Traditional Roast Beef And Yorkshire Puddings

Many of my previous posts have been on the subject of processed food which I know hasn't made for easy reading! Of all the people I've spoken to recently the overriding reasons the majority rely on ready meals are: lack of time, and confidence.

The tempo of modern life has accelerated beyond our grandmother's wildest imagination. We have  become increasingly out of touch with the biological rhythms of our planet, human time is no longer as strongly connected to the incoming and outgoing tides, the rising and setting of the sun, and the changing seasons.

Nowadays we all have an invisible stopwatch ticking away, even when we're supposed to be having fun. Cooking has been relegated not to the back burner but to the microwave! Consequently people have either never learnt to cook or have forgotten how.

Ironically technology should have freed up our time! A generation ago we didn't have all the mod cons, dishwashers, automatic washing machines, microwaves, computers. However, we live in a speed up society, always rushing to do the next thing, throw a dinner in the microwave, eat it as quickly as possible, stack the plates in the dishwasher, rush, rush, there's emails to respond to, facebook to look on, two hundred TV channels to watch!

I personally have found that the best way to scale back was to find more time to cook. Ok I no longer work so I have time on my hands, but in the evening as a way of relaxing I turn off my computer and mobile phone and set aside a couple of hours where I spend time in my kitchen cooking nice meals which we sit down to enjoy in an un rushed way.

We need to re learn slow can be beautiful, taking time to do things such as cooking a nice meal for our family should outweigh spending time on our computers and smartphones even if we can only accomplish this a couple of times a week.

I've spoken before about the average modern day woman's repertoire, spag bol, pizza, chilli.................roast dinners are a dying tradition and many young women are nervous of cooking joints of meat. Possibly the most famous of all English dishes, traditionally served on Sunday, is roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and lashings of gravy. I'm not suggesting this as a midweek meal, although roast dinners are extremely easy to cook, they are time consuming, but as a way of kicking back and enjoying something that is 'heaven forbid!' Time consuming, assembling this delicious dinner is well worth the effort.

Roast beef and all the trimmings

Recipe
3 1b piece of boneless roasting beef
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven 190c/gas 5
Massage olive oil into the meat, season and place in a roasting dish, loosely cover with foil and place in oven
Cook for half an hour and reduce heat to 170/gas 3, the roast should take a further 1 1/2 hours
Meanwhile peel and chop 500g potatoes, cover with boiling water from the kettle, on a high heat boil for 8 minutes
Drain potatoes and set aside

Yorkshire puddings
1 mug of plain flour
1 mug of milk
1 egg
Put the flour, egg and milk in a large bowl and whisk
Add a little oil to a Yorkshire tin in each compartment, heat in the oven
When smoking hot, half fill each compartment with batter, place in oven for 15 minutes until risen and golden

Set Yorkshires to one side
When the beef has cooked for 1 1/2 hours remove foil, add potatoes to baking dish and baste in the oil and beef juices
Return to oven for 30 minutes until potatoes are crisp and golden

When the beef is cooked, leave it to rest tented in tin foil for 10 minutes before carving
Remove potatoes and set to one side
In the roasting dish stir in a tablespoon of flour, scrape up all the meaty bits in your dish and gradually, over a low heat, stir in a glass of red wine, turn the heat up and reduce by half, stir in 300ml beef stock, reduce heat and simmer until thick and shiny

Serve with vegetables of your choice which you can cook whilst the meat is in the oven. You can now plate up and return the plated dinners to the oven for 5 minutes to heat through before serving

I always add some port and cranberry sauce to my gravy to make it rich, sticky and delicious.

'Remember, 'no one's more important than people'! In other words, family and friendship is the most important thing- not career or housework or one's fatigue- and this needs to be tended and nurtured'
- Julia Child

Love Donna xxxxxx