COMPLETELY different to lucysmam, How do I ACTUALLY do a roast dinner??

[TrinityRhino]

I have a chicken
potatoes
carrots
broccolli
gravy powder
yorkshires
stuffing

I have no bay leaf, onions, lemons, faffy pther shite
I just put lots of salt on

BUT I have a raw food phobia, a panic about chicken being cooked and seemingly no sense of timing

We want it for teatime
WHen do I out it in??
when do I do the pots??
the veg, how do you get it all ready?

I ahve done it three time before and everytime someone else is helping me and I still panic and rush at the end and hope to god everything is ready at once

hold my hand pleeeeeease

What weight is your chicken because that affects the timings.

Take the chicken out of the fridge half an hour before putting it in the oven to let it come to room temperature so it cooks quicker, and a small rub of olive oil is all you need on the skin of the chicken.

Roast potatoes take about 45 minutes to an hour depending upon size, but you need to work out first how long your chicken will take and then plan everything else around that.

How much does the chicken weigh? It should say on the labe how heavy it is and how long per KG you need to cook it. If you're really lucky, it says "cook for XH XXMins"

I make the stuffing and stuff it under the skin of the chicken (ie you need to separate the skin from the chicken and push the stuffing under it. Not ideal if you can't deal with raw chicken!)

Carrots and broccoli I would boil for 10 mins (carrots) and about 7 (broccoli) in the same pan.

you need to work back from when you want to eat it. Add about 20 mins "contingency" and then start with the chicken. Put the veg water on when it's 15 mins to go.

Can't help with potatoes as I'm sh*te at them

trinity, how big is the chicken? Roast or mashed spuds or both? How do you want to cook the veggies? I'm not really good at timing stuff, tend to hope for the best & it normally works ok! Will help if I can though

I used to lay everything out with a note on top telling me when it had to start cooking

That's actually not a bad idea SoupDragon, can't go far wrong that way!

Put some garlic (if you have any) and olive oil in the roasting dish ,then place chicken in rub chicken skin with olive oil place in preheated oven at about 200c.

Peel potatoes for mash and roasts put some aside for roasts (I usually do one potato per person) place potatoes for roasting in pan and blanch for about 15 mins then place them in with roast .

Prepare carrots and broccoli and put in steamer or pan .

Relax for an hour then baste chicken check roasts ,put veg and mash on .

Do stuffing.

After another 30-40 mins chicken should be cooked check it's not pink anywhere resist temptation to eat all the skin .
Let ot rest for 10 mons before carving .
You could make your own gravy by using the roasting dish and adding some hicken stock a bit of flour olive oil and a splash of wine it will taste lovely.

Put yorkshires in if ready made ,carve chicken place on plates put veg ,mash and roasts on get yorkshires out put gravy on serve .

this might help with timing the chicken, if you scroll further down it gives approx cooking times for different sized chickens

For example, to eat at 5pm with the chicken I have for today 1.9kg my plan would be.

2:30 - take chicken out of fridge
2:45 - put oven on to gas mark 7/210c
3:00 - put chicken in roasting tin and smear with olive oil, put chicken in oven.
3:00 - start peeling potatoes and put on to parboil. Peel carrots and set aside.
3:10/3:15 - when potatoes have boiled for about 10 mins, drain and let them sit in colander.
3:20 - make stuffing up according to packet and put in a dish ready to go in oven.
3:25 - if you are making your own yorkshires then make the mixture up now.
3:30 - put oil in another roasting tin for potatoes and put it in the oven
3:45 - put potatoes in hot oil and put back in oven.
Have a sit down for a bit
4:30 - take chicken out and leave it somewhere to rest, check on potatoes, if they look ready then take them out.
Put yorkshire pudding tin in to heat oil and put stuffing in. Turn the oven up to gm8/230c
Put carrots on to boil and chop broccoli into florets.
4:40 - pour yorkshire pudding batter into tins
4:50 - Carve chicken (or hack it like I do) and put broccoli in pan with carrots
4:55 - make gravy
5:00 - take stuffing and yorkshires out of the oven and shout at family to help you dish up.
5:05 - eat dinner and them make everyone else clean up

Chicken takes about 90 minutes, so get your oven going about 2 hours before you want to sit down.

Then prepare you raw veggies. You can cook the potatoes straight away - mash will keep for ages. I put the carrots in a pan with cold water, salt and sugar. I will turn this on just before pulling the chicken out of the oven, and then put the broccolli on top in a steamer about 10 minutes later.

Yorkshire puddings are a problem because they require a hot oven and a long time to cook. Even the frozen ones take half an hour. They can't share an oven with your roast - you have to take your roast out, and then zap up the heat.

When your chicken is ready, you take it out of the oven and leave it for about 20 minutes before carving. You can do your gravy and finish off your veggies in time.

I always get DH to carve because I am a hacker, and the children to set the table.

Have a few dishes warming in the oven then if something is ready too early you can whack it in the dish put some foil over and it should be ok for a bit.
This works best with mash, carrots, and chicken. I wouldn't keep the broccoli or roast potatoes for too long though.

Squeakypop, why sugar? I always cook carrotts in salted water but not sugar, never heard of that before!

I par boil potatoes for about 10 minutes then add around roast for an hour.

I don't do stuffing that often, but because 2 of the kids are gluten free if I do it gets made in a small separate oven proof dish.

I work out the time the chicken will take depending on weight, then work backwards with everything else.

Dont think anyones mentioned it, always bash your spuds before roasting they go really crispy. I parboil them for about 6 mins' drain,then put them back in the pan with the lid on and shake them around, then cook in hot oil or lard for about 45 mins.
Sugar brin out the carrot flavour orange juice is nice too(pure juice not squash as MIL used)

oh, will pop a bit in with mine then to try

I CAN'T OPUT SUTTRFIN UNDER THE KSIN

Ewwwwww

aorry can barely toych it, have to use tongs and a forkto move it arpund
HUGE wad of paper towel to spread butter on it

right I'll let you know what it weighs in a while

thankyou sooo much for all your help

notso - I also do the same with my pots when I am going to do roast.

Lucysmam - you could par boil the spuds and shake them say early afternoon and just put them to one side and then that is one less thing to worry about. I would also do your mash this morning, put it into a serving dish, clingfilm it when cold and then just microwave it at tea time.

oh god no cant make gravy from the juice
its posin

can't out stuff ion the chicken or anything

right ummm too scaredy puss to go and get the chicken out of the outside fridge at the mo as there is a gale blowing

but we are having roast spuds only
I steam broccolli and boil carrots

stuffing is jst made in a dish

sorry Lucysmam - I meant to put Trinity when I was talking about par boiling spuds etc.

Trinity for the first three years after I moved out and cooked for myself I only touched meat with rubber gloves! It was only a three year old DD helping make burgers and squidging mince with her bare hands that cured me. I didn't want to tell her I was scared of meat.
Bella I actually par-boil, shake and freeze my spuds the week before christmas.

par boil, shake and FREEZE

goodness me

and letting your dd touch raw mince

holy shit I have a long way to go

btw I am seeking help for my phobia of raw meat and my inability to decide when something is cooked

I usually avoid meat or kill it till its rubberised and almost black

bless dh, he doesn't mention it lol

I almost fainted when I saw her she used to stand on a chair in the kitchen and 'help' I never let her near meat but it was there in the bowl I went to get something came back and she was saying "look mummy isn't it squishy why don't you have a go?"
I just couldn't bring myself to say "Mummy's scared for no apparent reason" so I held my breath and touched it"
I did throw up and wash both our hands about 100 times after but it was a break through and next time I didn't use the gloves. She's 8 now and I'm stil a bit wobbley about a whole chicken but I will cook one. Good luck hope you get over it and enjoy your dinner.
PS I know the freeze thing is a bit much but it saves on the washing up and I only have a little pan for gravy, a big pan for mash and a three layer steamer pan, so it with that.

Carrots are lovely roasted with potatoes, sprinkled with tiny bit of cinammon.

lol bella, no worries

mine are all ready to go on the hob later on.

thornrose that sounds good, except I've used my last 2 carrotts to chop for boiled ones! but I could be tempted to change my mind . . .

lol Trinity if you're really not happy with handling or cooking meat why not see if your dh will pop it in for you? Then you only have to take it out to see how well it's cooking?

Sorry hope you get over the phobiaand I hope you enjoy your dinner. Last post did not sound right.

lucysmam, my dd is not a veg lover but eats shed loads of roasted carrots and parsnips, I love to watch her enjoying veg for a change!