Spending more time in is the perfect excuse to channel your inner chef, try new recipes and perfect those cooking skills.
And staying at home in the UAE doesn’t mean you need to miss out a cracking roast dinner.
World-famous chef Gordon Ramsay, who has two restaurants in Dubai, Bread Street Kitchen and Hell’s Kitchen, knows a thing or two about a top roast.
Here he shares his top tips on how to cook a Michelin-star worthy roast dinner at home and how to avoid ‘roast rage’.
Plan ahead and be a smart shopper
When mulling over your roast ideas, prepare a shopping list of ingredients and put together a quick timing plan that allows plenty of time for your meat to rest. Try to purchase good quality, fresh ingredients where possible, especially when shopping for meat. The better the quality of the produce you buy, the less you have to do.
Meat in the middle
The centrepiece of your roast dinner takes the most time to cook so don’t rush into purchasing the meat. Here are the top cuts for the job, all available from your local butcher’s counter:
• Lamb – roasting a leg of lamb is surprisingly simple and makes a really tender meat and there’s no need to marinate. All you need to do is simply season with herbs and garlic.
• Beef – topside of beef is the more affordable “Rolls Royce” choice from the meat counter. Cook to medium and carve into thin slices.
• Chicken – free range chickens have a much more intense flavour than cheaper birds and you can use any leftover meat to make a curry or casserole.
Remove your meat from the fridge in the morning, cover and leave on the worktop to come up to room temperature. This will make cooking much easier.
Get a head start
Get a head start by peeling the potatoes and leaving them covered in water overnight in the fridge or a cool place. You can even prepare the rest of your vegetables and store them in plastic bags in the fridge until you need them. If you’re making Yorkshire puddings, make the mixture the night before and leave it outside of the fridge for giant Yorkshires.
Waste not, want not
Sear off the meat and save the fat for cooking perfect roast potatoes with an extra meaty taste. You can then make your gravy using the roasting juices and freeze any leftover stock for next time.
It’s all gravy
If you’re making your own gravy from scratch, use a whisk to stir through some plain or sauce flour then add fresh hot stock to the rich meat juices. Remember to cook your gravy through for five to ten minutes, stirring occasionally to ‘cook’ the flour.
There are plenty of ways to get all your fresh greens, meats, and everything in between straight to your door – click here for your guide on where to shop online for groceries around the UAE.
For more top cooking tips and recipes to try at home, head here.
