Extreme makeover: Roast dinner

This classic Kiwi favourite is, in theory, a healthy meal; after all, it's meat and vegetables…

But fatty meat, gravy made from the fatty juices and veges roasted in it can make it a hefty, heavy and unhealthy meal. A few tweaks in technique can help:

• Choose leaner cuts of meat – they may be more expensive but you're not paying for any fat. Think quality over quantity.
• Trim any fat you can see and remove the skin from chicken.
• Make your gravy from lean stock and just a little of the strained meat juices to drastically cut the fat.
• Cook your roast veges separately from your meat, sprayed with a little oil. They'll turn out even crispier.

For more tips on making a healthy, tasty roast, see Back to basics: Roasting