Weekly Sunday roasts are such a thing of the past. Bless the baby-boomer generation who still laboriously graft on a Sunday to make that special family meal every week. Although, I suppose they can if they’ve retired in their late 50s while I’ll be dragged out of my work in a coffin at 79 (apart from my lovely mother who’s still working). However, for us, we like to catch up on all the fun cooking we haven’t been able to do during the week so the roast comes down quite far on the list. But today is a crappy January day and I’m hungover and he’s been at work- so it was a prefect day for it. 

  My mum makes a banging roast- whose mum doesn’t? It is one of those meals you learn to make before those apron strings are cut loose even if learning just means getting spanked for nicking some meat as they carve it! My stipulations for the perfect roast are: be slightly hungover in order to have a more patient, laid back approach; give yourself ages in order to cook everything to perfection and do it in your pjs- if you have company you’re not willing wear your pjs in front of then they don’t deserve your roast.

  I feel like I’ve really nailed down a good beef roast. I know people are very territorial about their roasts but if you’re not, or just starting out, then pinch some tips from me.

Roast Beef

Preheat your oven to 200c. You have to think about your homemade gravy game early on. Slice a carrot in half, chop and onion into six and whatever other veggies you’re using. Lay them flat on a baking tray and put your joint of beef on top. Try to keep the veg snug under the beef so it doesn’t catch while the beef cooks (you’ll use this for the gravy). Put a pinch or two of sea salt and a generous grind of pepper on the beef. Cook for 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes for every 500g. When the beef is done- wrap it in foil and then wrap in a tea towel and leave to rest in a warm place until ready to serve and carve. 

Parsnips

Peel and slice the parsnips in half. Put in a pan of salted, boiling water for five minutes. Meanwhile, put a clove of crushed garlic, a teaspoon of fresh or dried thyme and a tablespoon of oil (I like rapeseed) on a baking tray. Drain the ‘nips and put them on the tray and toss in the mixture. Cook them while the beef is cooking because they won’t burn at 200c but caramelise nicely. 

Carrots

Do exactly the same as the parsnips but use honey, rapeseed oil and English mustard. They’ll take longer than the parsnips so try and cram them in the oven too and leave them for a while longer. 

Perfect Roast Potatoes

Half fill a pan with salted water and heat up while you prep your spuds. Peel and halve your potatoes. Add to the pan and par-boil for no more than ten minutes. But about 75g of butter on a baking tray with a generous pinch of salt and preheat in the oven. Drain your potatoes and allow to cool for about five minutes. Take the tray out and roll each potato in the butter. Give the tray a shake so the spuds don’t stick and put in the oven at about 220c. Take out and turn the potatoes about every 15 minutes and just give them ages to go golden brown all over.

Gravy from scratch 

I love a bit of Bisto but he’s taught me how to make it from scratch. Use the veg from the bottom of the beef roasting tray and scrape out any of the nice juices. Discard any burnt veg because it’ll wreck the flavour. Put it in a pan and warm it up. Stir in two beef stock cubes or jellies. Add two tablespoons of your Yorkshire pudding batter and stir again. I use about 750ml of the parsnip and carrot water and slowly pour that in while stirring. Get a hand blender and blitz the large veg. Then run it through acolander and reheat before serving. Always ‘flash’ your gravy jug with hot water before putting the gravy in.

Yorkshire Puddings

These are from BBC good food and they’re the perfect recipe. They never fail!

• 4 eggs
• 140g flour
• 200ml milk

I make the batter at the beginning of the roast journey and let the mixture settle. Whisk the eggs and flour until smooth. Then gradually whisk in the milk bit by bit until you have a smooth batter. The yorkies are the last thing to go on. Preheat the oven to 230c. Put a teaspoon of butter (for browning) and a teaspoon of oil (for even cooking) and in each YP slot (I use the four large tray). Heat in the oven until fizzing hot and smoking a little. Fill each slot in the tray and cook for 25 mins or until crisp and golden brown.

Horseradish Sauce

I never make this but horseradish is in season at the moment and it really was child’s play. Put a pot of sour cream in a bowl. Grate 1/3 cup of horseradish and put in the bowl. Add a teaspoon of white wine vinegar and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Whisk until smooth and creamy and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to let the flavours come through. 

Lastly, let someone else wash up!