Monday 11 April 2011

Sweet Potato Loaf

41/70


Hmmm.


This is most definitely not one of my favourites from the book. In fact, what happened with this recipe was me going hungry because I could not face eating more than half of my portion for tea and then the other half of the loaf getting ditched because neither of us wanted to contemplate it again.


Also, this is a rather complicated recipe in relation to the others in the book, there are a lot of ingredients in it and a lot of 'faff'. Like pre-soaking the bulgur wheat and grating the sweet potato/carrot/onion. 


I thought that once mixed it actually looked and smelled like it was going to be very tasty. This is what it looked like once cooked (I had intended to take a picture of it before I put the mix in the tin but I forgot):






In theory it should be very nice, containing the aforementioned grated veg, oats, bulgur wheat, quorn mince (a minimal amount) and bound together with egg and yeast extract. In reality it is not (in our opinion) particularly enjoyable on any level. In fact it reminded me of my first foray into vegetarianism in the early 90s when all nut roasts looked and tasted like this - dry, bland and uninspiring.


It also takes a LONG time to cook. 45 minutes in the oven had my husband crying out for food after he had run home from work, unfortunately thanks to all the faff involved it took about an hour and a half from start to finish. 


The final instruction was to let it stand in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out and serving but I was beyond patience by and left it for about a minute. Perhaps that is why mine crumbled when I tried to carve it into slices, as illustrated in the below picture of the dish served:








It looks like a pile of veggie stuffing and to be honest that's exactly what it tastes like.


I just did not like or enjoy any aspect of this meal and I won't be making it again. I guess every cookbook is going to have some recipes which just do not appeal and for us this is definitely one of them. 


I do think if you increased the volume of quorn mince, added some chopped dried fruit and maybe used cous cous instead of the (very bloating) bulgur wheat this might be more appealing - but I am still not sure I would want to eat a whole quarter as a portion.


In terms of weight watchers points this is pretty low at 6 points a portion based on the loaf containing 4 portions. This is made up as follows: quorn (1), egg (1), wheat (1), oats (1), oil (1), sweet potato (1).


Despite the low rating and health appeal I do not think I will enforce this on my husband or myself again! We gave it a 1/10 which may seem harsh but reflects how little we enjoyed it.

4 comments:

  1. oh how disapointing for you both!
    I have to say I really liked the idea of this but I'm not exactly raring to go and make it now after your review!

    How many recipes have you got left now?

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  2. Here's the recipe I promised you via twitter for lentil loaf....

    ~ Simmer 1 cup red lentils until soft (if you've not done this before, watch carefully, they turn to mush / boil over really easily), drain and partially mash.
    ~ Stir in 1 small diced onion, 1 cup oats, 3/4c grated cheese, 1 beaten egg, 125g tomato sauce*, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp parsely, salt and pepper.
    ~ Mix well and spoon into a greased loaf pan. Baked at 180*c for 30-45 mins until firm.

    I like this with mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli and gravy :)

    * tomato sauce - this can be leftover pasta sauce, tomato puree, ketchup, bbq sauce etc - whatever you have to hand. I like bbq or 'reggae reggae' sauce :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for this, it sounds nice, will give it a go!

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  4. I love this recipe and so do my family! I even take it along to bring and share suppers and serve it on Christmas day. It always gets good comments and friends ask for the recipe. It tastes delicious and slices perfectly. I don't find it a faff to make, in fact it is my 3 year old's favourite thing to cook with me!! Give it a try!

    ReplyDelete