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.
Hello, could I reheat the nut roast easily? Trying to prep it tomorrow morning for tomorrow night dinner but trying to figure out what works best
It might dry out a bit if you reheat it (microwaving would keep it most moist, if you really need to reheat), so I’d probably prepare it in advance but wait to bake it until just before eating.
Thanks for this recipe. Loved by the whole family. Made exactly as specified except that I really don’t like mushrooms so swapped them for 200g grated sprouts.
We have made this again and again.
Good tip from Laura about vacuum packed chestnuts.
Thanks again!
Thanks Nicola, that’s lovely feedback! :)
I just made the recipe as meatloaf by adding flavorings: soy, Worcestershire, ketchup, vegetarian beef style bouillon paste and aqua gaba 1/3 cup to go with extra 2 Tbs oatmeal and topping with ketchup glaze. I totally enjoyed the process and am shocked at the outcome .Taste and texture was perfect. Since I am flexitarian I added beef gelatin 1 heaping teaspoon.. Thank you for completing my quest for the perfect loaf.
Ahh thanks so much Francesca, glad it could inspire you! :)
The chestnut and chickpea roast looks amazing and seems easy to make. I live in Canada so I need to know the cooking temperature in Fahrenheit. Thanks. Too bad I cannot see all your vegetarian recipes🙁
Hi Catherine, 190C is 375F – it’s a super simple conversion, you can just Google ‘190C to F’ and it will tell you :) Why can’t you see my other recipes?
My vegetarian children and grandchildren begged me to make this recipe for Thanksgiving after trying it once before. It is absolutely delicious with a mushroom gravy and goes well with other Thanksgiving sides… especially a fresh orange and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. This will be my third time making it and I always double the recipe to share with the people at my table, keeping some behind for my husband and I to freeze, which it does very well. This chestnut loaf is loaded with nutrients and we are grateful to be able to use our own chestnuts to make it! Thank you very much! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks Jamie, I’m honoured that you’re making this one for Thanksgiving!
Thank you for your recipe. We loved it. I did a little changes. Not fan of oats so used panko instead and add some leeks. Chestnuts are in season in Australia now, so used fresh ones. My non vegetarian husband loves it too. I was a little too generous with salt but it is on me. Great idea for a very filling meal not only on special occasion. The after taste is amazing.
Thank you Barbara, lovely comment! Glad you could make it your own :)
I am making this right now an will let you know how it goes. I don’t think there’s lots of ingredients I had it all in my fridge.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Absolutely horrible. Huge ingredient list, overriding taste was the oats. Thankfully my red wine gravy masked the taste but this was not a good recipe, avoid!
Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one Miriam! I’m not sure I’d agree that 10 ingredients (plus oil and salt and pepper) is a huge list for a main meal of this kind, but I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe. I didn’t find the oats were overpowering at all! You can barely see or taste them in the finished dish, they’re really just there for binding. Maybe we measured them differently!
top tip, vacuum packed chesnuts are usually on offer during the Christmas season. I usually buy enough to last the whole year…as they are usually quite expensive (for us)…and I love them,and they are so useful.
Good tip! They can be hard to find at other times of year anyway!
I think my mum would particularly enjoy this as she’s a big fan of chickpeas and often eats vegan or vegetarian when the rest of the family are eating meat dishes.