VEGGIE ROAST SAVED OUR BACON! (Quorn Roast)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Quorn Roast
Date:	18/01/02 (1370 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: tasty, nice texture, much better than nut roast

Disadvantages: expensive, takes an hour to cook

So, who thinks vegetarian food is dull and boring? Just veggie burgers made up of bits of old carrots and peas? Well, yes, some of that stuff is out there, but there are also many frozen vegetarian products that are excellent – and this Quorn roast in one of them.

Quorn is ‘made from myco-protein, which is mushroom in origin and does not contain soya’ to quote from the packet. We use Quorn pieces and Quorn mince quite often (usually for curries and lasagne respectively) and have also eaten the Quorn fillets. I would recommend all of the range, but will concentrate my opinion on this particular product – the chicken style flavour roast.

The roast is a long, oval shape. You pierce some holes in the film around it then bake it in the oven for 60-65 minutes (which gives you plenty of time to peel your veg!) at 200 C (400 F or Gas Mark 6). When it’s cooked, it’s a golden brown colour. You let it stand for five minutes, remove the film and carve it up into pieces.

It does look like meat, it even has a similar colour and texture – maybe like turkey – but it doesn’t smell or taste like meat. It is chewy and absolutely delicious, but it can be dry on its own and definitely needs to be served with gravy or some kind of sauce or dressing. (You can have it cold with salads too.)

This saved our (veggie) bacon (ha!) over the festive season. I have been vegetarian for the past fifteen years, my kids have never eaten meat or fish (the oldest is eleven), so we are all mightily sick of nut roast for our Christmas dinner.

We found the chicken style roast in the freezer section of our local Asda and this is what we had for our main meal on December 25th – with roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnip, swede, baked onion, sage and onion stuffing and a generous helping of veggie gravy. It was delicious and we all enjoyed it.

The chicken style roast also satisfies the
palate of my meat-eating fiancé and my friends who eat with us too. One of my friends even checked the box it came in, convinced it was really meat! Of course, this isn’t always a good thing, some vegetarians like to steer clear of ‘meat substitutes’ but to me, I don’t mind – as long as it tastes nice and doesn’t contain any meat, fish or animal fats.

At the moment, I am on a diet and I am trying to limit my main meal of the day to 600 calories, so I was a bit worried about how much of this I could eat. But it is low in fat too (less than 5%) and only 97 calories per 1/5 of the roast. There are six of us and we get 3-5 slices each, depending how thin you slice them. So you can enjoy a decent portion of this, without worrying too much about the calories. Serve this with fresh veg and you’ve got a healthy meal!

So, any drawbacks? Well, yes, afraid so – the price. It costs a whopping great £2.78 for one roast, but as I said above, it will be enough for one meal for a large family. It is also not suitable for a vegan diet or for those who are allergic to gluten.

Will it replace the traditional roast in Britain? I doubt it, some people will never try vegetarian meals and others are firmly loyal to their favourite meats. But at least the roasts are there as an option, a tasty low-fat meat-free meal for anyone. We love it! Who said vegetarian food was boring?!

INGREDIENTS – Myco-protein (82%), rehydrated egg white (free range), milk protein, flavouring.

QUORN Freepost, SEA 4093, Croydon, CR2 6UZ

FREEPHONE 0800 174 966

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