a rather good nut roast

I see that I began compiling that vegan cookbook that I mentioned in #9 exactly 7 years ago, give or take a few hours: on the winter solstice 2016. (SEVEN YEARS?! Time I did something with it, truly.) Thank you, those of you who engaged with the conversation in the Comments or by email – so helpful.

I opened the book with this recipe, as I’d just invented it and felt rather pleased with myself. It is a solstice, Yule or Christmas feast of a nut roast: for me, I tend to make it for a family Yule gathering rather than on the solstice, which is an inward and private event for me generally (about which more very soon).

No doubt, if you’re a better planner than I am (which wouldn’t be hard), you have your festive season food sorted. But just in case you fancy making this, here’s the recipe as I first wrote it. The recipe itself hasn’t changed, but what accompanies it varies depending on what we’ve grown/remembered to buy/can find in the larder or fridge/who’s making it.

This year, we will be using a mix of walnuts and chestnuts from the land on which we’re learning to belong, here in Brittany.

By the way, don’t skimp on the sage.

Whatever you celebrate and whatever you eat, I wish you a festive, restful and inspiring midwinter turning, and time in what I think of as the cave of the heart with friends and family; and may we not forget, those of us who can celebrate this time, how fortunate we are.

Nut, mushroom and sage roast

Ingredients

10 sundried tomatoes (soak overnight in cold water or use hot water for 30 minutes; save soaking water)

2 small or 1 large onion/s (preferably red)

2–3 cloves garlic

500 gms mushrooms, sliced (a mix of types/dried wild mushrooms soaked overnight adds flavour)

2 mugs in total of a mix of brazils, hazelnuts, almonds &/or chestnuts (tinned is fine), roughly chopped

1 mug oats

1 slice wholemeal bread, torn (my recipes are all gluten-free, and I use my own buckwheat bread)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

good-sized bunch of fresh sage, chopped *

1/2 can chopped plum tomatoes

2 heaped tbsps nutritional yeast flakes

oil (I use cold-pressed sunflower oil as I like the flavour)

Method

Gently sauté the sliced onions, sliced mushrooms (rinsed and well-drained if soaked), until soft, in 2 tbsps of the oil. Add crushed garlic after 5 minutes.

Meantime chop the nuts roughly in a blender, then add the bread.

In a big bowl combine all the above with oats, finely-chopped sage, chopped sundrieds (squeeze and reserve water) yeast flakes and sunflower seeds.

Add the soaking water from the sundrieds, the half-can of tomatoes and a good slosh of oil. Season to taste (freshly-ground black pepper is a must). The mix should be loose-ish and moist.

Pack into an oiled bread tin (2lb size) and cook at 175º (fan 160º) for an hour-plus.

The first time I made this I served it with an onion gravy (I cheated and bought one: organic, and which doesn’t contain palm oil, and is also gluten-free), roast potatoes, roast cubed squash with smoked paprika, garlic and lemon, lemony greens and a fresh beetroot and red cabbage pickle.

• The sage: Laura in the Comments below suggested frying the sage leaves first. I might try that. Pauline suggested adding miso (good plan).