← Previous Article Next Article → / Recipes / Mains / Sage and Apricot Nut Roast with Cranberry Sauce Sage and Apricot Nut Roast with Cranberry Sauce December 21st, 2015 Serves 5 Prep: 20m Cooking: 1h Total: 1h 20m Difficulty: Medium Ingredients View the Method

For the Nut Roast

• 1 medium leek

• 2 medium carrots

• 3 field mushrooms

• 1 red pepper

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 250g of dried apricots (1 1/4 cups)

• 2 tablespoons of fresh finely chopped sage

• 1 tablespoon of fresh, finely chopped rosemary

• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon of ground or grated nutmeg

• 4 tablespoons of milled flaxseed mixed with 12 tablespoons water

• 100g of almonds (1 cup)

• 100g of brazil nuts (1 cup)

• 100g of hazelnuts (1 cup)

• 100g of buckwheat flour (1 cup)

• olive oil

• salt and pepper

For the Cranberry Sauce

• 250g of cranberries (2 cups)

• The juice of one big orange

• 50g of coconut sugar (6 tablespoons)

• 4 tablespoons of maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 180C

Start by making the nut roast. Mix the milled flaxseed in a small bowl and leave to sit for 5-10 minutes until it expands and turns gluey. Put to one side ready for later.

Crush the garlic and add to a big pan with some olive oil, heat until the garlic starts to golden. Finely chop all the veg and apricots, add to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Add all the herbs. Once all cooked through take off the heat and put to one side, roughly 10 minutes.

Add all the nuts to a food processor and blend until they’re crumbled down but not so much that it turns into a flour; you want the pieces of nuts to still be a bit chunky, like pine nut size. Best to use the pulse setting on the processor to make sure they remain chunky.

Combine the cooked veg, nuts, flour and flax together and mix well. Place in a lined loaf tin and push down/compress into the tin well (you may want to use a masher for this!). Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes on the middle shelf.

Whilst the roast is baking, make the cranberry sauce.

Squeeze the orange and then place the orange juice, coconut sugar and maple syrup into a pan, bring to the boil and then add the cranberries. Heat for about 10 minutes until the cranberries start to burst. Then simmer for another 10 minutes and allow the liquid to reduce, until it reaches your desired thickness.

Once the roast is done, remove it from the oven and leave it to bind for about 20 minutes before slicing and serving with a thick spread of sweet cranberry sauce!

This is the best nut loaf, it’s just full of flavour! It tastes incredible spread with a thick layer of sweet cranberry sauce, with a pile of spiced red cabbage and maple roasted sprouts on the side. If you’re looking for a perfect veggie main for Thanksgiving or Christmas then this is perfect, you and your guests will love it.

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• Katie

  Wow this is one of my favorite recipes so far from your site! Its perfect for winter and I would serve it with a beautiful delicious tea Thank you! xoxo Kate from whatskatieupto.com!

  • ellawoodward

    That’s awesome, so happy you love it! X

• The merrymaker sisters

  This looks so delicious! We are going to make it for our Christmas party! <3

  • ellawoodward

    Awesome, hope everyone enjoys it x

• Zsofia Ilona Preddle

  So excited!!!! xxx

• Zoe Hirst

  Do you think this could be made in advance? Either make the loaf and before cooking pop in the freezer or fridge? If left in the fridge how long will it keep? I have my mother in las over soon and know I won’t have much time so I’m best prepping beforehand.

  • ellawoodward

    I would make the loaf in advance and then freeze it rather than freezing the raw mixture. Once cooked, it should last for about 3-5 days in the fridge in an airtight container x

• Susan Askey

  This looks amazing and I really want to try it, but I wondered – Instead of the flaxseed, could you use psyllium husk powder? I bought a huge bag when I made your superfood bread and have lots left! xxx

  • ellawoodward

    I haven’t tried this recipe with psyllium husk before so I’m not too sure how it would turn out but it’s definitely worth a try! Hope it’s still delicious x

• ellawoodward

  Hi Jen, you could just leave out the mushrooms but add more of the other veggies instead! Hope you love it x

• Mel Booker

  Could you swap the apricots for anything else? Look amazing

  • ellawoodward

    I haven’t tried swapping it before. You could always leave them out and add more of the veggies, however the apricots give it an amazing texture and sweetness x

• Andrea T.

  Delicious! I love cabbage, is there a nice recipe for spiced cabbage on your blog?

  • ellawoodward

    There’s a delicious recipe coming to the blog soon! X

• Terry Barrett

  I was wondering what to do for Christmas, since I have recently given up meat. Will try this weekend.

• ellawoodward

  You could try leaving them out and adding more nuts and veggies instead, although the apricots add an amazing texture and sweetness to this recipe x

• ellawoodward

  The roast should still work well without the leek and garlic. Celery is an awesome replacement. It has so many other flavours in it with the veggies, herbs and spices, although you might want to add slightly more herbs to your taste x

• ellawoodward

  Really hope you love this roast! X

• ellawoodward

  Yes wild mushrooms work, I just used 3 medium-large sized mushroom. Chia seeds should work well instead of flaxseed although I haven’t tried this myself before x

• ellawoodward

  So happy you loved it! I haven’t tried freezing it before however I imagine it might end up too watery, although it’s definitely worth a try! X

• ellawoodward

  I’ve actually never tried freezing it before but I don’t see why not! X

• ellawoodward

  Hi Katie, perhaps you could try rosemary or thyme, although I’ve not tried this myself before and am not entirely certain on which herbs are safe for pregnancy so it might be best to consult this with a nutritionist first x

• Trish Paul

  This looks amazing can I change the buck wheat flour for ground almonds, as I am grain free? The same question goes for the Xmas pud too?

  • ellawoodward

    I’ve not tried this myself before but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Hope you love them x

• Samantha Priestley

  Is the temperature for a fan or non-fan oven please?

  • ellawoodward

    This is for a fan oven – hope you love it x

• Karen Flanagan

  Are the nuts raw or toasted first ?

  • ellawoodward

    Hi Karen, the nuts are raw, no need to roast them first. Hope you love this recipe x

• ellawoodward

  I’ve not tried this recipe with gram flour before but I imagine that would work really nicely x

• Maddy Mulvihill

  hey can i freeze this? my mum doesnt want me in the kitchen at xmas lol so i have to make things before x

  • ellawoodward

    Yes it freezes really well! Hope you love it! X

    • Maddy Mulvihill

      thanks! could i replace the nuts with other ones or would it not work?xx

      • ellawoodward

        I imagine that would work. I would go for harder/crunchier nuts as soft nuts like pecans might end up too soft when cooked x

• Horsell Healing

  Ella you are so clever with your ideas, this looks scrummy. Happy Holidays to you and your family, hope you can put your feet up and come up with more inspiring ideas. x

• ellawoodward

  I imagine that a couple small eggs would replace the flaxseed gel, however you may still need the buckwheat flour to help bind the mixture and absorb some of the mixture. Hope you all love it x

• ellawoodward

  This should keep well in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3-5 days! Hope you both enjoy it x

• ellawoodward

  I’ve actually never tried making gravy before, so sorry! Hope you love this nut roast x

• kimberlykeno

  Great! Thank you for posting that. I was wondering, how it turn out.

• ellawoodward

  The loaf should take about 50 minutes to bake through, it should turn slightly brown and crisp on top. Hope you love it x

• ellawoodward

  The loaf tin I usually use is 22cm long, 12cm wide and 6cm deep – hope you love this recipe! X

• ellawoodward

  The coconut sugar is granulated – hope you love this recipe! X

• ellawoodward

  Hi Kate, so sorry to hear this! I chop the vegetables in this recipe rather than blitz them so I don’t think it would’ve been that. Perhaps try using a different sized loaf tin, I use a tin which is 22cm long, 12cm wide and 6cm deep. You could also try baking it for slightly longer. Hope it turns out more delicious next time x

• ellawoodward

  I imagine that would taste delicious x

• ellawoodward

  If i am freezing it, I will cook it first and then freeze. Otherwise I have just made it and eaten it on the day of making it. If you are storing everything uncooked first, make sure you store it in the fridge. Have a lovely Christmas x

• ellawoodward

  I imagine that should work well too! X

• ellawoodward

  You can omit the mushrooms and add more of the other veggies instead! X

• ellawoodward

  Yes I imagine that should be fine if kept in an airtight container! You could try using maple syrup instead x

• ellawoodward

  So happy this worked well without the nuts, so great to know! Hope you had a lovely Christmas x

• ellawoodward

  Yes that should be fine, just add more of the other veggies instead x

• ellawoodward

  So happy to hear this