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Archive for the ‘Roast’ Category

Pomegranate & Slow Cooked Lamb Couscous

Posted in Food, Lamb, Roast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 24 February 2017| 2 Comments »

Pomegranate & slow cooked lamb couscous

This makes such a lovely weekend dish and looks really attractive served on a large platter in the middle of the table. It requires a few hours in the oven but is hardly any work at all and uses just a few ingredients.

Wine Suggestion: this dish cries out for a Moorish influenced wine and nothing quite achieves this more than a Spanish Tempranillo. Our choice of the evening was the Carmelo Rodero Ribera del Duero Crianza which is juicy, powerful and also manages to achieve a perfumed elegance with exotic eastern spice hints.

Pomegranate & slow cooked lamb couscous – serves 6

  • 2kg lamb shoulder (or get your butcher to give you a forequarter if the lambs are small)
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses, plus extra to serve
  • 300g couscous
  • butter
  • 1 tsp harissa
  • a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped
  • seeds from 1 pomegranate

Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.

Put the lamb into a roasting tin with the fatty side facing up. Scatter the onion around the lamb. Score the lamb with a sharp knife and rub in the pomegranate molasses with your hands. Season well. Add 2 mugs of water to the tin, then cover with foil and roast for 4 hours. Rest for 15 minutes before pulling chunks of the lamb off the bone with 2 forks.

While the lamb is resting, put the couscous into a large bowl with a large knob of butter, the harissa and seasoning, then add enough boiling water to just cover. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 5 minutes before fluffing the grains gently with a fork. Put the couscous onto a platter and arrange the shredded lamb on top. Pour off any fat from the roasting tin and pour the juices over the lamb and couscous plus a little more molasses. Scatter with the mint and pomegranate seeds.

(Original recipe by Lulu Grimes IN: BBC Olive Magazine, February 2014.)

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Roast Guinea Fowl with Sage and Lemon Mash

Posted in Food, Game, Roast, tagged , , , , , , , , on 16 February 2017| Leave a Comment »

Roast Guinea Fowl with sage and lemon mash

Our butcher had some guinea fowl on the counter and February is the month for a two person dish. This 1.2 kg bird gave enough for two people plus delicious sandwiches the following day.  Guinea fowl tastes like really flavoursome chicken so a good way to try out game birds with tastes that aren’t too unfamiliar. Don’t worry too much about the size of your bird, just follow the usual timings for roast chicken.

Wine suggestion: if you’d like a white wine seek out the Sartarelli Verdicchio Superiore Tralivio or for a red an earthy Pinot Noir like the Sylvain Loichet Cotes du Nuits Villages. Neither will disappoint.

Roast guinea fowl with sage & lemon mash – serves 2

  • 1 small guinea fowl, about 1kg
  • 1 onion, thickly sliced with the skin left on
  • ½ a small bunch of sage
  • 75g softened butter
  • 1 small lemon, zested
  • 6 rashers of streaky bacon
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 350ml strong chicken stock
  • 350g floury potatoes peeled and cut in to large chunks
  • 2-3 tbsp cream/milk
  • 2 handfuls of watercress to serve

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

Put the onion in the bottom of a small roasting tin that will fit the guinea fowl snugly. Finely chop 5 sage leaves and mix with 50g of the butter, the lemon zest and seasoning. Push some of the butter mixture under the skin of the bird, then rub the rest all over. Stretch the bacon strips over the breast, then halve the zested lemon and put inside the cavity with the remaining sage. Place the bird on top of the onions and roast for 15 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and continue to roast for another 35-45 minutes or longer if your bird is bigger than 1kg. Check the bird is cooked by piercing the inside of the thigh and making sure the juices are clear.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender, then drain and mash with the remaining butter and a splash of milk/cream.

Lift the bird onto a platter and keep warm. Scoop the lemon halves from the cavity and keep aside. Pour the roasting juice into a jug and leave to settle, the fat will rise to the top. Spoon 1 tbsp of the fat back into the tin. Put the tin over a low heat and stir in the flour. Gradually add the stock and any meat juices (discard the extra fat from the jug). Mash some of the reserved lemon pulp into the mash with some salt and pepper.

Carve the bird and serve with the lemon mash, gravy and watercress.

(Original recipe from BBC Olive Magazine, February 2014.)

 

Roast Guinea Fowl with sage and lemon mash 2

 

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Spiced Yoghurt Roast Chicken with Potatoes

Posted in Chicken, Food, Gluten-free, Potato, Roast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 6 January 2017| 1 Comment »

Spiced yoghurt roast chicken

Our local butcher, Brady’s, stocks excellent free-range chickens which are juicier and have more flavour than most super-market offerings. Being a very cheap meat overall we think it is worth spending a bit more as the benefits far outweigh the cost difference.

We never tire of roast chicken recipes as they’re usually straight forward and provide lots of leftovers. We challenge you to resist the skin on this one!

Wine Suggestion: we felt like a red so went for the Chateau de Beauregard Fleurie as it has a lighter body and a lower acidity than a Pinot Noir which matched this dish really well. The chicken was moist, but not fatty so the medium acidity was a perfect foil and neither wine nor food overwhelmed the other.

Spiced-yoghurt Roast Chicken with Potatoes – serves 4

  • 1 whole chicken, approximately 1.5kg
  • salad potatoes e.g. Charlotte
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • a pinch of chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

For the marinade:

  • small chunk of ginger, finely grated
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 green chilli, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced, keep the squeezed out halves to put inside the chicken
  • 100g natural yoghurt

Heat the oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5.

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and season with some salt and pepper.

Put the chicken into a large roasting tray and rub the marinade all over the skin with your hands. Put the squeezed lemon halves inside the cavity and roast for 1 hour 30 minutes, then rest for 20 minutes under some foil before carving.

Cut the potatoes in half and toss with the cumin seeds, chilli flakes, 2 tbsp olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Tip into a shallow roasting tray and put in the oven above the chicken for the last 20 minutes. Turn over once during cooking and continue to cook for a further 20 minutes while the chicken is resting.

Delicious served with some coleslaw on the side.

(Original recipe from BBC Olive Magazine, December 2016.)

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Rare Roast Beef with Rosemary, Bay & Shallots

Posted in Beef, Food, Gluten-free, Roast, tagged , , , , , , , , on 2 October 2016| Leave a Comment »

Roast BeefHow to make friends and influence people – serve them roast beef! We love it rare.

Wine Suggestion: a classic dish requires a classic match; good red Bordeaux. Specifically we love left-bank Bordeaux from a good vintage which has all the power but is never heavy; we don’t want to overwhelm the beef as it should be the star. 2009 and 2010 are surprisingly drinking very well and show how good they are but we’ve found the 2005’s are only just opening up. Interestingly we prefer more youthful vintages with this dish and think that the joy of primary fruit with just a little development makes a better match. For this meal we dug into the cellar and pulled out a Chateau Chasse-Spleen 2005 which was still quite tight and structured but the load of tannin in the wine worked perfectly with the proteins in the beef.

Rare roast beef with rosemary, bay & shallots – serves 4

  • rolled sirloin joint, about 1.1kg
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 16 shallots
  • 500g baby new potatoes
  • olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/Fan 200ºC/Gas 7.

Make a bed with the rosemary and bay leaves in the bottom of a large roasting tin.

Smear the beef with mustard, salt and pepper and set on top of the bed of herbs. Make sure the herbs are well tucked in to prevent them burning.

Put the shallots and potatoes around the beef. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and shallots and toss with your hands to coat.

Roast the beef in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn down to 190ºC/Fan 170ºC/Gas 5. Cook for a further 20-25 minutes, then remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes while keeping the potatoes & shallots warm.

(Original recipe in BBC Olive Magazine, March 2011.)

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