Easter Sunday Roast

Nothing brings back memories more than times like Easter Sunday, as a kid it was pretty much the same routine each and every year, woken early enough to get to church on time, then returning home to receive Easter Eggs, which were quickly opened and tucked into whilst sitting on the back step with my brothers and sisters.  All the while Mum would be in the kitchen with a leg of lamb in the wood fired oven, as she peeled potatoes and sliced up beans, or putting the last touches to an apple pie.  When the lunch bell rang we would race to get our favourite seat at the table, there was often a bit of pushing and shoving to get the seat you wanted, it was noisy and it was fun, lots of fun and the food always plentiful and oh so yummy, Mum is a great cook.

This Easter Sunday was somewhat quieter, just the two of us for lunch and nothing more planned for the day but to enjoy a delicious roast lamb with a nice glass of red, however finding a day old SMS from my son early in the morning changed things a little bit, it went pretty much as planned.

Thinking back to the first time I ever cooked a roast, makes me cringe now, I would panic so much trying to bring the meal together, I used to make such a great deal about it all, which I find so funny now, as it really is the easiest of meals to prepare, and when only cooking for two it becomes so much easier still, as I always plate up four meals, two for now two for tomorrow, makes my Easter Monday very cruisy!

One of the things I love when I roast nowadays is my roasting pan, I brought it about 18 months back whilst in Busselton, from a little cookery shop.  I had seen one just like it in Osborne Park about 12 months earlier fell in love with it but did not buy it straight away, and when I did get back to buy it, it was gone.  Devastated as I was I remained positive that I would find another one and when I did I would buy it regardless of the cost, that happened in Busso, I was so happy, but nowhere near as I am now after I have cooked a roast in it, I love it, it is BRILLIANT.

Funnily enough, that is also the brand name of it Brilliant, it was made in Romania and is finished in a hand painted enamel, inside and out, being that is a covered pan means less dirt and grime on my oven walls. I have only recently learnt the best way to roast meat with it, I tried adding a glass of water, then I tried cooking in oil, both ways were OK but not fantastic then I finally tried dry roasting and that works a treat, the meat stills browns up nicely, there is less mess and the juices in the pan help make the best gravy.

Today’s roast was a 2 kilo leg, which I stuffed with garlic and rosemary after making holes in the meat with the spike of my meat thermometer, then coated with a little olive oil and seasoned well with salt and pepper, it was placed in to a preheated oven @ 170C and roasted for two hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes.  The vegies, potato, parsnip, sweet potato, carrots were added on the last turn and at two hours the meat removed to rest in the lid whilst the veg continued to cook for another 30 minutes, after which the vegies are transferred to another plate and put back into the now switched of oven, while the gravy is made in the roasting pan.

I made a side dish of peperonata from shallots, red capsicum, chilli, zucchini and tomatoes and steamed Brussels sprouts and beans to complete the meal, it was deliciously good and brought back so many wonderful memories of the beautiful roasts my Mum would make and still does, not just at Easter, but week in, week out, though mine is not as good as hers yet, I think it is something worth striving for!

Well we didn’t sit on the back step and eat our Easter eggs today, but we did sit together and enjoyed a nice glass of red after lunch, while watching the movie War Horse and eating choccie eggs, mmm who ever knew chocolate and red wine went so well together, Happy Easter.

Roast Chicken with Chorizo and Tomato

I wanted to cook this dish a few days ago, but when I told Jo what I was about to do she quickly said no way, as she did not like the idea of me firing the oven up on a 40C degree day.

By the look on her face she meant it and we opted for a BBQ that night instead.
I found a recipe on a fellow Perth bloggers pages and as he has similar tastes to my own, I was keen to try it out, however since my original yearning I had found a very similar recipe on the Gourmet Traveller site which included a video featuring Emma Knowles cooking the dish.  I opted to cook it in the way Emma had mainly due to the inclusion of a fresh herb and paprika marinade and the way she prepared the dish generally appealed to me.

The weather was somewhat cooler today, and as I did not have a lot of other options for dinner tonight anyway, I got the nod to prepare this extremely tasty dish and it was well worth the wait.  I love anything that includes roasted tomato and the berry tomatoes I used in this dish tonight were so full of flavour they almost stole the show.   There was one small bone of contention though as I mucked up in not having a loaf of crunchy bread on hand to soak up the delicious gravy!

If you'd like to try this dish have a look at these recipes,

Gourmet Traveller - Emma Knowles version or

Mangiere - Joe Camerilli's one pot version

Gary Renwick is FIFTY!!!

50 year old man looks like this!

Jo and I were fortunate enough to be invited to my friend Gary’s 50^th Birthday celebrations on the weekend.  Gary and his lovely wife Cathy, live on a 2.5 acre property about twenty minutes drive from our place, and it was the venue for the party, and what a great venue it was.

Myself, Gary and my brother Kevin

Gary went all out to ensure he and his guest enjoyed the night, providing beautiful food, more liquid refreshments than you could poke a stick at and a live band, which played our sort of music, a fantastic night, one which we will remember for a long time.

There were around 70 guests in all, a big mob to feed, so how do you go about that? Well if you’re from a wee island in the South Pacific, as Gary is, then there is only one way, a Hangi of course.

This was my first Hangi experience and I can only hope that it is not too long before I get to enjoy such food again, it was awesome, to say the very least.  And how interesting to watch the Maoris do their stuff, first wheeling in the purpose built, portable, steaming Hangi oven and then disrobing it of sheet after sheet of damp hessian, then banana leaves, stones and finally a couple of trays of foil wrapped full of beautiful vegetables, finally to reveal 8 chickens, 4 legs of lamb, a slab of beef and a slab of pork.  

The chickens where stuffed, the slabs of meat were peppered with cloves of garlic, my mouth was watering watching them carve the meat up and it was music to my ears when the chap called out “come on you lot dig in”.

It really is hard to describe just how good the food was, the meat was so so tender and the vegies so full of flavour, when they revealed just how much food was in the Hangi, I said to Jo there is no way this lot will get through all that, but they did and now knowing how good Hangi food is I have realised what a silly statement that was!

Easy Company belting out "They say it's your Birthday"

"Hope you have had a good time"

Happy 50^th Birthday Gary and thanks to you and the lovely Cathy for a great night.

Friday night roast - Rolled Lamb Brisket

Driving home on a Friday evening after what had been a busy week for both of us, it was great to think there was little planned for the weekend, except maybe some relax time, a quiet drink or two and a bite to eat.

This line of thinking starts me thinking about dinner, and I feel like something tasty, yet something a little different, finding it too hard to come up with an idea, I take a small detour past the Main Street shops and call into the local butcher shop.

Tony, the butcher was just pushing his trolley full of meats back to the cool-room as I walked in, he saw the disappointment on my face at the empty display fridge, but was quick to suggest he would accommodate what ever it was I desired, he is a good bloke!

Not wanting to put him to too much trouble I asked what he had on the trolley and said I wasn't sure what I wanted, but it had to be tasty and relatively easy to prepare, he immediately asked what about one of these as he held up a rolled lamb brisket? I have enjoyed the roast meats Tony prepares in this way many times, but never a rolled lamb brisket before.  He explained it would cook in 45 minutes, but to let it rest a further 20 minutes for best results.

I am thinking bung this thing in the oven for 45 minutes, open a coldy and have a relax whilst it cooks, prepare a sauce while it rests and dinner is virtually on the table, he had me sold on the idea pretty quick.

I had decided on the way home to keep the veg to the minimum, just a few potatoes and a couple of carrots for colour, some green beans, I also added a half dozen cloves of garlic and a few shallots in the baking tray for a bit more flavour.

We arrived home at six, had the meal in the oven fifteen minutes later and cracked a Corona around the same time, or maybe that was the second?  Thing was the weekend had started, it was time to kick back and relax and we have wasted no time doing just that.

There was a point in the evening though, when Jo had some concerns, that being, when it came time to my making a sauce to complete this meal.  Having taken the meat out of the oven, I placed the roasting dish on the hot plate, sprinkled some plain flour over the juices and formed a paste, I then picked up Jo's bottle of red and started pouring into the tray, a look of disbelief crossed her face and an exclamation of "What are yo doing?", the distressed looked turned to one of pleasure when she finally tasted the result.

Rolled lamb brisket with roast veg and a red wine sauce, mmm that was good, must do that again!

Pot Roast Chicken ala Rasa Malaysia

I found this recipe on Rasa Malaysia’s web page and the photograph of the chicken sitting in a rich orange coloured sauce looked amazing, then on reading the recipe and it reminded me of how I do my Pot Roast Beef, so I had to try it out for myself.  

Mt Barker - Free Range Chicken, pot roasted

The other appealing thing about this recipe was the ease at putting it all together; it really is a very easy meal to prepare and having done so , it made a delicious meal.  

I added a stick of celery to the pot, as I had some I wanted to use up and served the chicken up with some steamed rice and crusty bread and as I said earlier it was delicious.
The chicken was so moist and tender and the sauce was yum yum, so much so that after I had a full belly I still went back to the pot for more sauce and another slice of bread, just a perfect meal for the rain night we had!

Roast Pork with Roasted Vegetables and Black Bean Gravy

This morning I handed my wife a food magazine we received as we walked into the Good Food and Wine Show yesterday and asked her to pick something out for her dinner tonight.  I had seen a beautiful beef casserole with seasonal vegetables in the book and was sure that was what she would pick, alas I was wrong, she got no further than the cover and she said she wanted that!  Not that I had anything against roast pork, I love it in fact, it was just I wanted to try something different.  It was not until I went shopping for the ingredients that I actually decided that yes she could have her roast pork, however not quite like the pistachio stuffed pork loin on the cover of that magazine, though that would have been a little different, instead I opted to try and create a different array of accompaniments, this is where this roast was very different to any I have had before.

Firstly I made a potato gratin with a difference, one that had me crossing my fingers that it may work and I was so pleased when it came out of the oven and I tasted it, burning my mouth as I did, and I it tasted great, this is how I made it. Peel and slice thinly 2 nashi pears, 1 large Granny Smith apple, 1 golden shallot and 4 medium potatoes, layering them in a casserole dish starting with a layer of potato, followed by the shallot and pear, then the apple and finally another layer of potato.  In a small jug mix together a clove of crushed garlic, a tablespoon of red currant jelly and a stubby of Dry Apple Cider, mix well with whisk and then pour over the top, pop it in the oven for an hour at 180C.

I was a little bit of a chicken so opted to dice up a few potatoes and roasted them in a little oil just in case, along with a couple of carrots and a quarter of a pumpkin which I diced and coated with oil and freshly ground fennel seeds, I learnt tonight that pumpkin cooked like this is amazing!

Whilst I was at the spud shed I noticed some lovely fresh beetroots, and after roasting some baby beetroot for Friday night’s salad, I thought I may as well try them out with roast pork, I roasted them whole for a little over an hour, then peeled, cut and doused them in a couple of tablespoons of Maille Dijonnasie.

The final touch, which lifted this from a great roast to an outstanding roast, was the gravy I prepared, using the baking tray I roasted the meat and veg on, I sprinkled over a tablespoon of plain flour and cooked it for about 30 seconds then added a half cup of Chardonnay to help de-glaze the tray, mixing it in well and then added a cup of hot water from the pot I cooked the beans in, once it was at a nice consistency I added a knob of butter, some cracked pepper and a teaspoon of Black Bean Sauce.

This really was the roast with a difference I had aimed for, all the flavours worked exceedingly well together, but none more so than that black bean gravy with a chunk of the crunchy crackling, I am so glad I cooked extra veggies so as to make up four plates, now I am hanging out to get home from work tomorrow night so I can enjoy the wonderful flavours all over again!