When i was growing up my ‘nanny’ used to be a big part of my life, she babysat for my brother and I when we were young, I have lots of childhood memories at my grandparents house. My brother had a brown teddy on his single bed and mine was white, we both had candy striped flannelette sheets with electric blankets to keep us warm.
‘Nanny’ and ‘Gramp’ would always have a Sunday roast, as a child and teenager I would go there for lunch with my parents but when I left home I would be cheeky and just turn up as would be cousins, uncles and aunts, you’d never knew how many would be there to eat and we’d all just drop in around lunch time knowing a roast would be almost ready – what a bunch of chancers we were!
But they loved having a full house and there was always enough for everybody!
I ‘think’ it was a generation thing or maybe not ha ha that the vegetables were boiled and over cooked but they were so nice. My memory and love of vegetables back then were that they were soft. So my recipe to remember has been adapted slightly to steam the vegetables so they still have their crunch! The meat of choice was always beef and was always slow cooked so that was always soft to match the veg!!! The roast potatoes were my favourite and cooked in the beef dripping, after cooking the beef the fat would be saved and stored in a tupperware container to cook the roast potatoes the following week – they were delicious, I could of eaten just a plate of of roasties.
My old ‘Gramp’ died of lung cancer and my lovely ‘Nanny’ has dementia and is now being cared for, my mum visits her everyday but brings her home for a roast every Sunday, so the story goes on…
Beef dripping roast potatoes:
Ingredients:
4-5 tablespoons of beef dripping
2kg of floury potatoes (depending how many people turn up to eat)
Generous pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220c
Peel and chop the potatoes into equal size pieces
In cold water bring the potatoes to the boil and boil for 10 minutes
Meanwhile heat the dripping in a oven roasting tray
Drain the potatoes and leave to air dry for approx. 10 minutes
Gently add the potatoes to the dripping in the oven roasting tray
Roast for 45 minutes, then toss in the dripping and add back to the oven for approx 15 minutes to desired crispiness
Enjoy with roast beef and all the trimmings.