If there's one thing I love about the weekend it's a roast dinner. Now we don't necessarily plan to have one each sunday but every few weeks we tend to make a roast with all of the trimming and I genuinely look forward to it so much. After working with Essential Cuisine last year on their high quality stocks to create a delicous sausage cassoulet, I was so excited to receive their gravy range and I thought, what a better way to put it to the test than with a roast?
Roasting Joint
I tend to buy a whole chicken when I'm planning a roast dinner. As there's only two of us we can get a few meals out of one and I find these are just so easy to cook. I've cooked with them for so long, I can just put it in the oven and pretty much forget about it for 90 minutes.Roast Potatoes
You can't have a sunday dinner without a roast potato can you? My favourite way of making them is to peel and chop 2 baking potatoes (or any you prefer, maris piper make excellent roasties) par boil for around 10/15 minutes in salted water, drain well and shake to rough up the edges. After the chicken has been cooking for about half an hour and has started to release some juices, I then add in the par boiled potatoes, coat in any of the juices and then leave to cook with the chicken. The juice makes them go lovely and crisp on the edges but they are soft and fluffy on the inside. If cooking with another joint of meat, I like to follow Jamie Olivers perfect roast potatoes recipe. I followed his recipe at Christmas and god they were good.Yorkshire Puddings
I love a good yorkshire pudding. When I can I like to make my own which just consists of eggs, flour and milk, leaving to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes and then pouring into hot oil. This makes them rise beautifully!
Lots of Veg
I tend to use pretty much whatever veg we have in. I love roasted carrots and these have become a bit of a favourite of ours recently. We usually like to coat them in a drizzle of honey, as we do parsnips too and it just gives them the most incredible flavour. If we've got anything like cabbage or cauliflower in I love to add those to the meal too, cauliflower cheese never goes amiss. Peas are great to add too when we just want to grab veg from the freezer.Stuffing
I love making stuffing balls, they're one of the simplest parts of a roast dinner and require very little prep. They are packed full of flavour and I find it's actually one of the cheapest parts of the meal. I just use Asda's Smartprice which is about 15p and honestly it tastes just like branded versions. An extra we like to have sometimes too is pigs in blankets, totally not just for Christmas!Gravy
Of course you've got to have gravy with a roast dinner haven't you? I've loved using the gravy mixes from Essential Cuisine and for the last roast dinner we had I went for the beef flavouring which was delicious. Used by professionals, this rich and smooth gravy is made with beef stock and beef dripping for maximum flavour. It can be used on it's own or added to meat juices. All you need to do is add 3 tsps to a small pan along with 250ml of water, and keep whisking and stirring until smooth and thick. It's then ready to pour over your roast dinner! There are 3 other gravies available too including turkey, chicken and savoury and they can be added to a variety of meals. I've been loving using the chicken flavour in dishes like my pizza pasta bake instead of the usual stock in the recipe, and the beef is brilliant in meals like shepherds pie or spaghetti to add a bit more of a meaty flavour.
I just don't think you can beat a proper roast dinner can you? This has made me so hungry for one actually! I've been really impressed with the gravy range from Essential Cuisine, it has a beautiful taste which goes so well with a meal like this and the tubs last ages! Aswell as this, the gravies are also gluten free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians so everybody can enjoy! If you want to try them out for yourself they're £2.50 each and you can find out more and buy on their website here.
What's your favourite part of a roast dinner?
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