perfect than a vegan nut roast? Some people miss meaty flavours when they venture into meat free eating and this roast is stuffed full of umami flavours meaning you won’t miss meat flavour at all! The dish also contains low FODMAP fibre and this is great for people with IBS-C, who need good gut friendly meals that have fibre to help the bowel keep moving. This dish is stunning enough to use at a dinner party – can I tempt you to a vegan New Years celebration lunch?

Ingredients

10g of dried oyster mushrooms
15g white miso
1 tablespoon of golden linseed’s
150g walnuts
200mls of water
2 sprigs of Thyme
Small handful of Thyme
100g pureed chestnuts
80g of chestnuts
140g gluten free breadcrumbs (fibre based if possible)
Seasoning
1 tablespoon of hazelnut oil.
100g oyster mushrooms
1 carrot to decorate

Method

Boil the water and add the dried mushrooms, miso and golden linseed’s and allow the mix to soak for 15 minutes – this is the stock for the dish. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired

Make the breadcrumbs and chop the nuts and herbs.

Fry the oyster mushrooms in the hazelnut oil then combine all the ingredients together.

Coat a loaf tin with oil and add the carrot (sliced length-ways) to the bottom of the tin (this will form the decoration on the top of the loaf.)

Heat and oven to gas mark 6, 200 degrees C and cook till the ingredients are well combined – this took approximately 1 hour. At the end of the cooking time turn the oven up to gas mark 7, 220 degrees C and remove the loaf from the tin and place it on the top shelf to brown the outside.

Enjoy – serves 6-8.

Buche de Noel – or chocolate log, this is the last treat recipe of the holidays – yule log, chocolate & chestnut flavour. It uses chestnut spread a really tasty alternative to cream. The sponge is a fat-free one – however just because it is low-fat does not make it a healthy option, it contains plenty of sugar – just a treat for once a year! Obviously 😉

Ingredients

1 tin of chestnut spread

4 eggs

4 tablespoons of castor sugar

50 g of gluten-free cocoa powder

50 g of self-raising gluten-free flour

150 g of gluten-free dark chocolate for serving (at least 70%)

Method

Line two 30 x 19 cm sandwich trays with baking parchment.

Beat the eggs and sugar till the mix is aerated, sieve the dry ingredients and add to the mix, fold with a metal spoon till incorporated.

Add the mix to the tins and cook in the middle of an oven gas mark 6, 200 degree C for 10 minutes – watch them closely, as they are thin and at risk of burning.

Before you remove the sponge from the oven open your tin of chestnut spread and be prepared to use it.

Remove one sponge from the oven and working quickly remove the baking parchment and spread it with the chestnut spread. Roll into a log – it will crack a little but don’t worry, this will add to the overall log appearance. Keep the other sponge warm, then repeat with the process and cut the sponge at an angle to simulate a branch.

Melt 1/3 of the chocolate in a basin over boiling water – remove and add the rest of the chocolate and cool the mix to temper it. (I am not sure this was wholly successful as it still looked a little dull on setting of the log.) Pour this slowly over the log to ensure it is covered, add some to each end of the log using a palette knife. Allow to set then serve!

Serves 6-8

I wish all my readers a happy holidays and a calm gut New Year!