Spelt roast with mushroom sauce

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 2 cups of spelt berries
• 5 tbsp wholemeal flour from either spelt, or wheat
• 4 cups of vegetable stock, use chicken stock, beef stock or water as replacement
• 2 medium-sized onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 tbsp butter, or coconut oil if you are lactose intolerant
• Few sprigs of thyme, use marjoram, rosemary or oregano as replacement
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Thyme sauce

• 2 tbsp butter or coconut oil if you are lactose intolerant
• 1 medium sized onion, peeled
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp whole grain flour from either wheat or spelt, use potato starch if you are gluten intolerant
• ½ cup vegetable stock, use chicken stock, beef stock or fish stock as replacement
• ½ cup milk, use cream if you like the sauce quite rich or oat milk if you are lactose intolerant
• 100 g of shitake mushrooms
• 100 g of oyster mushrooms or black mushrooms
• 300 g of button mushrooms
• 1 tsp salted baby capers
• 1 tbsp of chopped thyme
• 1 cup of chopped parsley
• ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce

Method: Spelt Roast

Heat your oven to 220°C.

Chop onion and garlic finely. Pick the thyme leaves off the stems.

Place two tablespoons of butter into a stockpot, add the thyme, onion and garlic and cook on a medium heat for four to five minutes.

Add the water and bring to the boil.

If you have a grain mill, grind the spelt very coarsely, otherwise place it into a blender and crush them so they become quite gritty.

When the water is boiling, pour in the grinded spelt and boil while constantly stirring.

Reduce the heat and cover the pot with a lid, cook on a very low heat, until the water is absorbed by the grain – for approximately 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper, add the flour and mix through well.

Grease a cake mould with the remaining butter and press the spelt dough into the mould. Flatten the top and moisten the surface with some water.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the mould and cut with a sharp knife (rinse the knife with some water to prevent it from sticking) into thumb-sized thick slices.

Method: Mushroom Sauce

Place the butter into a saucepan, add onions and garlic and cook on a low heat for three to five minutes.

Add the mushrooms and increase the heat and roast them for two to three minutes.

Remove from the pan and add the flour and roast for a few seconds.

Add the stock milk and Worcestershire sauce and bring to the boil under constant stirring.

Let the sauce cook for two to three minutes, just before serving. Bring the sauce to boil and add the capers, mushrooms, thyme and parsley and pour over the roast.

Season with pepper.

Recipe note: I often chill the grain log then cut it into thumb-thick slices. Before serving, I roast the slices in a pan with a bit of butter (or palm fruit oil or coconut oil) on a medium heat, until golden brown on both sides. You can omit the olives or sundried tomatoes from the sauce recipe and serve the loaf with a leaf salad or seasonal steamed or glazed vegetables.
 

Photo credit: Trupps' Cooking School