Roast Dinner

I decided to make a roast today to commemorate my last Sunday as a 'single' woman. It was pretty AMAZING to tell the truth! Although there's a bit to clear up.

Stuffed Mushrooms
Wash (with damp kitchen towel) and de-stalk 4 large mushrooms and place in a dish. In a bowl mix together 1/2 a cup of cous-cous, 1 chopped spring onion, 1 chopped tomato, 1/4 chopped red pepper and 1 chicken oxo cube (use a veggie one if there's non-meat eaters!). Cover with boiling water and stir. Pile into the mushrooms and top with a little crumbled feta. Drizzle with olive oil and bake on the top shelf of the oven at about 190c for 20 minutes. Season with fresh black pepper before serving.




Roast Chicken with Sausage & Cranberry Stuffing
Fry 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a little olive oil until soft. Add one pack of sausage meat, half a small jar of cranberry sauce, about a cup of bread crumbs and some dried mixed herbs. Fry until the meat is no longer pink then set aside to cool. Wash the chicken inside and out and fill with the stuffing. Secure the opening with string or a metal skewer to stop the stuffing spewing out during cooking. Put the chicken in a large roasting dish and rub the skin with sesame oil and salt. Pour about half a cup of water (or white wine) into the bottom of the dish and cook for around 2 hours (depending on size) in the middle of the oven, basting every now and then. Ideally cover with foil and leave to rest whilst you eat the starter.


Perfect Roasties
Peel and chop potatoes and boil in salted water for around 15 minutes. Leave to cool. Chuck into the chicken pan around 30 - 40 minutes before serving for crispy roasties. You could always do these in a seperate pan for non meat eaters, I like to dribble on some soy sauce to give them some of the caramelised taste that the chicken fat gives.

Honey Mustard Parrots
Peel and chop carrots and parsnips into large batons. Chuck around in a dish with honey, dijon or wholegrain mustard and some vegetable oil. Roast for around 30 minutes, shaking half way through.

Yorkies
110g plain flour, 1 large egg, 300ml semi-skimmed milk - whisk up. Put a little oil in the bottom of each bit in a muffin tray and heat to oven temperature. Divide the yorkie mix between the 12 bits in the tray and immediately put it back in the oven. Wait 20 minutes for lovely fluffy yorkies! 3 each is good...

Gravy
When the chicken is done I transfer it and the potatoes to a serving dish. All the lovely stuff at the bottom of the roasting pan is used to make the gravy. I can't tell you how though, my little secret!


Cake

I cheated and went for a Betty Crocker 'Devil's Food Cake' with loads of chocolate fudge icing and clotted cream ice-cream. Yum yum! Even if I totally cheated... Although I did serve it on my home-made cake stand which is always a lovely touch.