[Mrs Bee]

Here is the sprout recipe I make every year and also a way of spreading the load and serving hot veg with the roast if you have a lot of people to feed.

The sprout recipe is an old GHK recipe that I adapted.
The sprout recipe serves 10-12 but you can scale it down and I freeze portions of it too.

225g bacon lardons, or pancetta cubes
1.4k Sprouts trimmed and halved if large
seasoning
75g butter
225g button mushrooms sliced
4 tabs plain flour
30 ml dijon mustard
30ml lemon juice
4 tabs single or double cream whichever you have.

*Boil the sprouts until just tender... cook them slightly less if you are going to reheat the following day.

*Drain the sprouts BUT RESERVE THE COOKING LIQUID. You need 600ml.

*Cook the bacon and the mushrooms in the butter until cooked and the moisture from the mushrooms have evaporated.

* Remove bacon and mushrooms from the butter and reserve.

*Add the flour to the butter and cook gently for a minute and then add the cooking liquid from the sprouts slowly, stirring all the time to ensure there are no lumps. Cook until thickened
 
*Then add the mustard, cream, lemon juice and stir to combine. Add the mushrooms, bacon, and sprouts and seaon.
* Either keep warm and serve straight away or pop into the fridge until the next day and cover with clingfilm and reheat in the microwave.

For other veg I get the smallest roasting bags I can from Lakeland and put aside one for each person.
The day before the event I prep all the vegetables I am serving with the roast and par boil them until they are just cooked and aldente. I then plunge them in iced cold water to stop the cooking and drain them.

When all the veg have been prepped this way I put a small portion of each veg in the bags. So each bag has a serving of all the veg. I put a small knob of butter on top and fasten the bags with the ties, put the bags on a baking tray in the fridge overnight.

On the day after the roast is cooked and rested, and the roasties are nearly ready I whack the oven up to full pelt and put the tray of veg in the oven to finish cooking. I leave them for about 10 mins until they are piping hot.

You can then either put the whole bag on each person's plate or I have a pair of scissors and cut off the top of the bag off just under the ties and tip out the veg onto the plate.

We dish up the whole dinner onto hot plates in the kitchen rather than everyone helping themselves and getting lukewarm dinners.
Hope you might find this useful.

[allotmentann]

Ah! Thank you Mrs Bee, I am a veggie that doesn't like mushrooms, so I am going to have to keep looking for something to do with my dreaded sprouts. I can imagine if you eat meat the bacon would be good. My mum used to always pour the bacon fat over broad beans, which as a kid I loved, but the thought turns my stomach now!
The mustardy sauce might do the job on its own I suppose.  I did see some sort of cheesy bake recipe for them the other day. I had never thought of sprouts and cheese and am not totally certain I want to!   
I have to say, you are just full of useful tips and tricks. I think it is time you wrote a book! If you can think of anything veggie to do to make sprouts taste good please let me know.       

[gypsy]

Thankyou for that. Mustard or horseradish sauce both sound good to me, if I was veggie I would probably add some onion or leek too.

[cheshirecheese]

I am a veggie that doesn't like mushrooms, so I am going to have to keep looking for something to do with my dreaded sprouts.

I always do mine with chestnuts, as I love the combination and they're great for my veggie daughter.  The chestnuts seem to sweeten the sprouts, and the textures complement each other beautifully.  When I'm cooking for lots of people, I cheat and buy frozen chestnuts so I don't have to faff about peeling the little blighters! 

[allotmentann]

Will have to give it a go. I have never tried chestnuts! About time to start I think!   

[devonbarmygardener]

Will have to give it a go. I have never tried chestnuts! About time to start I think!   

You may be able to pick some up for free too
We have a mini-wildlife walk at the bottom of the village - collected loads of chestnuts there last year

[Mrs Bee]

I am a veggie that doesn't like mushrooms, so I am going to have to keep looking for something to do with my dreaded sprouts.

I always do mine with chestnuts, as I love the combination and they're great for my veggie daughter.  The chestnuts seem to sweeten the sprouts, and the textures complement each other beautifully.  When I'm cooking for lots of people, I cheat and buy frozen chestnuts so I don't have to faff about peeling the little blighters! 

Yes I cheat too. Gone are the day spent microwaving them to loosen the skins and then peeling the darn things. Frozen chestnuts from the Chinese cash and carry. Although for the chestnut stuffing I use the precooked vacuum packed ones. They aren't quite as good as fresh ones simmered in chicken stock but they are too much of a faff these days.There are some things you do from scratch and there are some you don't.

You could try precooking the sprouts till al dente and then on the day heat them quickly in some hazelnut oil with toasted hazelnuts and a squeeze of lemon.

[sunshineband]

Never thought of searching out frozen chestnuts. I used to buy vac packed ones sometimes

[devonbarmygardener]

I have to say, with so many chestnut trees around I do feel frozen or vac packed seems a bit lazy!

[Mrs Bee]

A sweet colleague of mine bought me a bag of chestnuts one year to go in my stuffing. They were quite small and terribly difficult to peel. I didn't just think about stuffing the Turkey.

And one year I got a piece of shell lodged under the fingernail and it turned septic and very painful. 

So I am afraid that I will take a shortcut with the chestnuts.

And I have spent a happy couple of hours dealing with the chestnuts, the stuffing, the stuffing balls and the pigs in blankets which are now all nestled in their sleeping caps in the freezer.

I now have space in the freezers to fill after I spent the morning making 100 min jars of jams for wedding favours for the big event next year. Used up lots of fruit.

[devonbarmygardener]

Jammy wedding favours sound brilliant
My friend Ann made homemade limoncello!! She got hold of little bottles tied with tartan ribbon (she's scottish )

[Mrs Bee]

Off tomorrow with the fiance to choose some little bags to put them in.
The wedding is in June but I like to get ahead. 

[devonbarmygardener]

And jam will keep beautifully
Are you labelling the jar or the little bag?

I still love SPROUTS btw

[Mrs Bee]

I am labelling both the jar and the bags.  And all this can be done in advance, which is is a blessing as my sister and I have the job of making the wedding cake.

And it is freeing up the freezers as I am using up a lot of the frozen fruit too. Win, win situation.

And it will be a last minute job as a rainbow cake is required

I had a trial run with the cake for Mum's birthday on Sunday. Just covered it in a white chocolate ganache. It was pretty spectacular.

And I like sprouts too. although my family don't like me liking and eating sprouts for a variety of reasons .
And I am the only one who likes them.

[devonbarmygardener]

Sprouts can have a rather windy effect here!

Good luck with the cake! Sounds lovely.

Back on topic!  Favourite roast veg accompaniments:

I like garlicky sprouts or sprouts with lardons/bacon.

Carrots (as with parsnips) I generally roast with honey or maple syrup and sesame seeds.
They are also nice lightly steamed and coated in dill butter.

Parsnips - as above (always roasted as above - delish)

Red cabbage - braised in red wine and some sugar to caramelise. Sometimes like to add chopped apple (particularly with pork dishes) and other peeps add sultanas (I don't like these )

'Tatos - got to be goose or duck fat on special occasions and M&S make a lovely dusting to make them super crispy and tasty