Post toast it's on to the roast

or rather my version of it. I said in What's in the fridge? the whole chicken was going in the slow cooker as part of a roast.

I also suggested, check what you've got in your fridge and freezer. This slow cooking/freezing malarkey really works. I had a container of sauce supreme in my freezer – aka posh gravy, which I placed in the fridge overnight to defrost. I made my normal roasties (á la Nigella – tossed in semolina) they never fail. Since the oven will be on for the roasties I will fill it so there will be carrots cut into similar sized batons, roasted in lemon, butter and black pepper.

So, for your roast, I meant what I said – easy prep, easy cook :

Serves 4

Chicken in slow cooker as per recipe on the blog -

it's going to take eight hours so time it so that you'll

be ready to serve it all at the same time

Pre-heat your oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6 when you

are ready to cook

Peel and parboil potatoes – as many as you want – in my

house a large tray full! Sprinkle with 1 tbsp of semolina and shake

to coat them – can be done ahead – place in hot rapeseed oil -

these will take one hour to roast, turn every 20 minutes

Peel 5/6 medium carrots and cut into batons

can be done ahead - place prepped carrots in a

food bag and fridge until you're ready.

Place the batons on foil on a baking sheet -

add 2 x 20g of unsalted butter, a couple of glugs of

lemon juice and black pepper – wrap tightly.

These will take 40 minutes – shake carefully after 20 minutes.

Grate parmesan for cauliflower cheese - **see below

A quick scan through the pantry also produced a box of sage and onion stuffing mix. Take a medium onion, finely chopped and softened in a large knob of unsalted butter then add to the stuffing mix with a glug or two of boiling water. Can I also point out that chestnuts are not just for Christmas. I always have vac packs in my pantry – add 150g, finely chopped to the stuffing mix.

I always cook my stuffing in a cake liner in a loaf tin.

**Cauliflower cheese. Since the object of this exercise is you haven't a clue what you or your guests are doing and when, there is nothing wrong with using a bag of frozen cauliflower cheese - tip into a foil tray and sprinkle with 75g of grated parmesan. It will take 40 minutes. You can make it from scratch if you wish but do so in the knowledge that you may finish up with a fresh cauliflower that you may not use. No waste at all if it's in the freezer.

The final flourish is the sauce supreme and is the only saucepan on your hob – note to self – do not be tempted to microwave the sauce – it will split. It may be a little too thick, if it is, whilst heating gently add either a drop of chicken stock or if feeling indulgent double cream.

To the roast purists a sauce supreme wouldn't cut it as gravy – my kitchen, my roast.

They loved all of it but the stand outs were the roasted carrots and the “gravy”. The chicken was moist and tender and the best bit is you get to save all that beautiful stock to freeze in readiness for your next sauce supreme.

Minimum fuss, maximum flavour.