Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

Sunday’s. What’s with a Sunday?

Late morning wake up calls. Sleeping in, or perhaps a little morning nookie.

Long punishing solo runs pounding the high road or by ways. A dawn cycle with a cycling buddy to the village down the valley. A round of golf with your high school mates.

Painting, drawing, reading, writing. Getting creative without the need to be anywhere else.

Church, dressed in your finery and best face. Clutching your purse. Or (like us) just dressed in a pair of warmest jeans and hiking boots because the little village church is so cold in winter and God doesn’t judge your outward appearance.

Homework with the kids. Helping them with their essays and presentations, studying their history lessons.

Tall black coffees and virgin Bloody Mary’s. Brunching on Eggs Benedict with runny yolks to fight off last nights hangovers.

Letting your kids binge over a TV screen.

Sunday Roasts.

Maybe it’s an opportunity to head to the local pizzeria with your sister or the pub to have a pint and watch football with your Dad. Or your son. (Geez. Quick side note. How archaically traditional am I in my perceived gender roles?)

Maybe the weather is so awful that you make a bed in your lounge and watch classic TV series all afternoon with bowls of popcorn.

But Sunday roasts, right?

Sunday Roasts were definitely a thing in our home.

A beef roll, a lamb shoulder, a Turkey sized chicken popped into a slow oven before Church. Upon our return, Mom would put the (already peeled) potatoes in a pot to boil just a little before deep frying then in oil for the much anticipated ‘roasties’. A tray of oven roast vegetables for the side, or a bowl of broccoli or cauliflower gratin (aka cheese sauce). Gravy. Glistening from her exertions in the kitchen, Mom would have us seated at the table before 1pm. Dad would snaffle the outside slice- the first piece he carved off the beef or lamb: always perfectly browned, just the right amount of salt and juicy as anything, he would prioritise the theft as he was the Chief Carver. We would be poured a glass of Coca Cola – the only sugary drink we were allowed doing the week- and occasionally Mom would have made a dessert: a Tipsy Tart and ice-cream, jelly and tinned fruit, a quick Instant Pudding out of a box, RolyPoly Pudding with custard, made almost from scratch from a box of custard powder. The tetrapak Ultra Mel was discovered after I left home.

Whatever the menu, Mom would be at it for hours. She never complained as far as I recollect. Maybe my own affinity to enjoy hours in my kitchen comes from her. And certainly, the appreciation for a crispy golden Roast Potato has all the good feels!

As far as my own Sunday’s go, normally work for me changes our dynamic a little. Or it would, was it not for these Covid Times. If it is a working Sunday, the family come in for a burger, some pool table and cricket on the British telly.

But since I’ve had 6 months of Sundays Chez Nous recently, Sunday roasts have become somewhat staple if we’re not braai-ing. Or when we’re not roasting a lamb leg on the braai for example. Sadly, with all that repetition and the enormous pile of dishes and leftovers (yeah- Very First World Problems), I decided to try something that I saw (is it referred to as trending?) on Instagram called a Sheet (or Pan) Meal.

Seriously- could they not name it something a little less basic, or even swear-y? Because what it is, is a One Pot Wonder On A Baking Tray. Literally- chuck everything you want to eat on a baking tray/oven tray and roast it.

It’s like that recent roasted cocktail tomato/feta cheese bowl of delish where you roast everything, and then squash the cooked feta and tomatoes to make a sauce. Or is it a dipping bowl and you can scrape vast swathes of soft bread through the drippings?

Can I just say “YUM”?!!

So, one pan. No dishes. No need to worry about timings. I see that it has benefits. And so, I find myself asking one menu planning Friday- is it possible I can do my Sunday Roast on one pan. One time? One dirty dish?

Turns out, I can. Granted, it required a spatchcock chicken where I split and deboned the spine and rib cage, and I added in my vegetables after a time, but I was able to cook my familys’ Sunday Roast on one tray!

So, let’s try this out!

Recipe, 4 people

• 1 x 1.2kg whole chicken or if you can find a already spatchcocked chicken, you’re in luck. According to Ozzie lore, a spatchcock chicken is also a spring chicken or ‘poussin’, so typically, the weight won’t be greater than 1.2kg’s
• A marinade of 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, 1 lemon zested and juiced, finely chopped stick of rosemary, approx 50ml olive oil, a dash of soya sauce, salt and black pepper.
• Approximately 800g new potatoes (there can never be enough potatoes in my life)
• 1 large very generous head of brocolli, cut into florets
• 250g cocktail tomatoes
• 1 large red onion (because you need ALL the colour, right?)

You’ll need a large flat oven tray- as big as can fit into your oven.

When it comes to splitting the whole chicken, the easiest method is to use kitchen shears (scissors). Place the chicken upside down in front of you, with the legs facing you. The Popes Nose (that fatty little piece at the bottom of the chicken that contains the preening oils) will be closest to you. Using kitchen scissors, cut upwards, starting alongside the popes nose and ending at the neck piece. Repeat on the other side, pulling out the spine. You should keep that to make a stock with if you’re so inclined. Now turn the chicken over, opening it up, and simply press down onto the breast bone to crack it, making the chicken flat.

The method described above is the simplest. And as much as I would love to explain a de-boning method wherein you will remove the small bones that make carving difficult, no amount of words make it easier -I’ve written and deleted 5 paragraphs trying to! A decent de-boning knife is your first step. The biggest trick to de-boning is to run your sharp pointed knife as close to the bone as possible. A de-boning knife is generally more flexible and can manoeuvre itself around the bones. Guide the blade as well with your non-dominant fingers if necessary. Crack the chicken joints to break up the cartilage holding them together, and then work your knife around to reveal the rest of the bone if necessary. For a Flattie chicken, you might want to remove the rib cage and the bones connecting the legs to the spine- that section where the Oysters are stored. Use a larger knife to break the spine and hip joints, and remove the spine completely. I personally don’t love fishing little bones out of my food, hence my need to de-bone like I do, but that’s my thing, it might not be important to you. I will endeavour at some point to do a video of me de-boning, but The Side Hustle Chef Witchery has kept me busy and work starts next week, so I can’t commit to a time frame for now. As much as I’m not a video kinda gal, this may just be a call for it in this case.

Anyway, no matter how you have succeeded in making your chicken carcass flat like the picture below, you’ll want to make the marinade/rub next. Mix up the crushed garlic, lemon zest and juice, the chopped rosemary, salt, pepper, oil and soya sauce. Pour it over the chicken, and rub it into the skin.

Place your chicken onto an oven tray. I’ve grown accustomed to putting baking paper onto the oven tray these days to make cleaning easier, but it’s probably not the best thing to do for waste (- or perhaps it is better, as I would use less water and harmful chemicals to clean with? What is the solution here guys?)

Rub your cleaned New Potatoes with a little oil, and a generous rub of salt and some fresh ground black pepper and add them to the oven tray. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Place the tray of potatoes and chicken into the hot oven.

Set aside the broccoli, tomatoes and red onions, dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper for later.

Once the potatoes and chicken have cooked for around 30 minutes- they should have browned up a little- remove the tray from the oven, and now spread the broccoli, cocktail tomatoes and red onion around the chicken & potatoes. You shouldn’t need to layer anything over each other- they should lie evenly next to one another. Place the tray back into the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately !

What I like about this is that the tomatoes make it juicy- you can pour those juices into your plate , and the broccoli steam-roasts, so it’s not a soggy green branch, but it’s not toasted.

Obviously, this meal is a good for my little family. Any bigger appetites might feel a little hungry after, and if it’s just 2 of you, having leftover veggies for your baguette sandwich is awesome (especially if you pour any pan juices onto your bread), as well as using leftover chicken for a chicken-mayo sarnie.

You could try playing around with variations on this Sheet Meal. Think about how to match cooking times- so avoid roasting a butternut with cauliflower for example, or you could roast an entire fish with sliced baby potatoes and fennel shavings. For a real meaty option, try to find a Chuck Steak on the bone- around 1.2kgs also, and cook it for an hour, along with Baby Potatoes, Butternut wedges, whole pickling onions and serve it with a Chimmichurri sauce.

I could go on and on but by now your attention has waned, so let me finish off, with a round up on my recent social media photos in case you missed it. You’re welcome to stop reading at this point, and bookmark the recipe if it appeals to you.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I realise this has taken me just short of 5 weeks to write. This recent period of time has been pretty busy, and I have certainly had ALL the feels of emotions pour over me, something that I appear to have passed on to my girls. I guess this is normal for some 😊.

In any case, there’s a stack of new-ness coming up our way in the weeks to come. stay tuned for it all!

Anton and I are off for our first vaccine tomorrow. This unfortunately doesn’t mean we can travel to South Africa this summer though- we’re still taking a cautionary approach- flights are still (not really 😂) up in the air.

From me to you,

All my love.

Xx