roast – Goboroot.com

Blood Orange Roasted Chicken

I thought I would quickly throw together this amazingly satisfying recipe for a weekend meal idea since we really enjoyed it! It’s the blood oranges! It’s the chicken thighs!

What is your pick-me-up food when you are under the weather? Mine is Japanese mandarins. While laying on a thick futon, fighting a high fever for a few days during our Japan trip, that was the only thing I wanted to eat. They possess just the right juicy sweetness plus plump succulent meat with great acidity. They are tiny yet burst in your mouth: just a perfect fruit to quench one’s thirst. Coincidentally, Ninomiya, the suburb where we stayed with my sister, is one of the country’s most important producers of Japanese mandarins. Upon recovery, I truly enjoyed the crisp walk weaving through the orange fields under the sun.

Those days seem already a faraway memory, so I tried to find my beloved mandarins in a local market in order to savour their unique flavour once more. Unable to find the Japanese variety, I discovered red hued blood oranges instead. I simply could not resist their scent so I brought some back home with me. I ate some raw, slurped their flesh and paired them with roasted chicken for supper. I find it very refreshing when the garlicky, tangy citrus juice mixture meets the greasiness of the chicken. Another quick and easy yet delicious dish following my last post! The next day, I nestled the reheated leftover chicken pieces on the freshly cooked spaghettini, squeezed the roasted slices of blood orange over top and drizzled it all with the gravy. It was really an unexpected treat after having been soaked during a cold rainy night.

Blood Orange Roasted Chicken

Serves 4

2 ½ pounds chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

Marinade

3 garlic cloves

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons soy sauce

½ cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice (about 2 -3 oranges)

1 tablespoon white wine

3 tablespoons olive oil

Few sprigs of thyme

2 blood oranges, sliced into ½ inch thick pieces

3 tablespoons all purpose flour for gravy

Using a pestle and mortar, mash the garlic. Slowly add the salt and make into a creamy paste. Add the mustard and combine well. Transfer into a small bowl and add the soy sauce, orange juice, wine, oil and thyme. Mix well.

Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry. Marinate them in the orange juice mixture in a large rimmed dish. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Turn the meat upside down to ensure that it thoroughly marinates when half way done.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Place the chicken and sliced oranges in an ovenproof large heavy bottomed pan, making sure the thighs are not overlapping; pour the marinade liquid over top. Roast for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thick part reads 165F. Baste the chicken a couple of times during the roasting.

Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and make gravy. Add the flour to ½ cup water and stir well. Whisk the flour mixture into the remaining liquid in the pan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and continue to boil until the desired thickness is achieved.

Serve with roasted orange slices and gravy sauce.

Roasted leeks, carrots and mushrooms

Serves 4

4 large carrots, cut in half and quartered lengthwise

2 leeks or a bunch of baby leeks, cut into 2 inch pieces and halved lengthwise if thick

2 cups mushrooms, washed with ends removed

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

Coat the vegetables well in oil, salt and pepper. Place them in a baking sheet and roast in the 325F oven for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

Serve warm.

Coffee Marinated Pork Tenderloin and Coffee Ice Cream

While visiting Japan, I was reminded of some of my favourites from our family recipes as much as I got inspirations for new recipes. Before I began to forget all the foodie excitement, I quickly started trying to recreate and adjust the Japanese recipes back in Canada. Today, I posted this tenderloin recipe that my twin sister always prepared for our family and friends at her BBQ / garden party along with other amazing dishes. This is the one of the easiest yet tastiest dishes when you crave good protein for dinner.

Inspired by this recipe, I thought I would group together all the coffee influenced recipes from my travel journal. It took me a couple of attempts to achieve the texture and taste that I desired for this. Although I NEVER drink instant coffee due to its inky taste, for this recipe I used good quality organic freeze dried ones, made by Mount Hagen Organic Café, that I had picked up from a local organic store. As a result, the recipe was easier to execute and I loved the result!

I’m planning to introduce matcha (Japanese finely ground green tea) influenced recipes as a counterpoint to today’s coffee recipes sometime soon, so stay tuned!

Coffee_ice_cream

coffee-ice-cream2

Coffee Marinated Pork Tenderloin

I really liked the pork, marinated for only 2 hours, since the smoky roasted coffee flavour enhanced the taste of the pork. I also experimented with marinating pork overnight, but the coffee tasted a little acidic after many hours of oxidation while being marinated. Nevertheless, it’s important to grind the coffee beans with a spice grinder just before making the rub for the best result. So I’d stick to the 2 hour marinating method, as it gave me plenty of time to do other chores in the kitchen and to prepare the best matching salad (recipe below) to accompany this dish. The grainy texture and saltiness from the rub don’t require any other sauce aside from a citrus note from the following salad to help balance everything out. Oh, you’ll love this combination!

Serves 3 to 4

1.5 lb pork tenderloin

For rub

1 tablespoon freshly ground coffee

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Make the rub by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Rinse the pork and pat dry. Rub the pork all over and marinate it covered for 2 hours in a refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 390F. Roast the pork on a rack in a baking pan until the thermometer inserted into the centre reaches 142F, for about 20 to 25 minutes. Cover the pork with a piece of tin foil and rest it on a cutting board for 5 minutes. At this point, the temperature rises about 5 degrees. If you desire the meat with a slight pink tint when you slice it, watch the timing of carving closely. But make sure the meat reaches 145F to ensure safe consumption.

Slice the pork and serve warm along with the following spinach salad.

Lemony Spinach Salad

Serves 3 to 4

If you plan to serve this salad with the above pork dish (as I strongly recommend!), you can start preparing it when the pork is 10 minutes away from being done. The key to this salad is to take time to infuse the flavour of the pancetta into the onions and mushrooms over low heat. Also be sure to combine the hot onion mixture into the spinach to lightly wilt the leaves. No salt is added to the dressing due to the amount of saltiness derived from the pancetta.

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

100g thinly sliced pancetta, cut into strips

½ onion, thinly sliced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

A lump of goat cheese

150g baby spinach, washed and drained well

Big handful of pecans

Dressing

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the olive oil over low heat. Sauté the pancetta, onion and mushrooms until the onion becomes very tender. In the meantime, make the lemon dressing. Combine the lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper in a small empty glass jar with a lid on, and shake until emulsified.

Roast the pecans until they give off a nice roasted scent, for about 5 minutes. I use the heat that is left after I take the above pork dish from the oven.

Combine the spinach, the hot onion mixture, pecans and lemon dressing in a large bowl. Crumble the goat cheese over the salad and toss well.

Serve with the pork tenderloin.

Coffee Ice Cream

Makes about 1 quart

1 ¾ cups whole milk

2/3 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

2 ½ tablespoons good quality instant coffee

1 ½ cups whipping cream (Avalon for the best flavour if you are local)

¼ cup Kahlua (coffee liqueur)

For serving

½ cup Kahlua

A bar of white chocolate

In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of milk over medium heat. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, add the sugar, and mix well.

While stirring the egg mixture, add the hot milk in a few instalments. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the coffee. Stir well and continue cooking until the mixture thickens, about 12 minutes.

Remove from the heat, strain to another large bowl and let the temperature drop a little bit. Add the remaining milk, cream and the coffee liqueur, and whisk well. Cover the mixture and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Churn the ice cream mixture according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze in a sealed container overnight.

When serving, simmer down the coffee liqueur to about half of the amount or until thickened. When it cools down, it gets thicker. Transfer to a small jar for serving. Leave the chocolate in a warm place to let it slightly soften. For the topping, shred the chocolate using a vegetable peeler.

Serve ice cream in an individual chilled glass. Pour a generous amount of coffee syrup over top, and sprinkle with the shredded chocolate.

Goodbye Peaches and Hello Roasts

While I am still lingering on the remnants that summer has left behind, it is impossible to deny that the air has turned cooler. Peaches are finishing their season, Fameuse apples are ready for harvesting after having matured for four years in my garden and undoubtedly, it gets dark at 7:30 at night.

With the peaches I have picked up at the farmer’s market, I made peach crisps to say farewell to summer (or at least tried to). I like this time of year; no longer summer, not yet fall, the season in between. It is the time for preparing our minds and bodies for the coming season. So I welcomed the chilly evening with a kind heart and a pot of roasted beef with gobo roots. I feel that we are going to have a good autumn.

Peach Crisp

Serves 6

6 large peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into ½ inch thick wedges

2 tablespoons cane sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ cup water

½ cup rolled oats, roughly milled using a food processor

½ cup all purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour or spelt flour

½ cup cane sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, cut into ½ inch pieces

In a large bowl, toss the peaches, sugar, vanilla and water. Mix well, then let stand for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. In the meantime, place the oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until flaky.

Squeeze the flour mixture in your fingers, form into small patties and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

Butter a shallow baking pan. Place the peaches inside, and lay the patties over them.

Bake until top becomes golden and juice is bubbly, about 45 minutes.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Braised Cross Rib Roast and Gobo Roots with White Wine Tomato Sauce

Serves 2 plus leftovers

4 lb cross rib roast

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

3 tablespons vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 large onions, cut into 1 inch wedges

2 x 1’ lengths gobo root

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon cane sugar

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

A sprig of fresh rosemary

1 ½ cups dry white wine

1 cup water

Clean gobo by scraping the skin with the back of a kitchen knife under running water. Cut into 2 inch pieces and cut in half in lengthwise. Soak in cold water for 10 minutes and change water. Repeat this process a few times until the water no longer becomes yellow. Drain well.

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 325F. Pat dry the beef and rub the salt and pepper all around.

In a heavy bottomed ovenproof large pot, heat the oil until hot but not burning and brown the beef on all sides. Transfer to a large plate.

In the same pot, sauté the onion, garlic then gobo until golden over relatively high heat. Stir constantly so as not to burn the vegetables. Add the tomato paste, thyme, and rosemary and adjust with salt and pepper. Add wine and water, and then bring to a simmer.

Return the beef to the pot, cover tightly and braise in the oven, turning the beef once in the mid way until done about 80 minutes to 1 ½ hours or a meat thermometer reads 145C for the medium rare in the centre of the meat. Adjust time to your liked doneness.

Take the pot out of the oven. Let the beef rest on a plate covered with a piece of aluminum foil. Transfer the vegetables to a serving plate with a slotted spoon, leaving as much the liquid in the pot as possible. Reduce the tomato-y liquid over medium high heat to half of the amount, stirring occasionally until it attains a thick consistency. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

Carve the meat into ½ inch thick slices and serve immediately with the wine tomato sauce and the vegetables.

Adapted from www.epicurious.com.

Roasted Carrots

Serves 2 plus leftovers

10 large carrots, cut in half or quartered lengthwise

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the carrots in a large baking sheet, drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes.

Serve immediately with the cross rib roast. Follow by the peach crisp with ice cream.