It's all very well being able to serve a perfectly cooked piece of meat, chicken or fish but it is the sauces, dressings, salads and sides we serve with it that make a meal deliciously different. Our focus is on such things this week. Those of you serving roast meat this Sunday, for Selak's Roast Day, will want to serve the perfect roast potatoes with it and Geoff Scott shares his secret recipe, along with recipes for the perfect potato mash and gratin, which can transform the simplest of meals.

A medley of roasted vegetables is a regular on my weeknight menu, served with a sprinkling of nuts or maybe feta or haloumi cheese for protein as a vegetarian meal. Or you can serve roast veges with grilled or fried meats, sausages or fish.

Our Monday night dinner is a roast of butternut and beetroot served with pan-fried sausages.

Nadia has recipes for three dressings that can be used to create salads for all occasions - or use them to drizzle over steamed vegetables alongside your meat of choice.

Back to the beef, lamb and pork side of things, here are a good set of rules to ensure you produce the perfect roast every time.

And if you're after a chicken roast, boy oh boy, you're spoilt for choice on bite.co.nz. Be sure to check out the recipes on our homepage this week.

For more food visit bite.co.nz.