Saturday, November 28, 2009

nut bake


We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving more than a month ago. But all the talk about American Thanksgiving is making me want to invite round another group of friends and cook up a feast in celebration. We have so much to be thankful for, so why only one day?


My Thanksgiving party always involves a few vegetarian guests. And I count myself when thinking about the veggie food. Although I eat meat, I just love vegetables more. Vegetarian food seems more inventive quite a lot of the time. (I think I might be a vegetarian if I wasn't married to a sausage-loving bloke.) This Thanksgiving I made the nut bake for my vegetarian and vegetarian-at-heart guests.


There are a fair few ingredients, but with a food processor or blender to whizz breadcrumbs and nuts, the preparation was easy. The vegetarian eaters loved it, and even most of the meat eaters enjoyed a portion. I was lucky enough to eat the leftovers for lunch later that week!


Nut Bake
serves 8
adapted from The Kitchen Revolution: A Year of Time-and-money-saving Recipes

Nut Layers:
4 T (1/4 c) butter
1 T oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
450 g (2 1/2 c) mixed nuts (for example, cashews, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds), crushed
4 large eggs
200 g (3 1/3 c) white breadcrumbs (from 6-8 slices of bread)
8 T (1/2 c) milk

Breadcrumb Filling:
1 lemon, zested
250 g (4 c) brown breadcrumbs (from 8-10 slices of bread)
2 sprigs fresh sage, leaves chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
85 g (2 c) watercress, chopped
6 T butter

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F.
Soften the onions and garlic in a pan. Combine in a bowl with the other nut layer ingredients.
Mix the breadcrumb layer ingredients in a separate bowl and season well.
Grease two loaf pans and put a quarter of the nut mixture in each. Press down, then cover each with half the breadcrumb mixture. Finish with the remaining nut mixture. Cover with foil.
Bake for 30 minutes or freeze to bake later. (If freezing, defrost fully before baking as directed.)

5 comments:

Ele said...

I've never had nut bake (or loaf, or roast, or anything) before, but as a veggie I'd really like to try it. Especially at this time of year when it's all festive meat dishes! I had no idea they were layered though- I will have to try this!

Hilary said...

This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving I'm afraid... just replying to your comment to say that I could talk about the Curly Girl routine for hours. It's quite funny that my sister has commented above me because we both do the routine! In fact, we both went to the Curly Girl author's salon in New York earlier this year: www.devachansalon.com. Best haircut of my life, and I got their 'no poo' products. They also train other stylists to cut hair the curly girl way but there's no one in London who does it, boo hoo hoo :( Seriously, if you're ever in NYC, go! It's expensive but well worth it.

Kitchen Butterfly said...

Yummy....great with some sausages! Love it.

Sarah said...

@Ele: Nut bake is so tasty. I think it's very festive. Let me know if you do try it.

@Hilary: Maybe a hair discussion is in order soon, since I would love to talk more about it. It is new to me since July, but is working wonderfully.

@Kitchen Butterfly: Haha! Yes, that would be the best of both worlds, I guess. :)

Katherine Martinelli said...

I totally agree about vegetarian dishes often being more creative! I love vegetables and meat. This looks like an excellent veg addition to thanksgiving - thanks for linking up to my blog hop!

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