Cheese & Nut Loaf

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (I add a boullion cube and 1 tblsp. of olive oil to the water when I cook the brown rice).
• 1 1/2 cups walnuts (you can also use pecans)
• 1/2 cups cashews (I use TJ's salted cashews)
• 1 med. onion, finely chopped
• 2 tblsp. butter
• salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped
• 1/2 to 1 ounce of dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms, soaked to 20 min. in hot water and chopped (they have dried wild mushrooms at TJ's.)
• 2 tblsp. parsley, chopped
• 2 tsp. thyme leaves, chopped, or 1/2 tsp. dried
• 1 tblsp. marjoram, chopped, or 1 tsp. dried
• 1 tsp. sage, chopped, or 1/2 tsp. dried
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 12 ounces of cheese, grated. I use a combination of jarlsberg and cheddar. But, you can use anything that tastes good together, i.e., Gruyere, jack, fontina,muenster...
• pepper
• (See GRAVY recipe below)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook rice, roast nuts in oven 5-7 min., then chop finely.
2. Cook onion in butter until translucent, season with salt and then add the garlic, chopped mushrooms, dried mushrooms, and herbs. Cook until liquid released by mushrooms has been reduced. Combine this mixture in a big bowl with rice, nuts, eggs, cottage cheese, and grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Lightly butter a loaf pan, line with buttered wax or parchment paper. Fill the pan with mixture from the bowl and bake at 375 until the top is golden and rounded, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. The loaf should be firm when you give the pan a shake.
4. Let loaf sit 10 min. before turning it out onto a serving plate and then take off the paper.

Gravy (Vegetarian)
Ingredients

• 1 bullion cube
• 1 cup finely chopped onions
• 1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Directions

1. Dissolve bullion cube in 2 cups of hot water
2. Sauté onions and mushrooms in on Tbsp of butter
3. When onions clear, add water and nutritional yeast and stir
4. Add flour to thicken

Courtesy of Benjamin Hanelin