AWESOME ENGLISH BIRTHDAY DINNER

Sunday was my husband Roland's birthday.  We don't do a big deal around presents, but I do always like to cook a 'meal of choice.' Roland's request - a British roast dinner.  And so it was - prime rib roast, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, and glazed carrots.  His request for a birthday cake was "not chocolate." My daughter certainly couldn't understand that - she was all ready to bake her favorite sour cream chocolate cake for him.  His opinion ruled (it was his birthday, after all).  So it was that I had tremendous fun making a coconut cake, with coconut rum buttercream frosting.


There's nothing complicated about cooking any of the pieces of a roast meal.  Roast potatoes, for example -  cut up the potatoes, put them in the oven with some olive oil or chicken fat, turn them occasionally until crispy.  The difficulty is in the timing - getting the potatoes, meat, and sides all ready at the same time.  This time, I thought I had it all organized.  However, even the best laid plans...the meat took forty minutes longer than anticipated to cook.


I was very glad I hadn't invited friends to share dinner - nothing is more stressful than keeping guests waiting.  As it was, I realized I was going to be behind schedule and applied some culinary first aid.  The carrots, already cooked, kept perfectly well at room temperature and could be finished at the last minute.  I removed the potatoes when they were about 2/3 of the way cooked.  Roland made some basic gravy with roux, chicken stock and whiskey, which needed only the addition of beef juices at the last minute.  The yorkshire pudding batter, once mixed, does better for waiting around.  


When the meat was finally done (crisp and brown on the outside, beautiful rare on the inside), I let it sit while I blasted the heat in the oven.  The drippings/fat from the beef went into the already-hot baking dish, with the pudding batter poured on top.  Then the pudding and the potatoes went into the hot oven for twenty minutes, while the meat rested to perfection. The carrots were reheated and had a just-before-serving sprinkle of lemon juice and parsley (the parsley found under the snow which covered our garden that day... October surprises in Colorado).  The gravy was fine tuned.  The potatoes came out crispy on the outside, melting and soft on the inside. The pudding rose to glorious heights.   And the cake...well, I always start cooking my meals with the important things first - so dessert had been long ago baked, cooled, frosted and decorated with roast hazelnuts  and toasted coconut flakes.


British cooking has a bad reputation - boring overcooked food, people say.  From my experience living there, nothing could be further from the truth.  British cooking, at its best, exemplifies all that is coming back into fashion here in the US with the slow/local food movement - locally grown and raised products cooked simply.  


For recipe references, I recommend Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's The River Cottage Meat Book (good for basic roasting references).  For the cake, I am indebted, as always, to Nigella Lawson - in this instance, for her Coconut Cake in How to be a Domestic Goddess.  The carrots are from Jane Grigson's Good Things, long out of print and recently republished.  In 1971, Jane Grigson wrote "a book about enjoying food"  in which she espoused the joys of cooking simply using seasonal, local ingredients.  This book has been on my shelf for over twenty years.  I have many favorites, and still find new things to try.


My recommendation - buy the best quality ingredients for a roast dinner.  Grass fed beef or lamb, a free-range chicken or piece of pork - these give the best flavor and nutrition.  Fats from animals raised in a healthy manner (ie good, natural diet and ability to move) are actually healthy - including necessary omega-3's; fats from commercial animals contain accumulations of the toxins fed to the animals.  A small piece of excellent meat goes a long way.  Supplement it with potatoes (great fiber and many micro-nutrients, especially if you leave the skin on) and plenty of vegetables - and you really do have a healthy and wonderful meal.  As for the pudding and cake - well, both really do require white flour, and the cake needs white sugar as well.  However, what is life without joyous food - including an occasional indulgence!