Weekend Roast
There’s nothing like an old school roast on a cool winter Sunday. A centrepiece of a pie or a nutty roast surrounded by at least 4 veggies including a pile of crispy roasties is the business. And not forgetting the gravy unless your pie is heavy on rich juices. I must have had this for Sunday lunch all through my growing up (although meat was the centrepiece) and it was a time of gentle overindulgence and tasty food. Because it was always big on veg it’s an easy one to make for us plant lovers.
The trad lunch however requires a bit of time and planning. So how about a simplified version that has all the best of a roast dinner without the same time commitment?
Now that vegan sausages have so improved in the UK at least, they make an easy centrepiece. Cook them in one pan with a variety of veg that you should find throughout the year.
I serve this with a red gravy (see separate recipe) - red onions and red wine - or sometimes with a salsa verde (see separate recipe) which gives an amazing lift to the dish with it’s sharp, vinegary notes. This also has echoes of the mint sauce we used to eat with lamb so a jar of shop bought mint sauce is also a good contender as an accompaniment.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Oil for roasting
2 tbsp soya sauce
Rind of 1 lemon, grated
2 star anise
2 good pinches red chilli
salt and pepper
6 medium sized potatoes, halved or quartered depending on size, I use the Black Shetland variety)
8 vegan sausages
1 pink onion, halved and cut into eighths
2/3 medium raw beetroot, peeled, halved and cut into eights
2 large carrots, peeled, quartered and cut into chunks
1 fennel, outside leaves removed and quartered or cut into quarters or eighths
Method
Gently boil the halved potatoes for 10 minutes, drain and let stand for 5 mins until they are quite dry.
Heat the oven to 210C/185Cfan/410F.
Put the rest of the veggies into a large roasting tin ideally in one layer, with the oil. Turn them over and over in the oil until they are glistening.
Add the soya sauce, the rind of a lemon, the star anise, the red chilli and some salt and pepper and stir again.
Turn the potatoes in some oil on a separate plate then perch them on the top of the other veg. They should stand aloof so that they really crisp up. Put in the oven for 20 minutes.
Turn over the potatoes making sure they are still standing up from the rest of the veg and then tuck the sausages in alongside the potatoes exposed to the air so that they, too, brown.
Cook for another 30 minutes by which time the potatoes and the sausages should have crisped up and the other veg became soft. If the veg are not soft put the tray back in the oven for 10 minutes and check again.
Pile all the veg, minus the potatoes, either in individual bowls or on a large serving plate. Place the crispy potatoes and sausages on the top.
Serve with a large jug of red gravy in the middle of the table and let everyone tuck in. The room should fall silent.
