A Sunday Dinner and Not-Wedding Cake
One of the traditions I have come to love since living in England is having a Sunday roast dinner. We don’t do them often so I need some practice; I try to read about new methods and meats every time I do one.
Yesterday I decided to try pork. Not a meat that we have often, a pork roast just seems like something a girl should make at least once, right? I really wanted to try for “pulled pork” roast, but it didn’t quite workout. Despite roasting for nearly four hours, the pork was tender but not melt-in-your-mouth tender like I hoped.
Since this was kind of a special Sunday dinner, I drank a glass of red wine and Matthew and I shared some crusty bread while we cooked 
We dipped the bread in some EVOO mixed with the new agave marinade bought Saturday at the food festival. It was very sweet so we just used a little.
We used my special bread dipper dish (technical term) bought during our trip to Siena, Italy. I love, love, love it! The mould of the dish is unique to the little shop who sold it. The man hand-painted it himself—truly one of a kind!
I was going to do step-by-step photos but that kind of got away from me! Here is a pretty photo of the prepared vegetables: new potatoes, broccoli, red onion, carrots and parsnips. I LOVE parsnips and had never tried them until I moved here. They are like a peppery, earthy carrot.
I par-boiled the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips before throwing them in with the roasting tin about an hour before the meat was done. The onions went in the oven, too, and came out nice and caramelized
Four hours later…
Bon appétit!
And for dessert…how about some not-wedding cake?
On our actual wedding day, we had cupcake wedding cake (photo here), but two months later we hosted a celebration party at my in-law’s home and there we had traditional English wedding cake. This is a fruit cake, usually made with raisins, cherries, and almonds and covered with a layer of marzipan and then frosting.
August 2008
We stuck the top layer of ours in the freezer last August after the party. Certain people have insisted that it is supposed to be eaten at the christening of our first child, but I recently decided this was ridiculous for several reasons; the main one being we are not even thinking about having kids for several years. The thought of eating five-year-old frozen cake doesn’t sound that appealing. A christening is another subject entirely, and even if that were all happening in the foreseeable future, we are hopefully moving across the ocean in a few months, so hauling a frozen, old, not-even-my-wedding cake across the ocean seems a little silly. Don’t you agree?
Cake it is! I need the room in my freezer back!
So, just a couple of questions…
Do you have a “pulled pork” recipe to share with me?
If you are married, did you save your wedding cake?
What is a good way to use pork leftovers?
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Looks delicious! I love “Sunday Roasts”- they were never a family tradition of ours, but I always enjoy them when I get the chance. DEFINITELY think the cake was a good idea! Haha… I don’t even want to think how it would taste after freezing, thawing when you move, refreezing and eating several years later
I’ve never made pulled pork (I’m Jewish, yo!) so no recipes/tips… Leftovers- am guessing sandwiches would be good with apple sauce (British type- more of a condiment than American applesauce), pot pie, soup…?
It all looks delicious! I’m not the best at cooking meats for some reason, but my SIL has a great pulled pork recipe! I’ll see if I can “pull” it out of her, she’s a little stingy with her recipes!
That agave marinade sounds reaaaally good!
I’m with you – LET THEM EAT CAKE!!! We saved ours for our 1st anniversary and it was nasty a year later:(
We did save the top tier of our wedding cake! I had always heard the tradition was to eat it on your one year anniversary, which we did! We set out our wedding candles, used some leftover wedding napkins, and had a little celebration. I still remember it!
The pulled pork? No help here – sorry!
Sorry, Lara, no pork recipes over here. But I’ve never tried parsnips, and I really want to. So next time I go to the store I will buy myself some so I can try different recipes. Is your favorite way to eat them by roasting them?
Marzipan in a cake sounds delicious! Ive heard of people eating the cake after the 1st year of being married. I wouldn’t wait 5 years either lol. It probably would’ve accidentally been thrown out if I waited that long (I’m not married though lol).
Hmm I bet maybe a pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, lettuce, and onions? Maybe some avocado as well. I have no idea lol. But that agave marinade sounds awesome (never heard of agave being bottled as a marinade). And that dish.. I love handpainted stoneware. I’ve shown off a couple of mine plates on my blog
I have a great pulled pork recipe… I made it with too-lean pork so it came out dry, but its DELICIOUS! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Texas-Pulled-Pork/Detail.aspx
What a fun meal of preparing and eating together! We saved our wedding cake but moved out-of-state the day after the wedding so it stayed in my parent’s freezer for 2 years before I told them they could throw it out
that agave stuff sounds great! and that dish is beautiful.
I love parsnips, too. I didn’t try them until last year.
Pork leftovers are good for wraps/sandwiches, soups, tacos…all kinds of stuff!
we didn’t keep our wedding cake, sadly.
We didn’t freeze some of our wedding cake and regretted it… People talked so much about eating it for the first anniversary… So we went back to the same bakery and got a small cake in the same flavor to celebrate… It was nice, but not the same…
The bakery that we got our wedding cake from felt that you shouldn’t have to eat frozen cake, so included was a little card to come in and get a tiny cake for 2 on your anniversary. Much better than frozen cake (because we did save some of that too, just for kicks).
If you have a crock pot, pulled pork is super easy, it just takes a while. Just use any bottled BBQ sauce you like and pour a good amount into the crock pot. Add the pork roast and put on low for 8 hours. Check it periodically to make sure there is moisture in there, but it should have released a lot of juice during cooking. I will flip the meat, too. When you can pull the pork apart using 2 forks, it’s done. If you want, you can put the cooking liquid into a pot and use a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up for extra dipping sauce. I love BBQ.
Sunday dinners are the best
Awesome meal!!
slowcookers/crock pots make the best pulled pork! here is a basic recipe, and I’m sure you could change it up to your liking:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Pulled-Pork/Detail.aspx
Mmm those parsnips look good.
Will you continue the Sunday roast tradition once you move back to the US? I’ve never roasted any kind of meat – I’ll need to learn the art of the Sunday roast before I get married!
- CJ
love a good hearty sunday dinner – those veggies look soooo good! and i am loving that marinade!
OK, LOVE the dipping plate — makes any meal special. And your dinner looks in-cred-i-ble!! YUMMO!! I love leftover pork on sandwiches!
Your parsnips and roasted veggies are done to perfection….I could snarf down that whole plate in 3 seconds. OMG they are PERFECTLY cooked for how I like my veggies. Wow…yum!
Did I save my wedding cake? Didnt have a cake, we eloped in Vegas. Just had lotsa drinks
Girl I wouldnt eat cake that was more than a year old…a freezer keeps food from spoiling, but it’s not a perfect device, things do still go nast on you, even in the freezer.
No pork recipes for ya, vegan over here
Here’s my pulled pork…I find the spice rub before cooking really takes it over the top
http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2008/08/pulled-pork-revisited.html
We saved our wedding cake…and honestly it was just as delicious a year after the wedding! Honestly, I kind of miss it, it was so good. LOL
Your Sunday dinner looks delicious!
We saved the top of our wedding cake and it was as good as the day we had it! Our cake was just so darn good!
That roast looks great!! I love parsnips too. They make great soup too, you don’t have to use anything like cream in it. Just sautee some onion and then add some curry powder, then add parsnips and stock. Simmer til soft and then blend and add seasoning! Fab and healthy
Hahah I thought there were actual brussel sprouts at the bottom of your olive bowl! Love it though, you can tell it’s handmade!
Sarah
Mara @ What’s For Dinner and Kate: Thank you so much for the recipes! Man, I need a slow cooker. That seems to be the secret.
CJ: I would like to continue Sunday roasts every once in a while…I need the practice, and I think it would be nice for the hubs since we’ll be far from home.
Kelly: Thank you! Again, I need a crock pot! I guess the oven doesn’t work for pulled pork?
EMILY: Sounds great. I’ll have to try that this week with our leftover parsnips.
Crusty bread and oil – one of life’s simple pleasures! Yum! That dipper dish (love the term) is gorgeous!
Your dinner looks amazing! I think you did a wonderful job! I had heard the cake thing was on your one year anniversary. I’m not married though so I have no idea
Great looking pork! My pulled pork recipe is…drive to the nearest City Barbecue (a local bbq restaurant!). I know, I’m pathetic.
As for your cake, good thinking not waiting five years! I like the one year anniversary role better, and even though I’m not married yet I will admit the cake will HAVE to stay in someone else’s freezer. Why? I would be afraid I would eat it within a month!!
we ate our top layer of wedding cake on our first anniv…. and it’s a good thing too cuz it would have been gross sitting in there any longer.
Sunday roasts sound WONDERFUL.
we ate our top layer of wedding cake on our first anniv…. and it’s a good thing too cuz it would have been gross sitting in there any longer.
Sunday roasts sound WONDERFUL.
It looks great! You really need to cook pork a long time to get it until it shreds – but why don’t you chop the leftovers with bbq sauce and have pork sammies one night for dinner?
We had a very low key wedding – only our kids and parents attended! So we only had cake on our wedding day – I agree, 5 year old cake would be gross!
We saved the top layer of our actual wedding cake (not the fruit cake we just had Saturday night!). It is at my parents house in Canada so hopefully we are there next summer on our anniversary to try it! Otherwise we’ll have it whenever
We froze the top tier and had it on our first anniversary. It was still delicious!
My favorite leftover pork dish is fried rice!
)
You both look so nice! What a great tradition, it looks so yummy! I like to use a slow cooker & BBQ sauce too, it always gets the meat very tender and cooks it low and slow all day
I am in love with that bowl, how special!! You cherish stuff like that. I say eat the cake too, 5 years in the freezer and who knows what will happen hehe
As long as you aren’t taking a very large amount of calcium, you should be fine. How much is the supplement? You need 1,000 mg/day and if you are getting 3-4 excellent servings of calcium (20% DV or more or 200 mg, 8 oz of milk has 300mg for ex) you will be fine without a supplement. Plus you can’t really absorb more than 500-600mg at a time
Love the dishes and the gorg veggie tray!!!
Mmmm that roast dinner looks so awesome.
i agree about cake. it it constantly, every day! Lol. okay, maybe not. but wish i could!
-muffy
I’m sad to say I have never even attempted to make a roast. I really should though..its such a traditional Sunday dinner!
Good call on eating your cake. We saved our top layer but someone took it home after our wedding and we had no idea who so we thought it was gone forever. A few months before our SECOND anniversary, my in-laws found it in their deep freezer and gave it to us. So when our anniversary came, we figured we would try it out. It was actually pretty amazing. I think the thick layer of fondant just sealed the deliciousness inside.
Beautiful!
How was the cake? I saved mine and ate it for a week straight. It was awesome!
Pulled pork… just slather it in bbq sauce to make pulled pork sandwiches, or make pork tacos with them by adding your usual suspects (salsa, avocado, tomatoes, beans, etc.). I love pork!
ohh i love that dish! and the technical term to go along with it. ok so the mental image of you hauling a frozen cake across the ocean really made me laugh, maybe i pictured you swimming across the ocean with it attached to your back but you know.. i am weird. my mom makes a sunday roast often! i looove roast, i will have to ask her how she does it and pass it along to you. i also have a really great kalua pulled pork recipe, it is SO yummy, i will have to dig it up and send it your way. it looks like yours turned out good though! i love all the veggies. my favorite way to eat leftover pork is in a carnitas taco or burrito
Oh, this is a fun post. I love the idea of a really special weekly dinner. Love my food and traditions
That cake is beautiful and sounds so delicous. I’m not a huge fan of your average cake, but that sounds so special.
I’ve never heard of eating wedding cake at the christening before… but I’m pretty lost on all of those things! I say eat it now!
How many times do you intend to write posts that make me want to hop on a plane home immediately? It would just be good to know for future reference so I can put holds on my credit cards. Thanks.
I love love love roast parsnips! Nothing is so England-like (“English”, then, would probably be the word…jeez) to me as a sunday roast. I will have to make one when the weather cools down here. I’ve never had pork I don’t think though. Always lamb or beef and sometimes chicken. Gah! The crispy bits you get on roasted parsnips and potatoes sends me over the edge!
That cake looks so pretty! I’ve always heard to save the top of the cake for your first anniversary, which is what my husband and I planned to do, but my mother didn’t have room in the freezer, so we ate the top of the cake in August, on our two month anniversary. It still tasted good, which it probably wouldn’t have a year later!
i also adore parsnips- why oh why is it so uncommon to find it served in America? you can buy it anywhere here but my question remains…who is buying it? No one has ever offered it to me at a home or restaurant!
Not in love with the British wedding cake- soooooo dense!
We did not save our wedding cake- we also got married in the US and UK and (this is embarrassing) we had a Thomas the Tank Engine cake on our reception on a steam train on the Severn Valley Railway. File that under: What were we thinking?
I am not married and don’t eat pork so I can’t answer any of your questions
But, I am loving those roasted veggies and that plate is really a gem! I will go to Italy some day just to get one of those hand painted bread dipper things, LOL!
Here in Atlantic Canada, we always do boiled dinners on Sundays
Sounds kinda iffy, but my Nana’s boiled meat and veggies are soooo good.
Chris and I have no plans to ever get married. But we do have cheesecake in the freezer that we’ve been saving for a special occasion. That counts towards something, right?
Your veggies looked delicious Lara. I love roasted parsnips. No pulled pork recipe to share, and leftover pork never lasts long in our house with CD around. He is now on a bacon kick. It smells like a Waffle House in here on a daily basis.
We didn’t save any of our wedding cake as it was an all raw cake made with fruit and cashew cream. Would not have frozen well. Too bad because it was delicious!
Aww, I love wedding traditions! I’d always heard that you eat it on your first anniversary though. Way to go with that dinner, it looks and sounds great.
No pork recipe for you sorry, I don’t eat it.
Our wedding cake was eaten entirely at the wedding because the bakery that we used actually makes you another small cake of your choice just for you on your first anniversary.
Hmmm, if I ate pork, or meat for that matter, I would think that a pulled pork would definitely be the way to go with the leftovers. I’m thinking an Apricot BBQ suace would be fab and in the slow cooker for sure!
We did save our wedding cake top and ate it a few weeks ago on our anniversary. It was actually soooo good! I heard that people use to save the top of the wedding cake, because traditionally, after a year of marriage, the couple would celebrate the birth of their child 12 months later and then there would be cake to celebrate this with.
Hmmm, things sure have changed since then!
Hope you are off to a great week darling!
LOVE your Bread Dipper Bowl… (excellent technical term.. almost had to look that one up..
LOL!!! I love pulled pork, yum! I throw mine in the crock pot for the day on high.. add in 1/2 cup or so of water and whatever spices etc you like… an hour or two before dinner pull out the pork and pull it apart with 2 forks, then dump it back in the crock pot along with whatever BBQ sauce or marinade you want and put it on low till dinnertime. SOO good my dear! 
I’ve been married for 15 years, we didn’t save our wedding cake.. (bad us), and like you, I wouldn’t be hauling it around when we moved.. lol!
Pork leftovers, sandwiches, stirfry, pot pie, etc… enjoy!
I am in the pulled pork center of the universe… well… eastern carolina bbq may not be the center but I’m sure it thinks it is. We typically roast the whole pig for a really long time, using each person’s “secret” sauce. Mine always is a variation of equal parts white vinegar and apple cidar vinegar, dash of brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and paprika. I like to add hot sauce to mine as well, and I have also added a little tomato sauce too for extra flavor ( not tons though). When I do smaller meat cuts such as shoulder or tenderloin, I use the same sauce.
The leaner the meat, the more sauce you need and the slower you need to cook it. So if you use a tenderloin ( which is the leanest possible cut vs. say shoulder, ribs, etc.) you need to cook it super slow- at least 8 hours – to get it to “melt in your mouth”.
Pork Leftovers…. I love Cubano Paninies- with pork, pickles, mustard, cheese, and ham if you have it- grilled it in a sammy maker! Pulled Pork Tacos.
That bread looks fabulous! What a great traditional wedding cake, I think we might do cupcakes for our reception (save on the cake cutting fee) but have a smaller traditional cake made for us too. Thanks for the idea!!
Um… YUM! Love it – those veggies look awesome and I LOVE the bowl! I’ve never cooked with pork, but it’s on my list to try!! We saved the cook, took it back to Atlanta and everything. Then a few months after the wedding we were cleaning out the freezer and were like hmmmm are we really, REALLY going to eat it?? We both said nope… so we tossed it. We’re so bad at keeping traditions! (and, long story short, the cake was a sore spot at our wedding… like I called the bakers the day of and bitched them out….) eek!!
i love that platter/serving dish thing. i agree with you, why not have the cake now?! i would LOVE to see you roll through customs with a frozen cake tier, though. hahaha.
i skipped over the pork part, sorry.
Sundays are the best! My Sunday memories smell like garlic and tomato sauce, rather than roasts
We didn’t have a wedding cake (the chapel in Vegas didn’t provide one, haha!). But the whole idea of eating year-old, or older, cake, even if it has been appropriately frozen, is a bit unappealing to me! I have such an aversion to leftovers. But your cake is gorg!
1. Can’t think of a specific recipe for pulled pork, but I have had the most luck in the past preparing “pork to be pulled” in a slow cooker.
2. My husband and I did not save any of our wedding cake. I made all 15 of the cakes myself (triple citrus cheesecake), so I made exactly enough for everyone, with a little leftover to enjoy with brunch the next day.
3. My fav. way to use leftover pork is to make a delicious grilled sammie with lots a veggies and some good quality cheese.
I think it’s a perfect time to eat your cake. We saved our until our 1st Anniversary and we really didn’t even try it because it was nasty! Ha.
Our freezer was too small as well and we couldn’t fathom keeping it in there for that long either! So we ate it about 5 months after we got married. Yum indeed! Mmm sunday lunches… gets me nostalgic!