RECIPES

Lentil and fruit nut loaf served with creamy mushroom sauce

The combination of fruit and nuts, particularly apricots and cashews with the lentils is amazingly good, it has been a firm favourite for several years, culminating in it being served to 220 during the Resurgence summer camp at Green and Away last year.

You can make up many fruit and nut combinations for this recipe; dried pear, mango or papaya and nuts, hazel, and walnut for example.

For cooking the lentils, see Recipes > Main courses > Lentil cottage pie
For the Cream of mushroom sauce, see Kitchen > Basic recipes > Alternative cream sauces

Ingredients
Serves 6-8

• 400 grams of lentil tomato mix
• 150 grams apricots~ finely chopped
• 200 grams cashews
• 50 grams hemp seed~ finely ground
• 100 grams each sunflower and pumpkin seeds
• 3-4 dessertspoons of polenta
• Salt and pepper

• 1 baking dish with sides
• Oil for coating the dish
• Pre-heated oven to 200oC

Method

• If you do not have any lentil mix made, prepare some according to the recipe indicated in the ingredients list. Put some whole nuts and seeds aside to decorate the top.
• Toast the half the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan until slightly brown, cool slightly. Place them with the others in the liquidizer or blender, pulse for 2-3 bouts of 5-10 seconds, scraping them down each time, the finer they are, the better they bind, also giving a wonderful toasted flavour to the mix. Put them into a bowl large enough to take all the ingredients.
• Prepare the nuts with the same method, but not so fine, with a little more texture to them, leaving one-third in large pieces works well.
• Grind the hemp seeds as fine as possible using a coffee or seed grinder. Add them, the chopped dried fruit and lentils to the other ingredients, mixing thoroughly.
• Check to see the consistence of your mix, and correct it with the polenta. The polenta will absorb excess moisture; leave it 4-5 minutes to see how it thickens before adding a little more if necessary. Season to taste.
• The mix should be firm to the touch, mould it into a flat loaf shape on the greased baking dish, it helps dipping your fingers into a little water to smooth out the top, sides and ends. Decorate the top and sides with the reserved seeds and nuts.
• Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving, slide a palette knife under the bottom to free it before cutting into slices.
• Place onto a large platter to serve, can be garnished with the potatoes and garlic around the sides. Alternatively place a slice of the loaf onto an individual plate and coat about a third with the sauce, arranging the other dishes around decoratively. Usually serve more sauce separately.

Leftovers:

Can be reheated or served cold with salads, accompanied with a little chutney.