Cashew nut loaf

Like many of my generation, I imagine, I went through a bit of a vegetarian phase in my teens. I have few fond culinary memories of those days - the food always seemed to be missing something (like dead animal flesh). But a few recipes have stuck with me, and last night I pieced together one of them - a good old-fashioned nut loaf. This one is rich and moist - the addition of parsnips gives it a very satisfying sweetnesss. Nut loaf always has a tendency to taste like stuffing, but I am rather fond of stuffing.

1 onion
a little butter and oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
4-5 parsnips
250g cashew nuts
80g breadcrumbs
dried herbs - about a teaspoon in total
1 large egg
250g mushrooms, sliced quite thinly
salt and pepper

First, peel the parsnips and chop them into large chunks. Boil until completely soft. This took me around 25 minutes. Mash them. Then chop up the onion very finely, and sweat in butter and oil for five minutes, after which add the garlic and continue for another two or three minutes.

In a food processor, grind the chasew nutes until they're almost flour-like, then put them in a large bowl with the breadcrumbs. Add the herbs, the onion and garlic and the mashed parsnip. Mix well and add salt and pepper. Then mix in the egg.

In the meantime, cook the mushrooms in some butter for a few minutes until they're nice and soft. Then put half the cashew mixture in a large greased loaf tin, cover with the mushrooms, then the rest of the cashew mixture. Bake at 180C for an hour.

This is quite rich - so I found that the mashed pototoes, sprouts and onion sauce that I made to go with it were a bit much. Next time, just some salad, and maybe a light tomato sauce.