My ultimate roast dinner

I love a roast dinner and count it as a treat!  Though you can do a healthy version with boiled baby spuds, chicken and loads of veg, you can’t beat the ultimate roast dinner of a ham joint, veg, parsnips and potatoes roasted in goose fat!  I cooked this for Christmas and for Mother’s Day too- it’s perfect every time!

For the gammon:

Ingredients:

A 1 kg unsmoked gammon joint (I use the £4.75 from Aldi- BARGAIN!)

A litre of apple cider

2 carrots, sliced

2 sticks of celery, diced

1 onion, halved

4 cloves

A teaspoon of juniper berries

Method:

1.        Place the gammon joint into the slow cooker.  Add the carrots, juniper berries and celery.

2.       Peel the onion and cut in half.  Make 2 small cuts into each half of the onion and stuff with the cloves. Place into the slow cooker.

3.       Pour in the cider, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Delicious hot, cold, the night after or on a sandwich!

For the roast spuds/ parsnips

Ingredients:

Maris Piper potatoes/ parsnips (however many you feel you need)

A jar of goose fat (usually from Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi sometimes too)

Coarse sea salt

Method:

1.        Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, then peel your potatoes/ parsnips and cut into your regular, roast potato size/ shape!

2.       Place in a pan of COLD water, bring the potatoes to the boil and parboil for about 10 mins.  Strain the potatoes in a colander and give them a good shake to ‘fluff’ them up- this will make them even crispier! Do the same with the parsnips.

3.       Heat about 3 tablespoons of goose fat in a tin in the pre-heated oven until it has melted.  Then, taking a few of the boiled potatoes/ parsnips at a time, douse them in the goose fat, ensuring they are coated, then transfer onto a baking tray. Use forks for this as any excess fat will drain from the potatoes more than it would if you were using a spoon- you don’t want the potatoes swimming in goose fat when they are on the baking tray!

4.       Place your potatoes in the oven for about 45 mins, turn them over about halfway through cooking.  The parsnips probably only take about 20 mins and should also be turned halfway through cooking so they go nice and crisp! Sprinkle with sea salt before serving.

So this was my super easy Mother’s Day dinner, served with carrots and peas and gravy too of course:

Dessert

Dessert was also a full sugar Victoria sponge cake.  I used the recipe from Gizzi Erskine’s book and gave it plenty ofstrawberry jam and whipped cream.  I used fresh strawberries and blueberries for the topping, sweetened with a sprinkle of icing sugar.  I did put a thin layer of cream on top of the cake too to help the fruit stick.  It was soooooo yummy!!

This dinner is certainly something that I could eat everyday, but would be the size of a house if I did!  Happy, healthy eating means moderation, so if you're good most of the time, make sure ypu enjoy this ultimate roast and dessert one night!

Happy eating!