- 400 gr. squash
- olive oil
- 1 red onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 50 gr. dried apricots
- 50 gr. sour cherries or cranberries
- 2 tesapoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 lemon
- 15 gr. fresh coriander
- 200 gr. tinned or vacuum-packed chestnuts
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 100 gr. shelled pistachios
- 100 gr. almonds
- 100 gr. cooked quinoa or brown rice
- 2 medium free-range eggs, or to make it vegan, 2 tablespoons of chia seeds mixed with 6 tablespoons of water and left to soak
- 1 pomegranate
Tomato sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 fresh red chillies
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- ½ a bunch of fresh thyme
- 1 pinch of turmeric
- 800 gr. quality plum tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Feta
- 200 gr. feta cheese , optional
- 1 lemon , optional
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds , optional
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- Grease a 24 cm loose-bottomed tart tin with a little olive oil.
- Peel, deseed and chop the squash into 1cm chunks, then toss onto a baking tray with a drizzle of oil, sea salt and black pepper, roast for 20 – 25′.
- Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic, and roughly chop the apricots and cranberries.
- Bash the cumin and coriander seeds, and zest the lemon.
- Pick and roughly chop the coriander, then roughly chop the chestnuts.
- In a frying pan over a medium heat, cook the onion in a little oil for 10′ or until soft and sweet.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, until beginning to soften, then add all the spices and a little more oil.
- Cook for a couple more minutes, until it’s all smelling great.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Blitz the pistachios and almonds until they’re ground to a coarse powder with a little texture.
- Tip into a bowl with the quinoa or rice and dried fruit, then add the lemon zest, coriander and chestnuts.
- Beat and stir in the eggs, or chia seed mix, and the onion.
- Take the squash out of the oven and mash half of it with the back of a fork, leaving the other half in chunks, then stir this into the mixture too.
- Pile the lot into the prepared tin and press down to flatten.
- Cook in the oven for 45 – 50′, or until set.
- While it’s cooking, make the tomato sauce.
- Peel and chop the garlic and onion.
- Place a large saucepan over a medium heat.
- Prick the chillies and add to the pan with a little oil, the cinnamon stick, sprigs of thyme, garlic, onion and turmeric.
- Cook for a minute or two, then add the plum tomatoes.
- Fill the tin with water and pour that in too, stirring to break up the tomatoes.
- Season with salt, stir through the balsamic vinegar and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20′.
If using feta
- Place it in a bowl, zest over the lemon, add the coriander seeds, some black pepper and a good drizzle of oil and leave it to marinate.
- Once the sauce is thick and glossy, pick out the chilli, cinnamon and thyme.
- Take the nut roast out of the oven, then carefully remove it from the tin and place it on a serving platter.
- Scatter the loaf with the feta, if using, and the pomegranate seeds.
- Serve with the sauce in a side bowl.