Layered festive loaf

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 large Round loaf of freshly-baked bread; unsliced
4 Onions; chopped and cooked
; in a little butter
500 grams Butter
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon Fresh thyme
250 grams Cooked chestnuts
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Salt and pepper
20 smalls Carrots
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
1 pounds French beans
1 pounds Baby turnips
1 large Swede
5 pounds Spinach
1 Clove garlic
250 grams Honey
1 pinch Mixed spice

Directions

Carefully slice off the top of the loaf and, using your hands, hollow out all the soft white bread from the inside. Put this bread in a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. Rub the inside of the loaf with the garlic and put to one side.

Mix the cooked onions and breadcrumbs together and divide the mixture into two. Melt 250g butter and divide in half. Add the chestnuts (crushed) and the orange zest and juice to one half of the butter, and the lemon zest and juice and the thyme to the other. Next add one flavoured butter to one half of the breadcrumbs, and the other flavoured butter to the other half of the breadcrumbs, giving you two different stuffings.

Prepare all the vegetables, trying to keep them to a similar size, ie keep the carrots and beans whole, peel and trim the swede to the size of the carrots, leave the sprouts whole, and so on. Cook all the vegetables separately, leaving a slight firmness to them, and leave to cool.

Cover the bottom of the loaf with some of the lemon stuffing, then put in a layer of sprouts and press down firmly. Repeat with a layer of the chestnut stuffing then another vegetable, and so on until the loaf is full, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper as you go.

Put the top of the loaf back on and wrap the whole thing tightly in cling film. Put something heavy on top and allow to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.

To cook, melt 250g butter and honey together with the mixed spice and brush all over the loaf. Put the loaf into a moderate oven and roast gently for 11/2-2 hours, basting regularly with the butter and honey to help it turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, allow to rest for 5 minutes and carve into lovely thick slices.

Serve with a herb gravy made from thickened vegetable stock with fresh herbs.

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Carlton Food Network

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