Tuesday 21 January 2020

Now that's what I call a roast...

It is Sunday and that strange lull period between Christmas and the New Year, not that we are doing anything on New Year's Eve - we are going out for Lunch on New Year's Day instead - we have done that for a while now.

To be honest I really don't know how John and I would celebrate New Year's Eve we have so rarely been together just the two of us and we are useless at staying up late at the best of times so we have planned a steak supper and something on the box - just call us Billy-no-Mates-Boring!

Mum was coming up to us as usual today.  The weather started out bright and breezy but was to deteriorate really badly until we had what I think was the worst storm I can remember since we moved here - it raged through the night keeping me awake.

We decided to light the fire before Mum came because even though it was reasonably warm in the conservatory the same could not be said for indoors around the dining table and to be fair she had bought us some logs so it seems only right that we do plus it would ensure that later when we were watching the footie we would be warm and cosy.

We had planned to go out for a meal today but not knowing what the weather was going to be like and not knowing exactly where would be open and whether it would be warm we took a piece of beef out of the freezer and decided to do a full roast - or more exactly John decided he wanted to tackle cooking a full roast and giving me a break from the kitchen.


So this was the piece of meat that we prepared this morning - a fine fore rib of beef.  I had to curb John's enthusiasm to go 'off-piste' with the cooking because I really wanted to enjoy this so we consulted tinty-web and felt that The Great British Meat Company butchers would have a better idea than we did.  So 20 minutes on full whack to render down the fat and make the meat juicy then an hour on a low-medium heat and Bob's your Uncle apparently.  I even got John to weigh the joint first to ensure we had the absolute correct cooking times.

We were serving with roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots, green beans, peas and red cabbage, red wine gravy and Yorkshire puddings - mainly thanks to the fact we had quite a lot of veggies left over from Christmas Day.

Well that's it - I have been sacked from the kitchen - John is now Chef Supreme - his rib of beef was just to die for - even the crispy fat on the outside!!!!

It was a really successful meal and Mum was doubly happy because John had made a banana cake yesterday and that was our pud heated with a spot of cream or in Mum's case a lot of cream!!  It is good to see her eat and enjoy!

We spent the remainder of the time with Mum watching the Darts before she decided that the weather was closing in and she should make her way back home.  I was glad she was sensible about that because we do worry about her on the journey back on her own and always breathe a sigh of relief when she texts to say she is back and all is well - which she did and she also reported that the other cat that comes and sits outside who she has called "Prince" has also returned since she has been away.

I have to admit I succumbed to a snooze after she had contact us and poor John put himself through the Man City v SUFC game which was full of controversy and once again marred by some dodgy decisions.  I had hoped for a decent night's sleep but the weather put paid to that.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.