Sunday Roast

My boyfriend has a habit if inviting the whole neighbourhood over for dinner on any given weekend and it is not uncommon for us to have up to 20 people at our house for dinner. Admittedly at least 7 of these attendees will be children aged from 7-15 but none have the mousiest of appetites. So what to cook when EVERYONE is coming to dinner and no one eats the same thing. I choose a roast! What I most like about a roast is being able to prepare everything in advance, put it all into two or three baking dishes and put them all into the oven at the one time. Well perhaps it doesn’t always work out quite that simply but in theory you can cook a lot at once.

My last Roast consisted of a chicken (for the kids), a rolled leg of lamb stuffed with labneh, pecan, lemon rind, rosmary and mint, and a rolled tuna piece stuffed with shitake, pine nuts and coriander. I put a mixture of vegetables in each baking dish and I made gravy with the pan juices of both the chicken and lamb. What was left on the plates at the end of the dinner was not enough to feed the dog. 

This was the first time I had used the netting to hold the lamb leg together after butterflying and rolling it. It was tricky, definitely a two man job but very effective once the leg was in. This was also the first time I had butterflied a tuna piece and it worked out quite well but my once piece of advice would be to use the natural lines the tuna offers as a guide.





You'll have to excuse the huge shadow over the lamb, the picture was taken in a hurry with my phone. I had hungry people to feed!

My Chicken and Mushroom Pie

There is a comfort I find in cooking in winter and let me tell you, it is cold outside! Today I am going to show you a chicken pie I recently made. This was one of those dishes that gave me a “turning water into wine” moment. I had made a roast for my boyfriend’s birthday and after using the leftovers to make chicken sandwiches for everyone’s lunches the next day; I still had substantial amounts of chicken left on the bones. I decided to boil up the carcases with the leftover veg and make a chicken stock. Once I had drained the liquid off for my stock I realised that there was plenty of chicken and veg left behind so I set about making a chicken and mushroom pie. I have wanted to try Maggie Beer’s sour cream pastry for ages so here was my excuse.

I browned off some Swiss Brown mushrooms with sage and added them to the chicken and vegetables I had selvedge from my stock.

Now for Maggie Beer’s Pastry…… This pastry was a delight to make. It is all done in the food processor which makes it not only easier but less messy. And good old Maggie has the proportions exactly right so the mixture does exactly what she says it will at the exact right time. I rolled out the pastry quite thin and line a pie dish then I gave it a good ½ hour in the fridge before filling the pie. Once I filled the pie and put its lid on I gave it a light brush with a beaten egg and put it back in the fridge for a few hours until I was ready for it later that evening.

So there wasn’t much left to do now except bake the pie

The pastry was lovely, it was flaky and buttery and all the things you want in a pie crust. I really believe that even a novice could get a good result with this pastry so I have included it below for all to try.

Mggie Beer's Sour Cream Pastry Recipe:

Ingredients

200g Chilled unsalted butter
250g Plain flour
125ml Sour cream

Method

To make the pastry, dice the butter, then pulse with the flour in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and continue to pulse until the dough starts to incorporate into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll the chilled pastry out until 3 mm thick and cut to suit your chosen recipe.

I found this recipe on Maggie's website http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/recipes/details/?Item=ArtclsSourCrea35 

Food and Romance

My relationship with food is as layered and as rich as a good tiramisu. Food and in particular cooking for me is a romance, but not unlike the age old conundrum “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” I have to ask myself.... am I in a romance with food or do I use food in my romance? Well I fear the answer to that is yes to both!

When my boyfriend and I first started dating I remember staring into his eyes after one of the many elaborate meals I had prepared for him and I remember him saying “you’re performing witchcraft on me with your food aren’t you?” I pondered this question often afterward and I had to ask myself, Was I? Perhaps I was. I love food, I love to cook it, I love to eat it, I love to share it and I love to use it to impress the pants off my significant other.

Come with me..... Let’s romance the recipes...