I know it is Friday today but we are about to go shopping to prepare for more visitors this weekend, some dear cousins coming to stay for a few days. Last weekend with our other visitors and some friends as well, I cooked a Sunday roast, which is something we have got out of the habit of doing.
A roast dinner is the easiest of meals in that preparation is all and the actual cooking does itself. Because there were going to seven of us last weekend I got a joint of pork and a chicken… and I think I might do the same this weekend. The two meats went into the oven side by side, the chicken which was on a bed of lemon and apple slices and stuffed with half a lemon, and the pork which had been rubbed with salt.
I prepared the vegetables in advance; I par-boiled potatoes to make roasties, and cleaned prepared some new potatoes to boil; I shredded the cabbage, peeled and sliced the carrots, podded the broad beans, sliced the green beans, got the beetroot ready to roast. I must admit I cheated with the apple sauce and bought some; our apples aren’t ripe yet – there are plenty of them and they look food but they won’t be eatable until late September. I made some stock for gravy and would put the lovely juices from the meat in later. I made a chocolate cake – only to remember at the last minute that one of our gusts is allergic to chocolate so I quickly made a fruit salad.
So that was last weekend… this weekend I will do the same vegetables, but I have some French beans as well as runner beans, and I will do some lovely roast vegetables too, colourful peppers, onions, courgettes… any left over are great for salad or soup! I will retrieve the chocolate cake from the freezer and make it into a Black Forest Gateau – this was a challenge from last week’s Great British Bake-Off… so photos may very well follow!
As our guests won’t be arriving until late afternoon, I can do all the prep well in advance, and then just let it all do itself. I steam all the vegetables except the potatoes, so apart from laying the table, and last-minute gravy, I can relax and chat and enjoy… and there will be plenty of people to help with the clearing up and washing up!
This could become a habit!
Lois Elsden 