Perfect roast chicken

Tags

Chicken, roast, roast chicken, sunday lunch

I have always maintained that if I had to pick a final meal, it would be roast chicken. I simply LOVE the smell of a chicken roasting in the oven, the taste of the warm, juicy, moist meat, crispy skin…. OOhh, I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

It is very important to start with an excellent quality, organic, free range, chicken and I am very lucky here in the Dordogne as there is no shortage of farms selling directly. This chicken comes from Volaille Dumas – Perigord Noir.

I added 2 thickly sliced potatoes, 1 sliced onion and 1 thickly sliced aubergine to the bottom of my dish and placed the chicken on top.

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

1 Chicken, 2 to 3 kg (5 to 6 lbs)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, cut in half
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 onion, cut into quarters
3 tablespoons melted butter
Pinch paprika
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
Pinch mixed herbs or herbs de Provence

Preparation:

Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F
Remove the chicken giblets
Stuff the chicken cavity with the lemon halves, onion quarters and garlic cloves
Sprinkle with salt and pepper in the cavity
Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter
Sprinkle the paprika, cayenne pepper and herbs on the chicken
Add salt and pepper
Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken
Place the chicken in the roasting dish
About half way through the cooking time, baste the chicken with the juices
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh
Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 10 minutes
Carve and serve
Enjoy!

 

Advertisement

Grilled and roasted pork

Tags

BBQ, grill, italian cooking, longe de porc, Pork, roast

A perfect party dish. The pork is started off on the BBQ and then finished off in the oven while you serve cocktails and eat your starters. No last minute fussing and the flavour is absolutely amazing, the meat moist, succulent and juicy and the edges crispy…..

Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
• 2-3 dried red chillies or 1 teaspoon dried flakes
• 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
• 2 kg / 4.5 lb pork loin ( loin of pork, off the bone with the skin removed) / (roti de porc dans la longe, désossée, en 1 seule morceau))
• olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 10 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary

Preparation:

Put your loin of pork on to a chopping board and score the fat in a criss-cross pattern
Massage the meat all over with a little olive oil
Using a mortar and pestle, smash up the fennel seeds with the chillies and the herbes de Provence (use more or less chilli depending on taste)
Rub the spices all over the pork
Place on a baking sheet or large ovenproof dish and let it come to room temperature – so that it can absorb the flavours
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF
Season the meat quite generously with salt and pepper and place it fat-side down on the grill
This will make the barbecue flame a bit so you’ll probably need to turn it over quickly on to the meat side
Grill the meat for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how hot your barbecue is, and remember to keep turning it so it gets those lovely charred grill marks all over
Return the pork to the tray or dish you marinaded it in and place in the oven
After 30 minutes add the vinegar and rosemary, carefully move the meat around and baste it, and put it back into the oven for another 20 minutes
Internal temperature should be 62C / 145F
Remove it from the oven, leave it to rest for 10 minutes, then slice the meat up
Enjoy!

5 Hour slow roasted Lamb

Tags

Lamb, roast, slow cooking

 

Tantalising aromas, butter soft, tender meat falling off the bone – I had wanted to try a low temperature, slow roast for some time and now was the time to do it. The lamb is cooked for about 4 to 5 hours until its flesh is soft enough to part from the bones with a spoon. In fact in France the recipe is called “Agneau à la cuillère” or lamb with a spoon. Slow-roasting was traditionally a community affair. In French villages, bakers made use of their ovens as the fires died down, after the morning bread baking, to slow-roast meats  for locals who would bring their meats to the baker and collect it several hours later at the end of the day for dinner. I do not have a local baker who provides that service anymore so I decided to try one myself.   I could not make up my mind whether to do a version with traditional rosemary and garlic or a Middle Eastern version with spices, so I settled on a combination of the two and used garlic, thyme, cumin and a touch of paprika and cayenne pepper. The meal got a resounding thumbs up from all my guests.
The key to cooking this way is without a doubt, the basting. That is the reason I included a cup of water with the lamb, no need for wine or anything special, good old fashioned, regular, tap water does the trick beautifully as the spice rub and the fat from the lamb melt into the water to make an aromatic jus with which to moisten the lamb. I basted about once every 45 minutes. I have found that the best and most moist result came from cooking in a deep cast-iron casserole without a lid. I used a 28-cm / 11″ Le Creuset for a 3 kilo / 6 1/2 lb leg of lamb.

Isn’t that a beautiful leg of lamb from my local butcher, Alain Chapoulie in Le Bugue

 

 

Just fits!

After 2 1/2 hours of cooking

At the table

Serves 6:

Ingredients:

A leg of lamb, about 3 kg / 6 1/2 lbs
250 ml / 1 cup hot water
For the spice rub:
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 pinch sweet paprika
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 150 C / 300 F
Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic and salt
Add the pepper, cumin seeds, paprika, thyme and cayenne pepper
Gradually add the oil and mix all to a thickish paste
Melt the butter and stir into the spice rub
Rub the spice paste all over the lamb and place in the casserole dish
Place in the oven for 30 minutes
Pour in the hot water and baste the lamb
Continue cooking for 4 hours, basting every 45 minutes or so
If the juices dry up too quickly, simply add a bit more hot water
Remove from the oven and cover with a lid, let rest about 15 minutes
Transfer to a serving platter and drizzle the remaining jus over the lamb
Sprinkle with parsley and carve
Enjoy!