Showing posts with label roast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roast. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas

An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas


Even if the weather is hot and gross and the idea of having the oven on is unbearable, sometimes you feel like some roast lamb. That’s not just me, yeah? Thank goodness for hooded BBQs! We will actually roast in the BBQ all year around, not just in summer because Lance likes to get the smoker going to flavour, well, everything. But a smoked leg of lamb is a beautiful thing, so I do not complain. I encourage! This recipe is flavourful enough to not require the smoke, but 9 times out of 10, if you get served a roast at our house, it will be smoked. You can smoke this or not, either way it is pretty spectacular.
Over the past few years, aperitivos have really come into their own in WA as we embrace the bitterness in summery spritzes. I absolutely love the citrusy fresh flavours in Aperol and Campari and the like. We have spritz weather, and a particularly balmy afternoon with an Aperol and soda inspired this recipe. The basic premise of this dish is to balance a leg of lamb atop some chickpeas, onions, garlic and Aperol so that the chickpeas will soak up the delicious lamb juices as well as the boozey liquid below as they cook. It’s important to only rub salt on the top of the leg of lamb, otherwise the chickpeas develop a hard outer shell and become tough. Season the chickpeas at the end of the cooking process. The best part of this recipe is that you can just pop it in the BBQ and leave it cooking and it’s a side dish and meat in one dish. Add a green salad and you are done for dinner, folks. You can rotate the lamb a few times if you want, to ensure even cooking, but I don’t always bother (don't salt the lamb at all if you want to rotate). Still check on the liquid levels every so often to make sure the chick peas don’t dry out. I’ve also added some diced carrots and capsicum to the chickpeas to boost the vege content and that’s also worked a treat. Any leftover chickpeas can be used in salads to take to work the next day, the Aperol scent reminding you that the weekend is no more than 5 days away!

An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas

Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas

1 leg of lamb
2 brown onions, cut into thin half moons
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried chick peas, soaked overnight.
3 sprigs thyme
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
1 cup Aperol
1 cup water
Salt and pepper
Rinse your soaked chickpeas and place them in a heatproof bowl or pot. Boil the kettle and pour over the chickpeas. Leave for 20 minutes while you preheat your BBQ to 160C using only the burners on the grill side, not the plate side (alternatively, you can use your oven). Drain the chickpeas.
Spread the chickpeas into the bottom of a roasting pan. Add the onion, garlic and thyme. Pour over the wine, Aperol and water, gently stir it all together. Rest the lamb on top of the chickpeas, presentation side up and put on the plate of the BBQ (indirect heat) and put the lid down. After half an hour, turn the lamb upside-down carefully with tongs. After another half hour, turn the lamb back the right side up. Continue roasting for a further 30-45 minutes, depending on how well done you like your roast. All the while, keep an eye on the liquid level of the chickpeas. They will slowly be soaking up the liquid, but you don’t want them to dry and catch on the bottom, add a little extra water if necessary.

When the lamb is done, remove it from the chickpeas and set aside on a warm plate, tented in foil to rest for 20 minutes. Pop the lid back down on the BBQ, keeping the chickpeas cooking in this twenty minutes, the liquid should evaporate, leaving a sticky gravy-like onion mixture and the chickpeas should be soft. Season to taste, and serve a pile of chickpeas with a few slices of roast lamb and a green salad.

An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas
An Australia Day Roast - Roast Lamb with Aperol Chickpeas

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing


Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing

Lance and I both enjoy watching the tv show Bob’s Burgers. And one of Lance’s favourite episodes is the first Thanksgiving episode. In it, Bob gets excited picking out the turkey ready for the feast and he names the turkey “Lance”. So for his birthday this year, Lance was bought a Bob’s Burgers’ themed present – complete with a Lance. Yep. A whole frozen turkey. You may also recall that Lance loves smoking meats, so we knew it was going to be part of his turkey’s future. Lance named his turkey Boblance and he was popped into the freezer until such time as we could spend a whole day smoking a turkey. Lancegiving, as it came to be known, was last weekend. And it was So. Much. Fun.

We invited a few friends and family around to hang out for the day. There was a tv set up outside playing thanksgiving episodes of some of our favourite shows, Brooklyn Nine Nine, How I Met Your Mother, and, of course, Bob’s Burgers. We played beer pong (minus the beer!), we hung out in the spa, we played board games, and we watched the turkey rotisserate in the smoking shed Lance had set up. It smoked for 6 hours, then we moved it into the oven for a further hour and a half of roasting before carving it up and serving it with roast veges and the stuffing.

Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing


Given that neither of us had ever cooked a turkey before, we weren’t optimistic about how it was going to turn out. There was lots of gravy on hand, just in case it was tough as old boots. But, it wasn’t really required. The turkey was incredibly succulent, with a fabulous smokey flavour. The only issue with smoking it the way Lance does is that the skin doesn’t crisp up, even with the finishing time in the oven. It tends to stay a slightly unappetising chewiness. But that is a small price to pay for such delicious meat. And as good as the meat was…it was the stuffing that really stole the show. Neither of us are the biggest fan of bread based stuffings, so I did a bit of a google for other recommended fillings. Chestnuts sounded right up my alley, but too much effort to prepare. And tinned chestnuts are hard (not to mention expensive) to come by. There were various sausage ones and mince meat ones, and rice ones. Lance had the idea of throwing some sweet potato into the mix and although he claims it was his idea, we both independently came upon the same answer to easily flavouring the stuffing – Mexican Chorizo. In the absence of some lurking in your freezer (seriously though, you should make it and have some lurking in your freezer), use a few of your favourite spicy sausages, skin removed.You will need to add a diced brown onion to the vegetables you sweat off with the sausage.
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing

Lancegiving Smoked Turkey and Stuffing

1 cup black rice
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 sweet red paprika, diced
100g cold butter, diced
1/4 cup porcini mushrooms
1/3 cup dried cranberries
4kg turkey

Cook the rice to al dente and set aside to cool. It needs to be cooked, but retain some bite as it will be cooked more in the turkey. Cook the sweet potatoes until just barely tender using your favourite method. As I was short on time, I steamed them. Set aside to cool. The rice and sweet potatoes can be cooked ahead of time if needs be.

Place the porcini and cranberries into a mug and just cover with recently boiled water. Cover loosely and set aside to cool.

Heat a frypan to medium high-heat. Add the Mexican chorizo and break up with a wooden spoon. As it starts to brown, add the celery and paprika. Cook until softened, around 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Once everything is cool, mix together in a bowl. Mix in about half of the diced butter.

Spoon as much of the stuffing into the turkey cavity as possible, then sew shut the cavity. Spoon the rest into a casserole container, cover with foil and set aside. Smoosh the remaining butter cubes between the skin and the breast meat of the turkey.

Set up your smoker (or get Lance to) on your barbecue to reach 160C, and insert the rotisserie rod. Alternatively, just set your oven to 160C. Smoke/roast the turkey for around 4 hours, or until the breast meat reaches 130F on a meat thermometer. Preheat the oven to 180C, transfer the turkey from the rotisserie to a baking tray and cook for a further hour, or until the breast meat reaches 165F.  You can keep it going on the smoker outside if time permits, but we were getting hungry! As turkey sizes and oven/BBQ temperatures can vary, keep an eye on the meat and check for doneness from around 3 hours. The times I've given here are what our turkey took.

About an hour before the turkey is ready, slide the casserole dish with the stuffing into the oven to cook the remainder of the stuffing, for the last 15 minutes take the foil off. Any additional veges can be roasted now too.

Let the turkey rest for around 15 minutes, then carve. Remove the stuffing from the turkey and mix it with the casserole stuffing. Serve.

Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo StuffingLancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing
Lancegiving - an Australian Thanksgiving (of sorts) with Smoked Turkey with Mexican Chorizo Stuffing


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots

Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots

I don’t have much to say about this recipe, other than I had a bag of lovely baby carrots from the Nanna Shop. And I had a one lone mango left from my tree. And I was reading a book on Moroccan and North African cuisine. It all sort of just happened, from there. Cumin, fruit and vegetables. Simple, but tasty. Like a mango-ey version of honey roasted carrots. If you can, toast some cumin seeds in a pan and grind to a powder yourself.

This is a sweet vegetable dish, so it’s a perfect accompaniment to richer, fattier meats like lamb. And drier style wines. We ate it with toasted tortillas, Greek yoghurt and lamb sausages. All in all, a very nice enjoyable meal.

I had leftovers with a poached egg the next day for lunch.
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast CarrotsSimply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots

 

Cumin Mango Roast Carrots

500g baby carrots, scrubbed
1tbsp olive oil
1 mango, peeled, sliced
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 jalapeno, finely sliced
Generous sprinkling sea salt and fresh black pepper

To serve:
Toasted pistachios, roughly chopped
Sesame seeds (I used black, but white are fine too)
Sprig of coriander, leaves removed and finely chopped
Drizzle balsamic glaze

Preheat the oven to 170C

Make sure the baby carrots are approximately the same thickness, so cut in half lengthwise if necessary. Drizzle with olive oil, the cumin, cinnamon and season well with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Add the mango and jalapeno and toss gently. You don’t want to break the mango up too much.

Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until mostly tender, turning at around the half-way mark and coating the carrots in the mango that’s broken down.

Turn up the oven to 200C and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, so the sugars caramelize a little.

Remove from the oven, drizzle with balsamic glaze, sprinkle with the nuts, seeds and coriander.

Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots
Simply Delicious - Cumin Mango Roast Carrots

Monday, September 8, 2014

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
We got into the (awesome) habit of having roasts almost every weekend for a while there. Given the abundance of bones, I started to make a point of using the bones to make my own stocks with, rather than just throw them out. I have a bunch of both lamb and pork stock in the freezer now for adding extra awesomeness to soups and risottos. For this pork roast, we didn’t end up eating the little shank piece that came with it, nor did I salt that part correctly for crackling. So, leaving a little bit of meat on the main bone after the roast, and cutting the skin off the shank piece, I popped these bones in a stock pot and added the only flavouring items I had at that stage – onion, garlic, salt, pepper and the stalks from the various herbs I was going to put in the actual dish.
In keeping with the ‘using leftovers’ theme, when I peeled the potatoes, I made sure I did it in long strips, then salted them and the liberated pork skin and chucked them in the oven until they went super crispy, the pork skin turned into crackling and both made the most delicious garnish.
Then it was just a matter of boiling the stock for 40 minutes, and steaming the potatoes over the stock for the last 10 of those minutes, or until tender. Strain the stock, shred the meat from the bones and pour the stock over fresh herbs and greens, like you would in a Pho. Top with your crispy extras and chilli. Delicious!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

1 bunch mint, leaves removed
1 bunch basil, leaves removed – stalks reserved
1 bunch coriander, leaves removed – stalks reserved
one roast pork bone (with a little meat left on)
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
3 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper corns
one onion, peeled, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed
¼ broccoli, cut into florets and finely sliced
1 cup snow peas, finely sliced
1 red onion, sliced for garnish
In a large soup pot, add the bone, the herb stalks, salt, peppercorns, onion and garlic. Add enough water to cover – around 2L. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 minutes. After 30 minutes, put the diced potato into a steamer insert over the soup pot and leave to steam for 10 minutes, or until tender.
Removed the bones from the stock and carefully cut the remaining meat off the bone. Discard bone. Strain the stock into a clean pot. Discard the other flavouring ingredients. Bring the stock back to the boil.
Divide the potato, pork, broccoli, snow peas and herbs into 2 bowls. Pour over the stock and leave to sit for 5 minutes before sprinkling the potato skins, crackling and chilli on top.
Enjoy!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce

Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce


This is my go-to way to cook a roast pork. The spices and herbs might get mixed up a little bit (you'll maybe recognise the sage and cider from my cider braised pork), but the method is always the same. It guarantees a moist meat, crispy crackling and it makes it's own sauce all in the one roasting pan! How perfect is that?

A pork like this will easily feed around 10 people with sides.

Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce


Roast Pork and Apple Sauce

approx 4kg pork leg
1 tbsp + 1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp smokey paprika
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 brown onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed
330mL apple cider
Preheat the oven to 150C. Cut through the skin and into the fat of the pork and rub with the vinegar and 1 tsp salt deep into the cuts. Combine the remaining salt, sage and paprika. Rub all over the rest of the pork.
Mix the diced apples and onions together in the base of a large roasting pan. Add the garlic cloves. Gently place the pork roast, skin side up, on top of the apple mix. Pour the cider into the base of the pan.

Roast for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 120C, cover with foil and return to the oven for another 2 hours.

Remove from the oven and take off the foil. Turn the oven up to 200C. If the meat has collapsed in such a way as to submerge the skin, turn upright and place back in the oven, uncovered, so the skin will crispy up and turn into crackling. About 30 minutes.

Remove from oven, put the pork on a plate to rest. Meanwhile, use a fork to mash the apple and onion together into an apple sauce. Put this into a serving platter. Carve the pork, and serve!
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce
Christmas in July - Roast Pork and Apple Sauce