Let yourself dream of your absolutely favourite dinner…What might it be?
Which dishes would you ask your mum to cook specially for you when you’re coming home from abroad or from college at the weekend?
Chances are, for many of us it’s a roast dinner and an apple tart.
Roast stuffed chicken with all the trimmings is right up there, lots of crispy roasties, maybe glazed carrots and tons of tasty gravy. Or maybe it’s roast lamb, a deliciously burnished leg of lamb, sprinkled with flaky sea salt or maybe spiked with little tufts of rosemary and slivers of garlic. I particularly love a shoulder that’s roasted slowly to melting tenderness so the meat can be lifted gently in tender chunks off the bone with tongs. Lots of gravy too and mint chutney, mint jelly or a simple mint sauce. Made with freshly chopped mint, about 25g, add 1 tablespoon sugar, 110ml of boiling water and 25ml of white wine vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice – made in a twinkling and so good with lamb. Redcurrant jelly is another favourite accompaniment.
I’m very partial to a gratin of potatoes and mushrooms with lamb, a brilliant dish which can be made ahead and reheats beautifully, the perfect stand-alone dish for a vegetarian also.
Who doesn’t love a roast loin or succulent belly of pork with irresistible crunchy crackling.
Bramley apple sauce is my favourite with this, comforting and old-fashioned but so good. Just peel and core the apples (450g) and chop coarsely, add 1-2 dessertspoons of water and 50g of sugar (or more depending on the tartness of the apples), cover and pop onto a medium heat. The apples will break down into a fluff, all you’ve got to do is stir. Hey presto – apple sauce!
Bramley apples, now in season are best, with their bittersweet flavour, perfect to cut the richness of the pork.
While you are at it, cook a big potful of apples, if you have some leftover, change the name and you have old-fashioned stewed apples, enjoy it for pudding with a dollop of softly whipped cream and soft dark brown sugar, a simple feast. And the ultimate roast rib of beef with three sauces – garlic mayo, béarnaise and horseradish sauces – a very, very special treat for a celebration.
A roast dinner tastes best when it’s shared around the kitchen table with family, maybe gran and grandad and a few grandchildren too. Even if you’re only amicably arguing, you’re keeping the vital lines of communication open, this is what memories are made of.
If possible, carve at the kitchen table so you can give everybody their favourite piece. Mine is the outside slice of the roast or the knuckle of the leg of lamb.
A roast dinner takes quite some time and considerable love and effort to get onto the table so don’t forget to lend a hand, enjoy the process while you discover the secrets. Organise some help with the washing up too while you enjoy the chats.
Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Gratin of Potato and Mushroom
The hard working and muscular shoulder has marvellous flavour but needs long and slow cooking to gently tenderize it so that the flesh becomes sweetly succulent. The cooked lamb in this dish should be soft and melting and will be gently pulled apart for serving rather than being carved. This recipe needs time. You can’t rush the cooking of a shoulder of lamb, but once it is in the oven, there is plenty of time to prepare sauces and vegetables to accompany it. The shoulder is cooked whole with just a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. If the shoulder is excessively fatty, as may be the case later on in the lamb season, trim some of it off, or ask your butcher to do it for you.
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
1 whole shoulder of lamb on the bone, weighing 3.6kg
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Place the lamb shoulder in a wide roasting tin or oven tray with the skin side up. Score the skin several times to encourage the fat to run out during the cooking and to crisp up the skin. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes before turning the temperature down to 160°C/Gas Mark 3 for a further 3 ½ hours.
To test if the lamb is cooked to a melting tenderness, pull the shank bone and it and some of the meat should come away easily from the bone.
When the lamb is cooked, remove from the oven. There will be plenty of fatty cooking juices. Strain these off the roasting tin through a sieve into a bowl. Keep the lamb warm in the oven with the temperature reduced to 100°C/Gas Mark ¼.
When the fat has risen to the surface of the lamb cooking juices, skim off the fat carefully and thoroughly with a large spoon.
Bring the juices to a simmer and taste and correct seasoning.
To serve the lamb, a tongs or serving fork and spoon is the best way to remove the meat from the bones. Prise largish pieces off the bones and serve on hot plates with some of the hot cooking juices.
Serve with a gratin of Potato and Mushroom.
Gratin of Potato and Mushroom
If you have a few wild mushrooms e.g. chanterelles or field mushrooms, mix them with ordinary mushrooms for this gratin. If you can find flat mushrooms, all the better, one way or the other the gratin will still be delectable. This gratin is terrifically good with a pan-grilled lamb chop or a piece of steak.
Serves 6
Ingredients
1kg ‘old’ potatoes, e.g. Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks
225g flat mushrooms
butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
200ml cream
100ml milk
3 tbsp mixture of grated Parmesan AND Irish mature Cheddar cheese
ovenproof gratin dish 25.5cm x 21.5cm
Method
Slice the mushrooms. Peel the potatoes and slice thinly into 3mm slices. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the potato slices to the boiling water. As soon as the water returns to the boil, drain the potatoes. Refresh under cold water. Drain again and arrange on kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.
Grease a shallow gratin dish generously with butter and sprinkle the garlic over it. Arrange half the potatoes in the bottom of the dish, season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover with the sliced mushrooms. Season again and finish off with a final layer of overlapping potatoes.
Bring the cream and milk almost to boiling point and pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 1 hour approx. at 180°C/Gas Mark 4, until the gratin becomes crisp and golden brown with the cream bubbling up around the edges.
Roast Belly of Pork with Bramley Apple and Sweet Geranium Sauce
Streaky pork makes the sweetest and juiciest roast of pork; make sure to buy it with the skin on to get the crackling. Seek out pork from heritage breeds, e.g. Gloucestershire Old Spot, Saddleback, Tamworth, Red Duroc, Berkshire, Mangalica…
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
1 x 2.3kg joint of streaky pork
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gravy
600ml homemade chicken stock
roux (optional) (made with equal quantities of flour and butter, cooked for 2 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally)
Method
Score the skin at 5mm intervals – let your butcher do this if possible because the skin is quite tough. (This will also make it easier to carve later).
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Put the joint skin side down on the work top sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Rub into the cuts. Roast on a rack, allowing 28-30 minutes per 450g.
Pour off the pork fat and save in a bowl – this is delicious lard. Then just before the end of cooking turn up the temperature to very hot, 230°C/Gas Mark 8, to get crisp crackling.
To make gravy, de-grease the roasting pan and add the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Bring to the boil. Season and thicken with a little roux if desired. Serve with Bramley Apple Sauce (see method in my column).
Mummy’s Apple and Blackberry Pie
Apple pie is virtually everyone’s favourite pudding. My famous break-all-the-rules pastry taught to me by my mother is made by the creaming method, so people who are convinced that they suffer from ‘hot hands’ don’t have to worry about rubbing in the butter. I make this pie year-round with whatever fruits are in season: pears, plums and damsons are also in season now…
We are coming to the end of the blackberry season so get out into the countryside and pick the last of the berries before they disappear for another year (they freeze brilliantly too).
Enjoy with a blob of softly whipped cream and soft brown sugar, it’s obligatory!
Serves 8-12
Ingredients
Break-all-the-Rules Pastry
225g butter, softened
40g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 organic, free-range eggs
350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 organic, free-range egg, beaten with a dash of milk
Filling
600g Bramley cooking apples, peeled and cut into large dice
110g wild blackberries
150g granulated sugar
To Serve
softly whipped cream
dark soft brown sugar
1 x 18cm x 30.5cm x 2.5cm deep square tin or 1 x 22.5cm round tin
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
To make the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor. Add the eggs one by one and beat for several minutes. Reduce the speed and mix in the flour slowly. Turn out onto a piece of floured baking parchment, flatten into a round, then wrap and chill. This pastry needs to be chilled for at least 2 hours otherwise it is difficult to handle – better still, make it the day before.
Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick, then use about two-thirds of it to line the tin.
Fill the pie to the top with the apples and blackberries and sprinkle with the sugar – brush the edges with water. Cover with a lid of pastry, press the edges together to seal. Decorate with pastry leaves, brush with the beaten egg mixture and bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour until the apples are tender. When cooked, sprinkle lightly with caster sugar, cut into pieces and serve with softly whipped cream and sugar.
