We are now two weeks in to this new lockdown and we are adjusting to this ‘new-not-normal-at-all’. There are a few upsides to life at the moment… We have more time to reflect on how to make things better in the future. Time to walk in the country-side, enjoy nature, take long baths, wrestle with our kids over school work and time to make gravy.
Making gravy is a weekly ritual for us in any case. It is a punctuation mark in our week. On a Thursday the veal stock is prepared. On Friday the beef bones are roasted and then the onions caramelised until almost black. By Friday evening we are slowly reducing the red wine from twenty litres to ten. Everything is then combined and the aromatics (bay leaf, peppercorns, tomato puree. thyme) are added and it all simmers peacefully for at least 6 hours on Saturday. Eventually, after everything has reduced by another quarter we strain the dark brown ‘liquid gold’ and then thicken it further until we have a silky, rich, sticky, glorious sauce to drown our Sunday roasts in.
During lockdown there has been a critical change. We have decided not to offer Sunday lunches. But we didn’t like the idea of going a week without our gravy ritual. So, we have added a steak sandwich to the menu with a ‘French Dip’ gravy. You will get a still-crispy-on-the-outside baguette filled with steak, caramelised red onions and melted cheese. Also in the bag will be a pot of our incredible gravy for you to drown your sandwich in. You may wish to consider adding a side of Chips…
This is just one of the new additions to the menu. Please check it out at www.thecompassesinn.com/shop
We are now offering takeaway from Wednesday – Saturday night. We are also introducing a Saturday lunch option from this week – come, park in the car park, pick up your steak sandwich (or anything else from the menu) and go for a glorious walk nearby.
Please do think of us when you are wondering what to have for your dinner (or lunch on Saturday).
We hope that you are all keeping well. Please let us know if there is any way we can help to make things more bearable.