Mushroom Lentil Loaf with Cranberries

A fresh take on a Vegan Lentil Loaf for you! It's made with a delicious blend of lentils, mushrooms and walnuts and has a beautifully festive cranberry topping. Those pops of juicy cranberry in every bite are so good, plus they make it look pretty impressive. It would make a great centrepiece on your holiday table! 

Ingredients

• 1 small onion , chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic ,chopped finely
• 198g / 1 cup cooked red lentils
• 198g / 1 cup cooked green lentils , I like to use French green lentils but any will work
• 226g / 3 cups finely chopped mushrooms
• 62g / ½ cup walnut pieces
• 8 tablespoons / ½ cup ground flax seed , it must be ground not whole
• 45g / ½ cup flour , oat, rice, spelt or wholewheat
• 75g / 1 very packed cup breadcrumbs (use gluten-free breadcrumbs if necessary)
• 70g / ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ large apple , grated (no need to peel)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

For the cranberry topping

• 200g / 2 cup cranberries , fresh or frozen
• 4 tablespoons sugar , not brown sugar or coconut sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Add all of the ingredients (except the fresh/frozen cranberries and sugar) to a very large bowl and stir really well until combined. I find it easier to use clean hands to scrunch it all together and mix it. 
3. Put the cranberries and the sugar in a small pan over a medium heat and just cook until the sugar is mostly dissolved and some juice is appearing in the bottom of the pan. It only takes 5 - 6 minutes. Then remove from the heat. 
4. Grease a loaf pan and line it with a strip of baking parchment going along the middle. (See my picture above). Leave some paper overhanging as it will make turning it out easier. 
5. Spoon in the cranberries (you don't have to wait for them to cool down but be careful as the sugary liquid will be very hot) and even them out a bit with a spoon.
6. Pack the lentil loaf mixture on the top. Really push it down all over and make sure it is even on the top. 
7. Place the loaf pan on a baking tray (just in case the cranberry liquid spills over) and bake for 1hr - 1 hr 10 minutes. It should be golden and crusty looking on the top and coming away from the edges. There will probably be  a little jammy red liquid oozing over the edge too.  
8. Once done, leave to rest in the pan for 15-30 minutes (it will stay warm for up to an hour if you wrap it in some tin foil) before turning out and slicing. 
9. To turn it out, put a plate or board on top of it then flip it over so the plate/board ends up on the bottom. It will slide out really easily but if you do have any trouble you can give a little tug on the parchment paper to ease it out. Once it's out, gently peel back the parchment paper to reveal the pretty cranberry top. 

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