Monday, 25th Dec 2006

Made a trip to Seria to spend the day with the children's grents. I brought roast beef, roast potatoes and peas with bacon. Picked up the turkey before we made the long (well short to some) trip down. The car was loaded down with food, the enormous turkey, assorted gravies, my food, children's extra clothes and games.

Here's a pic of my roast beef when it came out of the oven. SS had some small cuts which I spotted on Sunday and this little cut provided enough meat for all 7 of us.

And here's my no fail recipe of herb crusted slow roast beef.

Add breadcrumbs, some flour, grainy mustard, powder mustard, parsley, mixed herbs, chopped garlic, salt and a lot of black pepper, and olive oil into a bowl. Roughly mix together. Rub black pepper all over the beef. Then pat the breadcrumb mixture all over the meat - use disposable gloves as it can be quite a messy job.

Cut some onions into wedges, secure the meat on top of the onions, cover loosely with foil, plonk into hot oven. Make sure meat is at room temperature. Highish heat (umm, mark 8??) for 20 minutes, lower to mark 5/6 for next hour or so). Test with metal skewer. If juices run clear, its medium well, if light pink, it's medium, if red, you better stick it back in for a bit longer. I like my beef rare so this is the result. Don't forget to let the beef rest for at least half an hour and an hour if you can wait that long before slicing into thin slices. If you look closely, you can see some of the crispy breadcrumb mixture clinging to the fat...

Serve with hot English mustard and a hefty glass of cabernet. aahh...

I sliced the whole turkey and we had 2 plates of dark and white meat. It was so-so. I can quite understand why a lot of people do not like turkey as it's not an easy bird to handle, dry papery slices of meat is an image conjured up by some. But done correctly, turkey can be tender & juicy and so flavourful.

I made some peppersauce to go with the beef.

It's quite easy too - just loosen all the bits and pieces from the roasting pan with some water and pour into a saucepan. Don't forget the by now caramelised onions and the loose breadcrumbs on the pan. Boil to concentrate flavours. Add more coarsley ground black pepper. Add more parsley & mixed herbs. Add cream and stir till smooth, thick and glossy. You can always cheat with a teaspoon of Bisto to thicken and to add more flavour to the sauce.

Make more than you need as the sauce get to used on pastas (add some fresh white button mushrooms) or pour any meat (works great with roast chicken too). Hazel loves it on her peas.

This is petit pois in a bacon breadcrumb mixture. Fry bacon pieces till crispy. Drain on kitchen paper. In bacon oil (don't scream), add chopped onions, fry till translucent, add bit salt & pepper, breadcrumbs, olive oil and some butter. Add bacon pieces, and fry till breadcrumbs are crunchy and crispy. Boil peas briefly, drain well and toss bacon mixture into peas. Serve.

Roast potatoes.

The greens.

Overall table shot. From top (l - r) - chestnut stuffing, hot mustard, roast beef, roast turkey, cranberry jelly, peas, greens, mushroom sauce, thyme glace, cranberry sauce, potatoes in the centre. Pepper sauce still being heated up in the microwave.