Roast Chicken With Celeriac Mash And Buttered Peas

We are second month into our southern winter but we surely can't complain about the weather at the moment. Melbourne has been unusually mild for this time of the year; one can easily think spring has arrived early if not for the bare naked trees and winter blooms. Unfortunately going back to dishes more suitable for warmer months can be tricky with the absence of the many seasonal produce. A better option would be to embrace the warm weather and enjoy the wonderful array of winter crops I think. 

Celeriac is in season and they are big, sweet and cheap at the moment. Many don't give this rather ugly but versatile vegetable a second look, and I can only imagine they are just as many that have no idea what to do with it either. This root vegetable (related to celery) can be made into chips; turned into the most delicious soup; added to a roast or turned into a very delicious and creamy mash that is the star of today's dish.

I don't normally do the "butter under the skin" thing when it comes to roasting a chicken but since they are some leftover thyme and plenty of butter in the fridge, I thought I might just give it a go. If you can't be bothered with this fiddly step, simply refer to my other roast chicken recipes. (click here and here.)

serve 2 to 3 as a one dish meal
oven preheated at 200 C (conventional)
you'll need;
1 free range chicken (~1.2 kg)
1/4 block of butter
a handful of thyme
a handful of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

for the celeriac mash;
1 celeriac, peeled and cut into cubes
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
a small knob of butter
4 tbs of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

for the buttered peas;
2 cups of frozen peas
a small knob of butter
salt and pepper to taste

For the herbed butter - place butter and herbs into a food processor and blend well.

Carefully loosen the skin of the chicken with your finger to create a space between the skin and the flesh.

Distribute the herbed butter evenly under the skin.

Place the chicken onto a baking tray. I also stuffed the cavity of the bird with some extra thyme and rosemary. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season well.

Roast chicken for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Rest chicken for at least 20 minutes at a warm place before carving. To make the gravy - discharge most of the fat and place the pan on the stove. Add half a cup of stock to the pan, scrapping up all the brown sticky bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce a little before thickening the sauce with a little corn flour solution.

For the celeriac mash - boil celeriac and potatoes in plenty of water until vegetables are tender. Drain well and return the vegetables to the pot, add butter, sourcream and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve chicken with celeriac mash, buttered peas and drizzle some of the gravy over.

Slow Roasted Duck With Sides

It has taken me almost 6 months to really get to "know" my oven and now we are very happy to try out new things together, slow roasting a whole duck for example. Time and patience are all you need once you have gathered all the very basic ingredients needed. I wanted the duck to be almost au natural and hence the very simple seasonings - sea salt, pepper and some herbs I picked from my garden. Although the duck needs to be cooked for 3 hours but once it is in the oven, there are very little else to do. I took the opportunity to make the delicious beetroot relish that I posted yesterday while waiting for the duck to cook. By all means make a sauce if your heart desires and play around with the sides, something I will certainly do the next time around.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 2 to 3 as a one dish meal
oven preheated at 240 C (conventional)
you'll need;
1 whole duck, excess fat removed (this can be rendered down for other uses)
2 sprigs of rosemary
6 sprigs of thyme
1 head of garlic, lightly bashed
sea salt and black pepper to taste
4 to 6 potatoes, cut into large chunks
blanched green beans to serve
beetroot relish to serve

Season the duck inside and out then stuff the cavity of the duck with garlic and herbs of your choice and place it into the hot oven preheated at 240 C for 45 minutes. Turn down the oven to 200 C and continue to cook for 2 hours. Quite a bit of fat will be rendered out so drain it off from time to time during the cooking process.

Add potatoes into the roasting pan during the last 30 minutes of cooking. Remove duck from the roasting pan and rest at a warm place for at least 30 minutes while continue to cook the potatoes until golden and crispy.

This is the amount of fat collected, keep it for other uses. 

The skin is extremely crispy and the meat so tender it comes of the bones effortlessly. 

Serve duck with, potatoes, blanched green beans and some beetroot relish.

Roast Chicken With Potato, Broccoli And Pea Mash

The roast dinner is back as the temperature continues to dive south. Gone are the roasted vegetables this time around and in their place is our new favourite side dish at the moment, namely the potato, broccoli and pea mash. I am very happy to have this on the table once a week and I don't think the other tummy would object to that either. I had a few friends over last night for a Malaysian meal, please come back on Monday for my MM post to find out what I prepared. 

serves 2 to 3
oven preheated at 190 C
for the roast chicken you'll need;
1 free range chicken, cleaned and dried
1 lemon, pricked all over
juice from half a lemon
3 garlic cloves
3 sprigs of thyme
3 tbs of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of stock for the gravy

for the broccoli and potato mash;
6 potatoes, chopped
1 head of broccoli
3/4 of frozen peas
a small knob of butter
4 tbs of light sour cream
a drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mash up the garlic cloves with a little salt, add in the olive oil, thyme and lemon juice and mix well. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and stuff the whole lemon into the cavity of the bird.

Place the chicken in a preheated oven and cook for 55 to 60 minutes.

Cut the stalk into large pieces and break up the florets.

Boil potatoes and broccoli stalk slices with a pinch of salt. Throw in the broccoli florets when potatoes are tender and when the florets are almost ready add in the peas. Drain well.....

Return the drained vegetables to the pot, add in the butter, sour cream, olive oil and mash until you get a rustic rough mash. Season well with salt and pepper.

Rest chicken for at least 20 minutes before carving. To make the gravy - discharge most of the fat the pan and place it on the stove. Add half a cup of stock to the pan and scrap up the sticky brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce the liquid a little before thickening it with a little corn flour solution.

Ladies and gentlemen dinner is served!

Slow Roasted Pork Belly With Braised Lentils - Christmas Lunch 2010 Part 2

For our second course I prepared a tried and tested dish that didn't require too much attention from me as well. Pork belly was the obvious choice when I was doing my last minute shopping on Christmas eve as everything else was either sold out or way out of my budget. The pork belly turned out extremely moist and tender after 2 hours of slow cooking in the oven and I was relatively pleased with the resulting golden crackling. Everyone was satisfied and happy after the dishes were cleared but wait we still have our third course coming! Please come back tomorrow to check out our third course and my very first pudding for the blog. 

P.S We are moving to Carlton North after more than 10 years in Fitzroy. I am extremely excited about the move; a new suburb (only a block away :)), a bigger garden, a much larger living area and a brand new kitchen. Excitements aside; packing will be my new best friend for the next 2 weeks but I will continue to have regular posting and will visit all my favourite blogs whenever I need a break from my new friend. I hope you are enjoying the holidays as much as I have been so far.

serve 4 as a main or as a very satisfying one dish meal
oven pre-heated at 200C
you'll need;
1.2 kg of pork belly (ask for female pig)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
light olive oil
1 tbs of fennel seeds, dry roasted and set aside
2 onions, cut into half
1 bunch of spinach, washed and trimmed

for the braised lentil;
250 g of puy lentil, washed and soaked for 30 minutes
2 carrot, peeled and finely diced
3 sticks of celery, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic clove, chopped
2 to 3 bay leaves
1/2 cup of white wine
2 cups of chicken stock
olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste
a small knob of butter

Wash and dry the pork thoroughly with kitchen towel. Score the rind with a very sharp knife (or get your butcher to do that) at 1cm intervals but do not cut all the way to the flesh. Lightly oil the pork rind and rub with sea salt. Season the meat side with sea salt, pepper and fennel seeds.

Place onion halves in a roasting pan and place the pork belly on top, this will stop the pork from burning and drying out during the long cooking process. The onions will caramelized and also absorb all the juices and fat rendering out from the pork belly. These can be served with the meat later. Place the roasting pan into the hot oven at 200C for 20 minutes before turning the oven down to 160C and continue to roast for another hour and 40 minutes. If the crackling is browning too quickly, loosely wrap a foil to cover the pork. 

While the pork belly is roasting - saute chopped vegetables with a little olive oil until soften then add in the soaked lentil, stock, wine and bay leaves. Mix well and simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

When the lentils are ready throw in the butter and combine well. Do a final seasoning with salt and pepper.

After 2 hours - remove pork belly from the oven, cover loosely with foil and rest for 25 to 30 minutes before carving. While the pork is resting saute spinach with a little olive oil and season well. 

Serve pork belly on a bed of braised lentils with the sauteed spinach and caramelized onion. We served this with a beautiful rosé that one of the tummy had brought over.

Rib Eye Steak With Onion Rings And Rocket

It might not be quite what one would get at Rockpool,  but at a tiny fraction of the price, something quite delicious can be prepared at home. Yes I am talking about a beautiful piece of steak. There are no fancy sauces or side dishes, I serve the perfectly cooked steaks with some herb butter, crispy onion rings and some dressed rocket. A very satisfying meal indeed (if only I had baked a pudding as well!)

P.S The whole meal cost around $35 which is less than the cheapest serve of steak at Rockpool, so before saving up for a great meal there this will do for the time being.

serves 3

preheated oven at 200 C

you'll need;

3 pieces of organic steak on the bones (I bought a rib eye roast and cut into 3)

3 large brown onions, thickly sliced

1/2 l of full cream milk

100 g of butter

a handful each of thyme, parsley and basil

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

oil for frying

For the herb butter - place butter and herbs in a food processor and whiz til combine.

Season steaks well and brown steaks all over on a hot griddle.

Place in a hot oven for 9 - 10 minute (medium rare) checking after 7 minutes for doneness. Rest meat for 5 minutes.

Soak sliced onions with milk for 20 minutes, drain well and drench with flour.

Fry onion rings in batches, drain well and season generously with sea salt.

We had a wonderful bottle of Bishop Shiraz to go with our meal courtesy of the tummy.

Roasted Butterflied Lamb Leg With Roasted Beetroot Salad

Roasted beetroot salad with walnut and goats cheese is a favourite at the tummies'. It is an extremely easy and delicious salad on its own or as a side dish to a simple lamb roast like this. I picked up a piece of organic butterflied lamb leg for $6 (again bargains can be found at the supermarket on the right day!) the other day. It was simply marinated and roasted to go with our favourite salad. 

serves 3 to 4

you'll need;

1 butterflied lamb leg, marinated with greek oregano, smoke paprika, salt, pepper and olive oil

2 beetroots

300 g of rockets

a handful of walnuts

goats cheese in  oil (we used Meridith Dairy) or  good feta

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Wrap beetroots in foil and bake in the hot oven for 1 hour or til tender.

Peel the beetroots when they are cool enough to handle, cut in to pieces and season well with salt and pepper. Mix in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, set aside.

Remove marinated lamb from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Brown lamb on a hot griddle then roast it in the hot oven for 20 to 25 minutes or to the doneness of your choice.

Assemble the salad by mixing the marinated beets, rocket, goat cheese and walnut in a salad bowl. Rest the beef before slicing.

With lamb this flavoursome and juicy, a little hot mustard is all one needs.

Chicken char siu 雞叉燒

Purists might laugh and turn away immediately but for many of my Muslim and Jewish friends char siu is a delicacy that they have long been deprived of. I remember making char siu with chicken for the first time when I was living in Singapore, it was for a halal Chinese meal I cooked for my Muslim friends. I have seen beef versions being served at halal food stalls back in Malaysia, but personally I think chicken breasts works so much better (as long as they are not overcooked of course). These moist and juicy chicken char siu can be served just like normal pork char siu, as topping for noodles or rice, filling for delicious pastries or in stir fries.

P.S For pork char siu, use strips of pork neck instead and increase the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.

you'll need;

pre heated oven to 200 C

2 chicken breasts

4 tbs of char siu sauce

5 garlic cloves, minced

dash of Chinese cooking wine

dash of oyster sauce

2 tbs of honey for glazing

Mix everything in a bowl (except the honey) and marinate overnight.

Removed marinated chicken from the fridge at least half an hour before cooking.

Brown chicken pieces in a pot hot pan for 30 seconds on each side.

Spoon the marinade over the chicken breasts and place in the hot oven for 8 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and glaze the chicken breasts with honey, return to the oven for a further 2 minutes of cooking.

Rest chicken char siu for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

I used the moist and juicy chicken char siu for a simple meal of char siu noodles and prawn wontons Malaysian style. I will do a separate post on this meal.