Nici Wickes: Poor man's roast & Green Peppercorn and mustard sauce

Publish Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2014, 12:00am

Poor Man’s Roast

YOU WILL NEED:

3 onions, sliced thinly

5 big potatoes, cut into 1cm slices

6 or more rashers of bacon

Salt & pepper

Olive oil – ¼ cup

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Put a layer of onions at the bottom of a roasting pan. Lay strips of bacon on top and cover with a layer of potatoes. Repeat layering until you have used up all the potatoes, onions and bacon, ending with a layer of potatoes.

Season well with salt and pepper, add a little water and drizzle oil over potatoes.

Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until cooked to golden brown.

(Source - Margaret Springett from A Good Harvest; Recipes from the gardens of rural women New Zealand)

Green peppercorn & mustard sauce (aka handy, goes with everything sauce)

Sometimes you may be short on time or short on enough pan-juices to make a decent gravy so having a standby ‘goes with anything sauce’ like this one is super handy!

YOU WILL NEED:

200 mls white wine
50 mls cider vinegar
20 mls water
2 shallots – peeled & sliced
2 Tbsp torn fresh mint
Grind of black pepper
250 grams Crème Fraiche
1 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
2 tsp green peppercorns – jars of brined green peppercorns are found in most supermarkets
Salt to taste

In a small pot, bring the wine, vinegar and water to a simmer, then add the shallots, torn mint leaves and black pepper. Simmer and reduce the liquid to about ½ cup.

Turn off the heat and remove the mint and shallots as they have done their job of flavouring the sauce.

Whisk in the crème fraiche, mustard and green peppercorns (drained and gently crushed) and return to the heat. Bring to the boil then simmer it until it has thickened slightly to the consistency of thick, pouring gravy.

Taste and add salt to taste (a decent pinch ought to be enough).

Serve with beef, lamb or pork. Substitute the mint for dill if you want to serve it with fish or chicken.