Chapter Seven:

The Crackin' West Country Roast Dinner.

Now, this is the post most people I know have been waiting for. Mrs Marsh's Home cooking is the main idea behind my blog and this is one of Mrs Marsh's top jobs. I went home to catch up with my Nan and family for Mother's day and this is the best dish we have both cooked together yet. I even managed to get her to re-master the famous 'Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie'.

Mother's Day card I designed for My Nan.

 

With these cookbooks my Nan and myself created the dinner with all the trimmings. Since my Nan has Irish heritage we decided to roasted potatoes and to add the 'west country' to the meal I decided a Cauliflower Cheese would be suitable to add to the trimmings. We used the big book of knowledge (or I did) to find out the directions on cooking the two meat joints. I decided to use pork and turkey, only down to the fact my Dad isn't a great fan of turkey so its a must that you have to please every diner in Mrs Marsh's kitchen.

However with this dish, I always have memories of the meat being the part of the meal, I enjoy yet always found the scariest part. I wanted to do this dish for the family and mostly because it is the main meal I firstly remember that makes me reminisce about living at home with Nan and everyone. Sundays were not days just to catch up on work but they were for catching up with everyone and chatting about the week or watching a film on the telly waiting for Nan to finish making the roast. Nan always was the main chef in the kitchen and my brother or Mum occasionally helped. I, on the other hand used to watch and wait to see if I could pinch a 'pigs in blanket' before Nan saw.
The raw meat has not always been my favourite sight to see in the kitchen, it always makes me feel like I should turn vegetarian when I have to deal with cooking it, however when it comes to the tasting after its cooked. Well that's a different story.
This does reminds me of a scenario in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, where she describes the killing of a carp in the style of a detective novel. I found this cookbook really entertaining and it is one of my inspirations for my blog as well, as I like her anecdotal style of writing. In the chapter called "Murder in the Kitchen" she says
  "The first victim was a lively carp brought to the kitchen in a covered basket from which nothing could escape...So quickly to the murder and have it over with...Limp, I fell into a chair, with my hands unwashed and reached for a cigarette, lighted it and waited for the police to take me into custody."

It is one of the most famous parts of her cookbook along with the recipe for Haschich Fudge which my Nan probably wouldn't approve of! I find her style of memoir very interesting as she relates all of the parts to actual personal accounts. 

Therefore, with this I wanted to discuss how much the roast dinner symbolises my family connections and how it represents memories of when I was younger. Not just how it symbolises the epitome of all British dishes. However the detective part of my family dinner would be me trying to sneak a bit of meat or a sausage without Nan finding out or feeling guilty because I eating a freshly cooked, maybe even killed piece of animal!

My Nan always says that her inspiration for cooking came from her own mother Mrs Roach and her love of cooking in lessons at school. Infact my Nan always claims that I am rather like her mother in the sense that we share the same eating habits. When I was younger I have to admit I was a nightmare with food and very fussy! I have some family pictures to share...

This is me, being me when I was younger, my brother, Mrs Marsh and Uncle Stephen (My Nan's son).

The young lady in my Great Nan's arms is my Mum. And the boy on the top right is my Uncle Stephen. 

This is my dinner and this time round when I cooked it I managed to get 3 'pigs in blankets'. I really enjoyed cooking this with my Nan as I felt that I was 'adult' enough to actually make most of it. I let Nan do the veg, but I did manage to do the meat, roast potatoes/ parsnips and the cauliflower cheese.  With roast dinners, even Mrs Isabella Beeton discusses that they really bring the family together on the day yet they always produce enough food to put into other dishes for the rest of the week. Thus, I decided to incorporate the recipe for Cauliflower Cheese.
This dish is still a 'Monday night' dish for Nan as she uses the leftover veg and meat to dish up dinner for the family on Monday nights as my parents both work very late on Mondays.
With my recipe for Cauliflower Cheese:

I like to add in 1 whole leek to give a nice spring to the flavour. My Nan was really surprised with this addition and approved. Remember set your oven to 200 degrees centigrade and get it warmed up so the cheese can melt to perfection.

Make the 'roux' for the cheese sauce. Now as you can see this was my Nan's job. I am still mastering this technique.

 Add two tablespoons of Philadelphia cheese to add 'creaminess' to the cauliflower, leeks and the 'greenage'.

Pour the sauce over the veg and make sure it is a oven-safe dish. Make sure its all equal over the veg and spread it flat with a spoon.

Leave in the oven for a good 20-30 minutes and sprinkle some more parmesan and cheddar to make it nice and crispy.

Stay tuned for Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie....