Cashew Nut and Apricot Roast Wellington

Ingredients: 
1 small onion - finely chopped
1 clove of garlic - crushed 
2 slices of seeded bread - grated into breadcrumbs
6 oz cashew nuts - chopped 
1 beaten egg 
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp yeast extract
up to 1/4 pt hot water 
2 oz dried apricots - chopped 
1 large carrot - cooked and mashed 
2 medium/large mushrooms - chopped 
Splash of olive oil

1 pack ready rolled puff pastry
1 beaten egg for egg wash 

Method: 
Gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft, add in the mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms have also softened - remove from the heat
In a large bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, cashew nuts, dried herbs and apricots
Mix in one beaten egg 
Stir in the mashed carrot and the onion and mushroom mixture from the frying pan
Dissolve the yeast extract in a small amount of hot water - no more than 1/4 pt at the most - and then add to the mixture
Mix everything together really well and then spoon onto a large length of cling film
Shape the mixture into a large fat sausage shape and roll tightly in the cling film - keeping away from the edges and twist the ends to keep the mixture tight
Refrigerate for a least a couple of hours to firm up

Open out the sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
Gentle unroll the nut roast mixture from the cling film and place in the centre of the pastry
Brush some of the beaten egg on the edges of the pastry as this will help it to stick together
Carefully pull up each side of the pastry over the nut roast, overlapping by a small amount 
If making just a parcel, fold in the ends - add some more egg wash, trim off any excess if needed and turn over so that the parcel has all the joins underneath
As I wanted to make my parcel into a Christmas Cracker, I kept the ends of the pastry open, but still turned it upside down so that the join was underneath, then pinched together the pastry at each end of the nut mixture and snipped out triangles at the end of the excess pastry to give a fluted edge
Brush the whole parcel with more egg wash and add on any decoration using excess pastry if required
Cook at 160-170 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden brown all over

The nut mixture needs to be moist enough to stick together, but not too wet.  I squeezed out as much water as I could from the cooked carrots (using a potato ricer) before mashing
I made my roast mixture the day before needed and refrigerated it over night before wrapping in the pastry