We have a great arrangement in our household. Tim, our 19-year-old son, does all the cooking at weekends. He is an excellent cook, whose specialities are authentic Indian curries and traditional British Sunday roasts. My idea of cooking a curry is to throw in a bit of curry powder... and I wouldn't bother with a Sunday roast most weeks if I were cooking. Certainly not in the Summer.
But Tim loves a traditional roast, and took over the cooking of them at least two years ago. Most weeks we buy a chicken; he makes stuffing and peels potatoes before leaving for church (his service is at 9.30am, but as he's the organist he tries to get there half an hour earlier) then Richard puts the stuffing in the chicken and the whole in the oven before he leaves for church (the service he goes to is at 10am). When Tim gets back he puts the potatoes to boil, then in the oven to roast about noon, bastes the chicken, deals with vegetables, and possibly even makes a dessert.
Sometimes we have something different - either a bit of lamb, or some beef. This week we bought beef, and Tim decided to braise it. Since the smallest piece we could get was just over a kilogram, we invited some friends for lunch, something we do probably a couple of times per month. Tim cooked the outside of the beef in a Le Creuset casserole dish we had as a wedding present, then peeled, sliced and cooked some carrots and onions, putting the beef on top, adding a few peppercorns and a bayleaf, and some water. He asked Richard to put it in the oven on low before he left.
When I got back from the service I go to (which starts at 9am) I made a dessert, since Tim didn't think he'd have time today; but he did everything else - roast potatoes, excellent yorkshire puddings, broccoli and peas.
Of course I still have to clean up the kitchen, but having a dishwasher makes that far more enjoyable than it used to be. And since I don't have to cook at the weekend, I really don't mind a bit of clearing up.
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