Saturday night and I had 10 girls over for dinner so I decided a roast of beef is the way to go because once I worked out how long to cook it for all I have to do is shove it in the oven and let it go.

No effort by me so I could relax with my friends… We  watched the All Blacks beat France in the Rugby World Cup – I was so impressed with  my cooking buddy Richard Kahui  - a star of the game!!! (he’s the All Black I did a series of cooking programs with on the Small Blacks)

Timing was the key for my meal  - and the only bit I had to pay attention was is weighing the meat (or reading the label to see what it weighs) and doing a quick bit of maths. My roast was a topside cut, it weighed 1.2kg and I like it rare, but I think some of my friends will prefer it medium so I  cooked it at 160^oC  for  1 hour and 15 minutes then rested it for 10 minutes before I cut it.  Here’s the link to get detailed roasting info . There is a chart which shows you  how long and how hot  - but relax – this was a doddle!!

I knew my vegetables (a mix of potatoes, gold kumara (sweet potato), yams, onions and peppers)  were going to take around 45 minutes to cook so I added them 45 minutes before the end of cooking. I didn’t muck around with  hot green vegetables or gravy (which is seriously easy but I wanted something a little different) so I just served the meat on a bed of leafy greens and drizzled it with some quince dressing which was totally yummy!

For starters I offered a choice of stuffed mushrooms (with pesto, a slice of tomato and  camembert cheese) or crustini topped with avocado and smoked salmon.

I wanted to honor the French  so I made  some creme brulee - but they knocked us out of the Rugby World Cup last time so I didn’t want to honor them too much!!! The creme brulees tasted stunning, I served them with fresh strawberries and they were perfect.

So all in all – a dinner for 10 was easy – I got into the kitchen at about 4.30 and had the food totally sorted, the table set and all under control before any of my friends arrived. My advice if you are cooking for a crowd – pick simple and easy food (like roast beef)  that you can prepare in advance and take attention to your timing.

PS:  I really want to help my Canadian friends because the All Blacks verse Canada  this coming  Saturday night – and you might be in trouble on the Rugby field – so this is my way of keeping you out of trouble in the kitchen!!! So for special Beef Canada help follow this… there is a short  little video that gives you a few valuable tips…

Tags: Claire Gourley, easy kids recipes, kids food, kids recipes

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