You are browsing the archive for Roasts.




Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

Happy holiday food

December 20, 2012 in Baking, Crush mag recipes, desserts, Roasts, tarts

No Comments »

Balsamic roasted tomatoes and goats cheese tarts
Issue 25

Now, don’t these tarts look festive? Just looking at them make me so happy so I thought I’d share the recipe and a photo gallery of delicious dishes that are just perfect for the festive season. And best of all, they’re fuss free. Yay! To find the recipes for the gallery pics, go to Crush! Online magazine and find them in my Monday to Sunday feature, recently revamped to “What’s cooking with Carey” in the mentioned issues.

So first up, the recipe:

Rustic balsamic roasted tomatoes and goat’s cheese tarts

Crisp, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Top with some micro herbs or basil and you’re good to go!

Makes: 9
Difficulty: easy
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 roll puff pastry, thawed out in the fridge
250 g assorted baby tomatoes
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
2 T (30 ml) balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground salt and pepper
100 g chevin, cut into 9 slices
Micro herbs or basil leaves for garnishing

Method:
Preheat the oven to 220˚C.

Cut the pastry into 9 squares and press into a well greased muffin tin. Prick a few holes on the bases. Chill in the fridge while prepping the filling.

Place the tomatoes on a roasting tray (cut larger ones in half, leave smaller ones whole) and drizzle with oil and balsamic. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for +- 20 minutes until burst and blistered. Set aside to cool.

Turn oven temperature down to 190˚C.

Place a slice of cheese in each pastry case and top with tomatoes. Fold the corners of the pastry over the filling.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve immediately topped with micro herbs (Basil and rocket)

Easy ne?

Now, some teasers and inspiration for your holiday nosh:

For a simple lunch, picnic or light dinner…

Sticky chicken wings with chopped salad tossed in blue cheese dressing
Issue 23

Gammon burgers with coleslaw and grilled pineapple
Issue 23

Bacon, caramelised onion and brie quiche
Issue 24

And some roasts?

Slow roasted pork belly with fennel slaw
Issue 25

How can I not throw pork belly into the mix? And this is a quite a fresh take on the classic pork belly – served with an apple and fennel slaw and a zingy citrus dressing. YUM!

Roasted spatchcock chicken with lemon and sage
Issue 26

The most tender chicken you’ll ever make with serious flavour.

Italian style slow roasted lamb with spinach polenta
Issue 26

This lamb is melt-in-your-mouth tender and a rather awesome way serve lamb this Christmas if I do say so myself. This is damn tasty. Love!

And just when you thought I was done, if you haven’t spotted my feature on Food24 showcasing my 7 flop proof desserts for Christmas, go check it out! There are some cool step-by-step galleries too.

I can’t believe the last time I posted was in October!  Good gracious me, where has the time gone? I’m such a shite blogger! Hahaha! Honestly though, this chicka has been working freaken hard but hopefully it’ll all pay off in my 2 year plan! Holding thumbs.

Here’s wishing you all a happy and blessed Christmas.
xxx

Please note: Images and recipes are property of Carey Boucher Erasmus and Crush Online magazine

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

Merry Christmas! Brie, cranberry and walnut spatchcock chicken and nectarine crunch salad

December 23, 2011 in Crush mag recipes, Roasts

No Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

If you’re not keen on preparing a traditional turkey, give this gorgeous butterflied chicken a try. It’s so simple and an absolute crowd pleaser!  All you do is stuff a brie, dried cranberry and walnut mixture underneath the skin, baste with a honey glaze and roast with some butternut wedges. Deeeeelicious. This recipe was featured as one of the Monday to Sunday recipes in Crush! mag issue 2. Also included in this post is my “nectarine Crunch salad” that will go down very nicely with this roast. If you’ve already planned your menu for Christmas, this meal will be lovely on New year’s day, don’t ya think?
I wish all you lovely peeps a blessed Christmas and a fabulicious New year! xxx

HONEY GLAZED BRIE, CRANBERRY AND WALNUT SPATCHCOCK WITH BUTTERNUT WEDGES
Serves 4-6
1  large whole chicken
1  Butternut, cut into 8 pieces (wedges) –skin, seeds and all!
Freshly ground salt and pepper

STUFFING:
1 t  olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
 65 g  Brie (1/2 wedge)
 50 g  cranberries
 50 g walnuts
 A handful of flat lead parsley, roughly chopped

HONEY GLAZE:   
100 ml  honey
1 T (15 ml)  soy sauce
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 200 Degrees celcius.
Using a strong pair of kitchen scissors, cut out the backbone of the chicken. (Freeze for stock).  Wash and dry the chicken well.
Open out the chicken as flat as possible.
STUFFING: Heat the oil in a small pot and sauté the onions until soft and glossy. Set aside. Place the brie, cranberries, walnuts, cooled onion and parsley into a food processor and pulse until it becomes sticky and clumps together.
Push the stuffing evenly under the skin.
Season the chicken with some salt and pepper and massage with a bit of olive oil.
Place butternut wedges into a roasting tray, season, and place rack over followed by the chicken.
Cover the chicken with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the glaze.
GLAZE: Place all the ingredients into a small pot and simmer gently until thickened slightly.
After 30 minutes, remove the foil and brush the glaze all over the chicken and drizzle over the butternut. Roast uncovered for a further 30 minutes.
The chicken should be dark and caramelised, sticky and tender.
Serve with chiken and butternut with Nectarine crunch salad.

Nectarine crunch salad
Gently toss rocket, nectarine slices, avocado slices and crispy onion salad sprinkles together. Drizzle with extra virign olive oil. For a variation, replace crispy onion sprinkles with crispy bacon.

 

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

Lip smacking sticky chicken for the braai!

November 12, 2010 in Chicken, Roasts, Snacks

6 Comments »

Think sweet and sticky orange and cumin infused chicken. Oh my goodie gumdrops!

For Crush Mag Online Issue 3, I did yummy sticky Moroccan ribs as one of the weekly dinners. Since concocting this basting sauce, I have been addicted and find myself basting and marinating anything I can find! (P.s. try with lamb). In the rib recipe I used cumin seeds, but for the chicken, I just used a bit of ground cumin. I just love how cumin and orange complement each other so well.

You will need:

 

1 packet of chicken drumsticks

1 packet of chicken wings

Par boil the chicken in vegetable stock.

Basting sauce:                                     

250 ml (1 cup)heinz tomato sauce

125 ml (1/2 cup) Worcestershire sauce

Juice and grated rind of 2 oranges

125 ml (1/2 cup) honey

2 ml ground cumin seeds

Freshly ground black pepper

 

Combine the basting ingredients together. Mix the chicken and 3/4 of the basting sauce, reserve the rest for basting while braaing.

Braai until chicken is cooked through completely, sticky and slightly charred – basting all the while.

You can roast the chicken in a 200 degree preheated oven for +- 30 minutes.

 

For steamed veggies on the braai ( something we do very often)

 

You will need:

 

Foil

250 g trimmed asparagus (yes – I cant get enough of it!)

200 g baby corn

200 g snow peas or mangetout

Grated garlic (as much as you like)

Juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon

A drizzle of olive oil.

 

Add all the above ingredients onto a large piece of foil and fold into a tightly secured parcel. Place over the hot fire for +- 10 – 15 minutes or until al dente.

There’s food on the table in no time at all! Bon appetite!

 

Have a wonderful weekend all :-)

 

C xx

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

My deboned chicken and other yummies

November 10, 2010 in Chicken, Roasts

6 Comments »

I haven’t deboned a chicken in yonks and thought, “why not give it a go again”. The last time I did it was in my final year of prac, since then, I have not needed to debone one again!

Needless to say, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered(a lecturer breathing down my neck!) and once I got started, it was like riding a bicycle again, it just came back to me. So I felt rather proud of myself! tee hee hee….

This is what I did:

Remove the wish bone and gently cut the flesh downwards removing the carcas/bones, breaking the leg and wing joints and pulling the flesh away from their bones too, until you have a “full on” deboned chicken without pierced skin.

Give the chicken a good bashing, making it flat and even.

If this does make any sense to you, you can go onto Ina Paarmans’ site where she demonstrates how to debone a chicken by cutting through the back bone. What ever works for you.

STUFFING:

5 ml olive oil

1 onion, chopped

200 g shredded spinach

15 ml flour

salt and pepper

pinch of nutmeg

1 wheel of feta, cubed

1 egg

Saute the onion until soft, add spinach and allow to wilt.

Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, seasoning, feta and egg.

Stuff into the chicken.

Tuck in the flesh from the wings and legs and gently roll up.

Wrap streaky bacon around the rolled chicken and tie up with trussing string to secure it nicely.

Roast at 180 degrees for 1 hour and it will be succulent and gorgeous!

Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Yum! We served this with homegrown(yes from our veggie garden!) roasted new potatoes.

They were just parboiled, seasoned and roasted in some olive for a 40 minutes in the same oven as the chicken.

and of course, my favourite,  lightly steamed asparagus with a squeeze of lemon juice.

What a lunch this was!

The deboning took 15 minutes of my life, but I’ll do it again – it was delicious and you get so much more out of the chicken.

A foodie never stops learning and growing, I love it!

C xx

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

1 dish cookin’ : Succulent Roast chicken and Greek style veggie couscous

June 21, 2010 in Chicken, grains and pulses, Roasts, vegetables

4 Comments »

I am allergic to dishes. I don’t know if it started from a young age when my big bro and I used to argue over who would be washing the dishes after dinner or if it developed during the days when I was working just after my studies, being the youngin’, I (like many) was a tool that did all the icky dish washing after a service -even before and during now that i think about it! So I see red when I see dishes and white light when I have to do them! So over the years I learnt to adapt my cooking so that I have the least possible dishes most of the time.

 

So below is one of my 1 dish wonders!

 

Basically, the chicken gets roasted with the veggies, 5 minutes before the end of cooking you toss in a cup of hydrated couscous and mix it well with the veggies. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Done.

 

Serves 2

You will need:

 

600 g Mixed roasting veg(I used PnP Greek style veg – it has feta, sundried tomatoes and olives added)

2 chicken breasts on the bone

olive oil

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 cup couscous mixed with 1 cup of warm water or stock

Salt and pepper

 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Place the veggies in a roasting pan, toss in a little olive oil, season.

Place chicken on top of the veg. Season. Sprinkle with the zest, lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

Roast for 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and set chicken aside. Mix couscous with the veggies in the tray and top with the chicken again.

Roast for a further 5 minutes – just to heat up the couscous.

Serve with Tzatilki or lemon wedges.

 

 

 

Happy monday all :-)

 

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

Mrs Balls Chutney Chicken Wings

June 8, 2010 in Chicken, Roasts, Snacks

5 Comments »

Sink your teeth into these sweet and sticky wings. Mrs Balls comes to the rescue in my kitchen every now and then.

These wings are the perfect couch dinner accompanied by hot and spicy samoosas!

Easy uncomplicated South African nibbles. Finger lickin’ good!

 

You will need:

 

8-10 chicken wings, trim the pinions/tips off (I personally like it on!)

1/2 cup Mrs balls Peach Chutney( or flavour of your choice)

1/4 cup mayo

30 ml olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees

In a bowl, combine the chutney, mayo, oil and pepper together. Add the chicken wings, make sure they are well coated.

Arrange onto a non-stick baking tray and roast for 45 minutes until golden and sticky!

Serve on a platter with samoosas and sweet chilli dip.

 

YUM YUM!

 

More eye candy to tempt you…

 

 

 

Did I make those samoosa’s from scratch? NO!  My MIL brought us a huge bag from a friend of hers who makes them for a living.  Love it! We froze them and just fry as we need!

 

I will post my easy “samoosas” as soon as I make them again! :-)

Avatar of bitsofcarey

by bitsofcarey

Tuscan Style Roast Chicken

April 7, 2010 in Roasts

8 Comments »

 This is something I make often, it’s basically chicken roasted with veggies. Tuscan sounds fancier if you are entertaining!

 

Serves 2 hungry adults

 

You will need:

 

4-5 Free range chicken pieces

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 large sweet potato, sliced

250 g baby tomatoes

2 cloves crushed garlic

A glug of olive oil

A good glug of Balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground S and P

fresh basil

 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place all the chicken and veg in a roasting dish and toss with olive oil, balsamic, S and P.

Roast for 40 minutes.

 

 

 

Wala! top with some fresh basil (those are from our garden! so proud!)

 

We eat it just like this – it’s a meal on it’s own!

 

I’m so glad I can eat again! yippee!

 

 Last night we had the most delicious meal at Chai yo in Rondebosch. Assorted chicken, veg and prawn springrolls, HOT tom yum soup and CHOCOLATE spring rolls – yes I was craving spring rolls! Next time we go, it’s the deep fried bananas time to shine!

 

Since I was deprived from food for a week, I’m on the binge, so I am making Fudge today. The last time I made fudge was in my first year of training, so wish me luck! soft ball, hard ball, 115 degress…whatever!

 

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Have a fabulous week –  what’s left of it! yay!

 

Cx

 

 

 

Switch to our mobile site