Roast dinner for 13!

Rainy-Days

Sandy - you have two ovens? I am not sure why in that case you would cook the meat the day before! I would use one of the ovens specifically for the meat, it won't need allot of tending to at all. Then your other oven can be used for roast potatoes and Yorkshires. You can easily prepare the potatoes now cook them, let them cool and then freeze them. That way all you will have to do is put them into roasting trays on the day for about 40 minutes - and you can forget about those.

Do your batter the day before hand and leave it in the fridge. Take it out on the morning and give it another good mix through. You are letting your gluten settle which will make for way easier cooking on the day. Do individual Yorks, whack the oven up and those will not need a huge amount of fadding over either.

First thing in the morning do the veg and leave it in big bowls with cold water in.

Then I am assuming you are having gravy and Horseraddish (might want to add mustard as well just in case) - you can buy that in or make your own, but again the day before on this won't hurt at all.

Get the meat out of the oven say 40 mintues before hand let it 'rest' for a good 30 minutes and then carve it and actually you can carve that as you go along with the plates.

I did a huge sit down session in August this year and I used my island in the kitchen as the central point. I had all my serving dishes and plates in the oven warming through. I then put everything veg and roast potatoes in the serving dishes and put those on the island, then DH just carved up the meat as we went along and everybody helped themselves to what they wanted. Some wanted meat from the end, others wanted it from the middle and we found that compromise and it worked really well. We had a fair amount left over and evrybody had a good amount on their plates.

Make use of that second oven because it will be your saviour and believe me it will work to your advantage. I have a four oven AGA and Christmas Day it just really comes into it's own.

dreamywings1

The night before
cook meat and prepare yorkie mix
prep and cook veggies till al dent strain off cooking water but dont throw it away. Cool down veggies under cold running water.then place in container, cover with cling film and refrigerate.
Peel potatoes and par boil if making roasties drain cool then refrigerate.
Make gravy if making your own from scratch or omit this if using bisto as this can be made just before you serve dinner.
Slice meat and put into baking tin and cover with some of the veggie cooking water. Cover with foil
Lay table.

1 hour before serving lunch put roasties in oven,
25 mins before serving make yorkies
Put tin containing meat on the bottom shelf of oven to warm.
Make gravy on the stove then ladle into jugs when required,

5 mins before serving nuke veggies (leave cling film on and pierce a couple of holes in the film) (I usually find a couple of bowls of veggies one after the other is best) Leave cling film on until ready to serve as this will keep it warm.

Put potatoes and veggies in large bowls on the table and let people help themselves (saves you from faffing about)

Dish out meat onto warm plates then serve.

Sit down and enjoy xxx

meritaten

Don't panic - I had 14 for Christmas dinner.
prep as much as possible the day before; then sit down and write a 'plan'. work out the timings and then put the times to put things in/out of oven (meat can be cooked before hand, sliced then warmed up in the gravy). also time your veg and 'sides'. write a timeplan allowing a few minutes at the end for unexpected delays - things can always be kept warm and its much better than panicking because the carrots are rock hard.
This is what I do and it usually works quite well - it prevents me forgetting to put DGDs veggie roast in or make the stuffing.

suki1964

The hardest part of the meal is getting the joint cooked so do that the day before

Likewise prep all veg

In work we cook the joint to mid rare and we blanch the veg to just before Al dente

On the day have sauce pans of water to boiling point


Have the oven hot enough for roasties and yorkies

Have your meat sliced and layered in a tin covered in a slack gravy

Throw it in to heat threw just before the tatties are done

The veg wil only take a few minutes once the water has come back to boil

Seriously I cook for 100+ every weekend and it's only peas we need to cook fresh all day ( they go manky if left sitting)

pelirocco

Cook the meat , take out to rest cover in foil and towels to keep warm , put par boiled potatoes into roast. Yorkshire spuds can be made in advance and warmed through , cook veg as normal. I always cook for 14 or more Christmas day , tbh it's no harder work then cooking for 4 .

maman

Some great tips and I'm sure they're useful for Christmas Day when a traditional meal is expected.


For the future though I'd suggest a change of menu. My favourites for 30+ (DH's massive family) are beef in red wine sauce or lasagne.


For the beef I make huge casserole dishes and put all the veg (mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery) in the casserole then only new potatoes and bread is needed on the table. DH serves it up school meal style in the kitchen. Cheeseboards and trifles for puddings.


For lasagne I make massive ones in foil trays and put salads and French sticks on the table.


SIL tends to do rice and begs/borrows slow cookers from friends to keep curry/chilli/meatballs/chicken casserole warm.

MrsRogers

Like everyone said planning is key and try to keep it simple.

Some veg you could prep in advance or cook in different ways to the conventional

Creamed leeks - cook day before heat in microwave when ready for them
Braised red cabbage in the slow cooker
Carrots can be boiled / roasted or steamed
Par boil potatoes day before then put them in the oven when the meat comes out.
Garden pea microwave

peachyprice

Would anyone else be freaked by 13 for dinner? I'd have to invite the dog and call it 14!