This weekend Herts Hog Roasts are catering in Sandy; a lovely little market town located on the A1 near Biggleswade in Bedfordshire. Sandy lies on the river Ivel and is well known for being the head quarters of the RSPB. The town dates back to about 250 BC and was an important trading post during the Roman era with it being on a direct route between London and Scotland.
Herts Hog roasts are very well known for providing quality spit roast catering in Bedfordshire and are often seen hog roast catering in Sandy or present at event catering in Potten. It is an ideal location for Herts Hog Roasts as our catering unit is in Hemel Hempstead industrial estate which is located next to the junctions of the M1, M25 and A1 which means we can be hog roast catering in London or providing spit roasts in Bedfordshire within a half hours drive either way.
Today’s menu is spit roast lamb… A favourite of mine! We are providing the lamb feast for Scott and Nicole who are having their baby daughter Christened at St Swithurns Anglican Parish Church and then having a reception at the Conservative club which is just up the road.
We arrived at the club around ten o’clock in the morning and set us our catering tent outside the club in the car park and started preparing the lamb roast. Our lamb roasts are amazing…. Sprigs of rosemary and slices of garlic are inserted into the lamb, then a drizzle of olive oil is rubbed into the skin with a squeeze of lemon juice and then it will be slowly roasted for about four hours.
While the lamb was cooking we set about preparing the vegetables to accompany the lamb roast in Sandy. Normally during the summer we provide an array of scrumptious salads but it is rather cold in February and the couple had opted for vegetables and potatoes. We had decided to offer roasted parsnips and Chantenay carrots along with roasted new potatoes.
We always prepare and cook everything freshly on site on the day whenever possible, and many passersby were impressed as we were busy preparing the meal in our kitchen that we had set up under our catering gazebo. Some people asked for our business cards and said they were thinking of having a party later in the year and thought what a great idea…. A spit roast in Sandy! We had a quick break at midday and popped into The Robert Peel pub for a quick pint. We were asked if we could provide a spit roast oxen for an event later in the year for a wedding. Obviously we cannot cook a whole cow or ox on our machines and i suppose if we could you may struggle to find enough friends to eat it… so we tend to provide a hind quarter with a choice of rubs which we slow roast. This is enough to feed about 160 – 200 hungry guests so is a great solution for the larger party. Spit roast catering really is a popular and cost effective solution to feed your guests and adds a focal point to your party or event. Whatever the meat option, you are treated to the most mouth watering succulent roast and with the addition of our homemade salads… The perfect party menu!
We had decided as it was a rather cold dreary day and the car park setting is not ideal that we would serve the meal inside so we had set up our serving tables with crisp white linen and gleaming stainless steel chafing dishes in the hall. The crockery and cutlery was placed on the tables and we were almost ready for action. Our spit roast machine is very versatile so just before serving time we would wheel the machine into position inside the hall and serve the lamb roast meal indoors
The guests started arriving at the venue as i was transferring the boiled new potatoes to the spit roast machine. This is the great thing about this menu…. The potatoes are par boiled and then roasted in the spit roast machine while the lamb is roasting; the juices and flavour of the lamb roast with rosemary and garlic give the potatoes such a good flavour… They are just awesome. We do leave a few plain boiled with the fresh mint for non meat eaters. As many of the guests were walking towards us you could hear the gasps of OMG we’ve got a lamb roast – my favourite! Guests hovered around the catering tent breathing in deep gulps of the sweet flavour of roasting lamb seasoned with rosemary and garlic.
The vegetables and potatoes were transferred into the chafing dishes and we set about draining the juices from the bottom of the machine so we could wheel into position for serving. What i like about spit roast lamb is the skin. Most people go crazy for pork crackling… The crunchy golden salty flavour is amazing when spit roasted on our hog roast machines, but lamb skin with the delicate flavour of the rosemary and garlic is just amazing. It still has a little crunch to it but just tastes so good so we always offer the lamb skin in small strips alongside the delicious tender meat.
The sixty or so guests were soon queuing for their Sunday lamb roast, carrots, parsnips which were roasted in honey and sugar and the roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic and the lamb was devoured as many came back for a second helping.
Once everyone had had their fill our staff quickly collected the crockery and cutlery and packed them away ready to be returned to our catering unit where we have a large dish washer that takes care of the weekend’s dirty catering equipment. We then quickly and quietly removed the machine and all our serving equipment so that the cakes and desserts that were provided by Scott and Nicole could be placed on the serving table for desserts.
We were soon outside again, cleaning the machine and loading all the equipment into the van ready to head back home. You would never have known we had been in the car park… No mess, no spilt fat and all our rubbish removed by us from the site.
Once again Herts hog roasts have wowed the locals from Sandy with our mouth watering spit roast lamb with roasted new potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
The summer season is fast approaching and our diary is filling up very quickly, with some dates already fully booked. Don’t leave it too late and miss out on having Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire’s finest spit roast caterers at your next event. Call us now and let Herts Hog Roasts take care of all your catering needs at your next event.
