Along with everyone else, I've a big case of the blahs the last few weeks. We're back to 50/50 home/office working from next week, which is welcome in some respects (we get to reopen our museum for the first time since March 2020!) but a nuisance in others (commuting on a reduced train schedule, sigh).
There have been quite a few dumplings in recent meals, but sometimes you have to go the (nearly) full roast dinner for true comfort food. This meal has a bit of a backstory...
Before Christmas sometime, I roasted a small-ish acorn (maybe) squash for dinner. (I think I served them with Liz's speltotto, which was lovely.) Upon seeing two circular halves with concave centres resting on a baking sheet the Chap exclaimed, "Ooh! Yorkshire puddings!". Imagine his poor face when it turned out only to be squash. After such a disappointment, I had to get round to making actual Yorkshire puds at some point.
And thus was this veggie roast dinner conceived: roast cauliflower 'steaks' (yeah, I know, but it works), yorkies, roast sprouts (not beige), pureed parsnips and bisto gravy (not quite beige, and not actually veggie).
The parso idea was courtesy non other that Monty Don, who pulled some parsnips from his veg patch in the Gardeners' World Christmas special and announced that his favourite way to eat them is pureed with plenty of butter. Intriguing, no? So these were boiled to within an inch of their lives, drained, and then simmered and mashed up with milk, butter, salt and lots of white pepper. It is a success, and works very well as a textural contrast against lots of roast things. It ought to be terribly bland, but is actually comforting, not overly sweet and splendidly hearty.
The cauli was topped with grated cheddar mixed with Dijon mustard, then roast on high for 20 minutes.
And the Yorkies were a voyage of discovery: never before have I made them. I think I wanted less batter for the tin space available, as they took quite a bit of cooking to get past the instantly-soggy-once-removed-from-the-oven stage, but that's easily sortable because the recipe used 2 eggs and can therefore be easily halved. They rose like beauties, though, and looked for a while like they'd take over the oven.
I strongly suspect this meal will return soon. (And I don't just mean the leftovers I'm having for lunch.)
Magnificent! Although less so re acorn squash disappointment. It's a lovely thing in itself but I'm delighted it inspired your Yorkshires.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been back to office full time since last autumn. I’ve to say that it’s difficult: I’m more tired and stressed than I used to be. Although re opening Archives was great. I hope your returning will be better!
ReplyDeleteYorkshire puddings: I’ve never made them yet because I’m really afraid of burning myself when you’ve to remove the tray with hot oil from the oven.