Chestnut and chickpea roast
I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing my name in print when I have recipes featured in magazines. It’s pretty damn exciting.
This month, I have six vegetarian Christmas recipes published in Superfood magazine (which I was also featured in earlier this year), and they’ve very kindly allowed me to republish one of them here – chestnut and chickpea roast! If you want to see the other five recipes (including rosemary roasted potato stacks and red lentil gravy), you’ll have to grab a copy of the magazine – but for now, hopefully this chestnut and chickpea roast will do.
Luckily, it’s a pretty awesome recipe. It would make a great Christmas main course (yes, I am well and truly talking about Christmas now, sorry but I’m totally not sorry), or even a Thanksgiving main for anyone who’s super disorganised and hasn’t yet decided what they’re making (get yourself together!).
The mixture is easy to prepare – it’s just some cooked veggies, chestnuts and chickpeas all mixed together, with some oats and a couple of eggs to bind. I also added a small handful of grated cheese, which helps to keep everything nice and moist and adds a really nice flavour. It’s quite a versatile recipe – you could add some chopped nuts or dried cranberries to make it taste even more festive, and you can swap the veggies depending on what you like / have in the fridge.
I cooked my chickpea roast in a spring-form cake tin, which makes it really easy to pop out and cut into slices. A normal loaf tin would work just fine too, or a rectangular tin if you’d prefer to cut it into squares. It’s brilliant served with roast potatoes and all the usual Christmas veggies – and don’t forget the gravy!
If you can’t find Superfood magazine in the shops, you can always buy a copy online to see my other five recipes (plus lots of other awesome stuff!).
Chestnut and Chickpea Roast
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 red onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 carrots, grated
- 200 g mushrooms, finely diced
- 1 medium courgette (zucchini), grated
- 180 g cooked chestnuts (~ 1 cup)
- 400 g tin chickpeas, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 50 g oats (~ 1/3 cup)
- 60 g grated cheddar cheese (~ 2/3 cup)
- 2 eggs
- Oil spray
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and add the diced red onion. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, then add the minced garlic and grated carrot. Cook for a further 3 – 4 minutes. Finally, add the diced mushrooms and grated courgette, and cook for another 5 – 10 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft and any excess liquid has cooked off. When cooked, set aside to cool for at least 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked chestnuts and drained chickpeas to a food processor, and blitz until coarsely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and season generously. Add the cooled vegetables, oats and grated cheese, and mix to combine. Add the eggs, and mix well.
- Thoroughly spray an 8 inch springform cake tin with oil, then add the chickpea roast mixture, and press it firmly into the corners, smoothing the top.
- Bake at 190°C (170°C fan / Gas Mark 5) for around 1 hour 15 mins, or until the centre is firm and the crust is golden. Remove from the tin, and cut into slices to serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Hi! Could this be made ahead and frozen?
Hi Caroline, I haven’t tried freezing this one. My concern would be that it might dry out a little when reheating. Worth a try but I wouldn’t like to say for sure that it would be as good as fresh. Would probably need plenty of gravy ;)
Can you use an alternative to chestnuts?
Hi Rachel, I haven’t tested this recipe using any other nut, sorry. If you want something similar you could try my lentil loaf: https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/vegan-lentil-loaf/
I am not vegetarian but I foraged chestnuts locally and decided to try this recipe. It was a really splendid idea. I cooked the whole recipe as per instructions. I have a fan oven so in future I will reduce the temperature slightly as it began to catch so I had to stop itear.y by a few minutes.
It was delicious and filling. I froze a good deal of it and it was equally good second time round. This will be a regular now, at least until I run out of chestnuts.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Thanks Kevin, glad you enjoyed it!
I made this exactly as per recipe. All went well but it is a little soft in the middle and darker than your photograph on the outside. I think my oven is a bit fierce so next time, and I will certainly make it again, I will cook it on a cooler setting for slightly longer.
As for flavour, it was superb. Texture was very good but see comment above. Thank you for this fabulous recipe.
Thanks Kevin, glad you enjoyed it! Definitely sounds like a slightly lower temperature might work better for you – ovens can vary so much, annoyingly!
Not very tasty
What could I use instead of cheese please?
You can skip the cheese altogether if you need to, but it might end up a little drier. Should be fine with some gravy :)