POTATO, PARSNI IP AND PORCINI GRATIN

COOKING potatoes for large numbers of people is not always easy. This gratin makes it so, not least because I don’t peel the potatoes (or the parsnips, for that matter). Obviously, you don’t need to make it ahead of time, but knowing you can is a help. There is a fabulously musky scent to this gratin, which comes in part from the star anise, in part from the porcini, and also from the culinary alchemy of all the ingredients together. And the thing is, for something so sweetly comforting, it is — I cannot explain why — somehow grand and exquisite, too.

SERVES 8

10g dried porcini, or ceps 150ml boiling water, from a kettle 50g butter 1 tbsp garlic oil

500ml full-fat milk 500ml double cream 3 star anise 1 tsp Maldon salt or ½ tsp table salt Good grinding of pepper 900g potatoes 900g parsnips Gratin-type round, shallow, ovenproof dish (approx 30cm in diameter and 7cm deep)

1 SOAK the porcini in the boiling water for about 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220c/gas 7.

2 HEAT the butter and garlic oil in a large pan. Drain the porcini, reserving the liquid, then finely chop the mushrooms and add them to the butter mixture to cook for a couple of minutes. Add the mushroom liquid, milk, cream, star anise and salt and pepper. Without peeling

THERE is something about a big rib of beef sitting proudly on its carving board at the table that makes that table, and those around it, so immediately celebratory. The extravagance of it, the ridiculous vastness of it: this is a proper, stand-up-andclap feast. The port and Stilton gravy, grapily aromatic and tangy, is the perfect festive foil to the juicy meat. Although its inspiration — the gloriousness of blue cheese melting on top of a steak from an American grill — is not in itself seasonal, port and Stilton are the essence of Christmas.

SERVES 8 WITH LEFTOVERS, SERVES 14 WITHOUT

3.8kg Scotch or Welsh Black beef fore rib (a 4-rib joint)

2 onions, peeled and cut into 1cm rounds 2 tbsp garlic oil 1½ tsp Maldon salt or ¾ tsp table salt 1 tsp dried thyme ½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 TAKE your beef out of the fridge to bring to room temperature, which could take an hour, or possibly more, and preheat the oven to 220c/gas 7. Put the onion slices into a roasting tin and sit the rib of beef on top of them. Use the onion slices as props to help the rib sit up on its bones in an ‘L’ shape. Smear the oil over the white fat of the rib, and sprinkle with the salt, thyme and cayenne pepper.

2 COOK according to the beef’s weight and your taste. I like my beef nice and underdone, so I give it 33 minutes per kg, or 15 minutes per lb, which means, for a joint this size, a cooking time of about 2 hours (unless the beef’s straight out of the fridge, in which case, add another 20 minutes or so). If you want medium beef, give the joint — from room temperature — 44 minutes per kg, or 20 minutes per lb. And if you like well-done meat, 66 minutes per kg, or 30 minutes per lb. As for feeding capacity, this size of joint will certainly look after a big tableful — from 8, with lots of leftovers, to 14, without the definite promise of leftovers.

3 WHEN the beef comes out of the oven, remove to a carving board and allow to rest in a warm part of the kitchen under a tent of foil for 30 minutes before carving; or just leave it tented in its tin for the same time. Do not start clearing up the tin, even if you have taken out the beef, however, as you will need some of the pan juices and onions for the gravy, below.

PORT AND STILTON GRAVY

2 tbsp fatty juices, from the roast beef tin 1 tbsp plain flour 125ml ruby port, plus 1 tbsp Onions from the roast beef tin (optional)

500ml organic beef stock, ‘fresh’ from a shop-bought tub 125g Stilton 1 tsp redcurrant jelly Salt and pepper to taste Extra juices from the roast beef tin and carving board 1 MAKE a roux by adding 2 tbsp of fatty juices from the beef tin to a saucepan and whisking in the flour and then the port. Keep heating and whisking over a fairly gentle heat until thick and bubbling. If you want to blend the onions and stock, do so now, by putting any but the blackened onions in the blender goblet with the beef stock and liquidising. Or leave the stock just as it is, straight out of the tub. Take the saucepan off the heat and gradually whisk in the beef stock. When all the stock’s added, put the pan back on a medium heat and cook for 2 minutes, whisking to make sure any lumps are banished.

2 CRUMBLE in the Stilton, then drop in the redcurrant jelly and turn up the heat to let the gravy bubble for 5 minutes. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed, and then add the remaining 1 tbsp of port, along with any bloody juices — what we called red gravy when I was a child — from the carved beef. Pour into a warmed gravy boat.