Bite Me!

People are always asking me what I eat for Christmas dinner - well, maybe not always, but fairly often around Christmas time!  So here's the answer for this year - roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, honey & mustard parsnips, stuffing and veggie gravy.  OK, so it's not the most sophisticated-looking plate of food, but it's reeeaaalllly good.  And (ssh!) surprisingly healthy.

I'm especially proud of the vegetarian gravy, which has a really intense flavour and is very easy to make.  You will need:

boiling water

marigold vegetable stock

Marmite

Tabasco

red wine or sherry

Worcestershire sauce

soy sauce

porcini (optional)

Method

 Very easy - simply mix a dollop of everything together in a saucepan and gently reduce down for about ten minutes.   I haven't put amounts down since I just chuck everything in and then see how it tastes.  If using the porcini, soak them in a mug of warm water for ten minutes before you start, and then add both the mushrooms and the water to the saucepan.  Sieve the mushrooms out before serving.  If you want thicker gravy rather than a jus, add a little flour or cornflour to the mixture and whisk to get rid of lumps. 

This is so good my sister even prefers it to normal gravy...

With all the nice weather we had last week, it was time for the first barbecue of the year in our house. Not a record, April – our first barbecue last year was in February – but undoubtedly warmer than is usual for first barbecues. Deprived of bacon, burgers, and all the usual stand-bys the meat-eaters went for, I concocted some skewers out of Cauldron Lincolnshire veggie sausages, halloumi, pineapple and yellow pepper, and very nice they were too. I shall have to try hard to think of some further exciting options though, or I’m going to get very tired of barbecues before summer arrives…