Not just about drinking

As we were on our way back to the Hitchin base the other day, S asked whether there were plans for Christmas lunch (silly boy, I'm a project manager, of course there's a plan).

We celebrate our downtime at Christmas very simply.  We hole up in a house/cottage/apartment somewhere in the country, batten down the hatches and make the most of not working.  Days typically involve some walking, a pub (or two) and return to base to eat.

Of late, we've become specialist in cooking that's ready when we come back from the pub (greatest triumph was the Lancashire Hotpot that we prepared when we got back from a day of hard manual labour, put in the oven and then popped out to the pub for a couple).

So S says "you should write a book about meals that can cook themselves whilst we're at the pub".

I'm not sure about book - but adding it to the blog felt like a good idea.

So - the first one might as well be seasonal.

The official Christmas lunch type thing is quite tricky to just leave to its own devices - birds have a tendency to dry out.  Not only that, but turkeys are just too big for us.  So - this year we're having pork. 

Belly pork will tolerate a lot of slow cooking so it'll go into the oven, just seasoned with some salt and pepper (no extra fat needed) on a slowish oven (about 175-degC) just as we go out for our walk.  Spuds will have been peeled and left in a little cold water.

Two - three hours will have passed before we get back, I expect (this isn't very time critical, thankfully).  When we get back, we'll pop the spuds on to parboil; whack the oven up to about 220deg; take the foil off the pork to allow the crackling to  do its thing and put a roasting tray in the oven with some of the melted fat from the pork poured into it.

By the time the spuds are soft on the outside but not cooked through the fat on the tray will be very hot.  We'll drain the spuds, let the dry a bit and shake them to rough up the edges.  They'll be tipped into the fat and left to roast for about 40 mins (turning once, probably). 

About the same time, the pork can come out to be rested and the rest of the veg prepped and cooked.  Gravy will come from the meat juices and vegetable water and we'll be good to go.

If you don't want pork, try lamb shoulder done much the same way. 

Not strictly a "when we get back" meal in total, but it's close as I reckon you can get for a celebratory/Sunday meal.

Mmmm....looking forward to it already.