Vegetarian Meatloaf

This veggie alternative to traditional meatloaf is quite simply brilliant. The texture is fantastic and it’s delicious. The textures come from nuts that are also doing fantastic things for your body so it’s a double winner. It’s delicious with veggies and gravy a la Sunday lunch and it’s amazing the next day sliced then fried in a pan served with a salad. You need a food processor to get the textures right. Freeze the leftovers in greaseproof paper then foil then bung the whole package into the oven to reheat for an easy mid-week meal.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults & 2 Kids with leftovers
150g brown rice
120g walnuts
70g cashews
70g hazelnuts
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
170g mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp each of: thyme, oregano and salt
1/2 tsp each of: nutmeg, unsmoked paprika and ground black pepper
4 eggs, whisked
300g cottage cheese
250g grated mozzarella
30g fresh parsley

• Put the salt into about 1.5 litres of water and cook the rice on medium high for about 30 minutes until tender then drain. Pre-heat the oven to 195°C (175°C Fan) then tip all the nuts onto a large baking tray then drizzle over with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Pop the nuts into the hot oven for 8 minutes. Once the nuts are roasted pop them into a food processor and blitz to a crumb.

• Peel and finely chop the onion then gently fry in 1 tbsp of olive oil for 3 minutes. Put the mushrooms into the food processor and blitz to a very fine dice then add to the pan and fry for another 3 minutes (grind over with salt and pepper). Peel and chop the garlic then add to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Add the cooked rice and stir.

• Tip the nuts and rice mixture into a large bowl then add the herbs, spices, cottage cheese, mozzarella, 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper then mix. Add the whisked eggs and stir to combine.
• Line a 1lb loaf tin with a buttered piece of greaseproof paper then tip the mixture into and bake for 1 hour in a 195°C (175°C Fan) oven. Allow to cool for 2 minutes then lift out and slice.

Serve the meatloaf slices straight from the loaf tin or pan fry in a little butter or olive oil