Easy & Tasty Roast

Winter Warmers: an easy to cook hearty roast dinner meal, full of all natural ingredients & goodness. A nourishing, tasty, comforting & satisfyingly filling dish for all of the family. 
Roast veggies & boiled veggies served with roast chicken & Yorkshire puds with an easy but  delicious gravy.
 Utensils  
Potato peeler, sharp vegetable knives, fork, scales, potato masher, large jug, saucepans, roasting tin, large ovenproof dish, colander, runner beans grate/cutter.
Ingredients
Large Chicken. 
Yorkshire Puddings: Plain Flour, Salt, Milk, Water, Eggs. (ratio of flour to eggs which works for me every time is for every 4oz flour use 2 eggs) 
Veggies to Roast: Potatoes (Maris Piper), Parsnips, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Celeriac.

Accompanying Veggies to Boil: Broccoli, Runner Beans.

Step by Step Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Remove chicken from wrapping & packaging. Rinse thoroughly under running cold water. Add to large roasting dish/tin. Raise onto a gridded tray if you prefer so the bird sits above the juices as opposed to in them, but each to their own so adapt to suit your taste buds. Add chicken in the roasting tin onto the middle shelf of the already heated oven.

Wash the chicken, inside & out then season with salt & pepper.

• Arrange all roasting veggies onto clean work surface. (potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips & celeriac) Prepare accordingly. Peel & cut into required portion sizes. 

Peel, rinse & cut vegetables. Potatoes first, then carrots & parsnips. Add to a saucepan of cold salted water. Add lid. Bring to the boil then simmer for between 10-15 mins depending upon portion size. Once potatoes are tender to the touch with a sharp knife but without breaking up. Drain the hot potatoes into a large colander, remember to give a gentle shake so the potatoes become nice & unevenly fluffy. Add then to a large, oiled, roasting dish. The remaining potatoes water add into a large jug to use later as part of the gravy. 

• Next prepare the carrots & parsnips, top, tail then peel.  Diagonally half the carrots or leave full size. Cut the thinnest end of the parsnips off & then half the remaining portion. Add both to the same saucepan of cold, salted water. Add lid, bring to the boil & simmer for 5 mins. Drain & add to roasting dish alongside the potatoes.

• Prepare & peel the sweet potatoes & celeriac. Half the sweet potatoes, or quarter depending upon size. The celeriac is easier if you just cut off the portion size required, then peel it  & then chop. Add both to saucepan of salted cold water, bring to the boil for 5 mins then drain immediately. The reason I do these two veggies last is because the celeriac & sweet potatoes require far less cooking time than the potatoes, carrots & parsnips. 

Peel & chop sweet potatoes

Cut portion size, peel & dice.

• Drain the tender vegetables, add the flavoursome veggie water to the gravy jug. Add the portions of tender celeriac & sweet potatoes to the roasting dish alongside the parsnips, carrots & potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over all of the veggies. Add the roasting dish full of veggies to the hot oven. 

Par Boiled Veggies for Roasting.

Drain potatoes, keep water, gently shake & add to - cold or warmed - oil in roasting dish.

• Next make the Yorkshire pudding batter. I use the ratio of 4oz plain flour with 2 eggs. First have large jug, weigh 4 oz plain flour, sieve flour (if you prefer)  into the jug. Make a well in the centre of the flour. Add the 2 eggs. With a fork stir in the egg. Add milk slowly & keep mixing constantly with fork. Once the flour is almost dissolved, use large whisk. Add pinch of salt. Add dash of cold water & whisk, Batter should be a of a thinnish consistency.

Yorkshire pudding ingredients 

Yorkshire Pudding Batter 

• Pop the jug of Yorkshire pudding batter to one side.
• Next prepare the shallots for caramelising. top, tail & peel, but in half then add to med size tin foil piece. Place shallots in to the centre of the foil sheet, spray with oil then seal foil into a closed pouch. Add to oven. 
• Now prepare the veggies for boiling. Top, tail & peel (just down the sides) the runner beans. Then pop through a runner bean cutter. Makes them taste beautifully tender without any stringiness. Add to salted, cold water for the time being, until ready to cook when they will require boiling water.

Runner Beans & Cutter

Sliced Runner Beans in Saucepan of Salted Cold Water.

• Prepare broccoli, cut into required portion size & amount. We love the broccoli storks but some prefer only the florets. Add to cold water until required for cooking. Just like runner beans, boiling water is added to the broccoli

• When chicken is cooked, when only clear juices run when pricked with skewer or fork, remove from oven to allow to rest. Turn oven up to 200oC. Remove roasting vegetable, with a large flat slotted turner pop underneath the veggies & turn over all of the veggies so they can evenly roast. Drizzle again with Olive Oil if necessary or you can use some of the flavoursome chicken juices.
• Pour a little oil, or small knob of Trex (or any hard vegetable fat)  into each Yorkshire pudding tin. Pop onto top shelf of the oven & allow oil to heat up throughly , until blue smoke rises.
• Whisk Yorkshire pudding mix ready to pour into each individual Yorkshire pudding mould. I use one that serves 12 individual Yorkshires. sometimes I do one large one in a roasting tin.

Hot hot hot oil, must be hot or Yorkshires wont rise.

• Once blue haze of smoke is rising from oil in Yorkshire pudding tins, pour batter into each mould as quickly as possible. Return to top shelf of the oven. set timer for 20 minutes.
• Now boil the kettle, empty cold water from runner beans & broccoli. Add pinch of salt to both saucepans. Add boiling water to runner beans & cook on stove with the lid on . 
• Using the surplus veggie water saved in jug, add it to another saucepan & bring to boil. Add stock cube or/& gravy powder. Whisk until all powders are dissolved. Pour the hot gravy water into the empty Yorkshire pudding jug, whisk so all remaining batter dissolves into gravy. Add gravy bacvk into saucepan & continue simmering & stirring.
• Boil kettle again, add boiling water to broccoli. add pinch of salt, pop onto stove bring to boil then simmer.

• Carve chicken, turn Yorkshire puddings & roast veggies, Add plates to warm in oven ready to serve,
• Drain broccoli, add little juice to gravy, drain runner beans again add a little of the runner bean water to gravy.  Return veggies to saucepan seal & keep heat in with lid on.
• Remove all plates & serving dishes from the oven, serve & enjoy!!

Hope you enjoy this traditional, old fashioned family roast dinner. As you can see its easy to prepare, cook yet very tasty. Recipe can be adapted to suit taste buds.