Slow Roasting

On our trip to New Zealand our last meal featured this awesome lamb dish. When restaurateur told me the cooking process, I was intrigued because I've never heard of it before. It is essentially cooking something very, very slowly over a long period and then finishing it in a very, very hot oven. The result gives you an exterior that is crispy but an interior that is like something that has been braised.

I played around with it for the first time with a pork shoulder (Boston Butt) last week and got good results. This week I attempted a chicken and a vegetable dish.

I started with a simple flavoring mix of salt, pepper and Hungarian Paprika

Put your bird into a large, heavy pot

Rub with your spice mixture.
Note I've turned the bird upside down.
It will give off fluid and I want the white meat that dries out to stay moist.
Add a little bit of fluid...not much at all. I used white wine.

Cover firmly with foil

Then put on the top.
This double seal is important to keep in all the moisture.

Cook in a 285 degree oven...that's right 285
The chicken only took 3 hours. My pork roast which was about 4 pounds took 6 hours.
Let the chicken cool in the fluid (breast moisturizing)
Then take it out and let it cool.
(I'm not sure this part was necessary but I was making it ahead of time)

Then cut into pieces.
I nuked the pieces for three minutes just to bring them up to heat.
I put the pieces, skin side up, in a pan that could take high heat.
That's heavy duty aluminum foil with plenty of Pam - No cleaning when done!
Finish the cooking at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes until the skin is good and crisp!

Did the same exact process with potatoes and leeks (one of the last things harvested from Wife's garden)

Leeks have a lot of sand in them so you clean them like the chard I explained last time.
Put them in water, agitate, the lift out of water into strainer. Repeat until water left no longer shows sand.

Into the pan with just salt, pepper and a little canned chicken broth.

Cook exactly like the chicken - 285 for three hours

Here's what it looks like at the end.
The leeks which were very tough came out soft and wonderful.

Finish the same way at 500 degrees. The leeks start browning and getting very caramelized.
Mmmmmmm

Don't waste those giblets!
Put them in with the leftover canned chicken stock.
Simmer for an hour or so and you have the base for a sauce.

This sauce was just the stock from the giblets, a little of the juice from chicken cooking reduced with a little sherry and half & half.

Beauty is Where You Find It

I was in Pasadena California on business and woke up very early on Friday morning. I drew back the window coverings and had a chance to watch this spectacular sunrise.

Two Dishes to Try

We had guests over for dinner on Sunday and I wanted to try something different and came up with a couple of ideas based upon stuff I'd done before or seen on TV with some alterations.

The first was a fish pate and the second was a gratin of swiss chard.

FISH PATE

This is all about making use of what you have hanging around because I made it from with the leftover fish I had from a whole baked fish with a parsley garlic oil that I made for Wife the night before.

Leftover fish

Anyone who made some simple fish fillets and had leftovers could do the same thing (though probably not if they were battered).

I didn't have quite enough fish so I cooked up some frozen shrimp with the same olive oil, garlic and parsley flavoring and then added the leftover fish to meld the flavors.

Fish and shrimp warming up in flavored oil

All you do next is put the whole thing in a food processor and blend with a little half and half.

Blended fish and shrimp

I added some finely chopped onions soaked in water to get rid of the sharpness and put it into a serving container.

Finished product

Served it with french bread and tortilla chips as a nosh before the sit down meal started

GRATIN OF SWISS CHARD

I like making mini portions of things to serve as a first course because it allows for portion control. I like working with vegetables because you can be lighter and save room for the main course. I especially like Swiss Chard. It has a lot of positives of spinach with less of the negatives. It's a bit firmer. Less bitter.

Processing any of the greens is a bit of a pain.

First you wash them real well to get rid of any dirt

With Chard you need to separate the stems and the leaves because the stems have to cook longer

Parboil the stems in a big pot of water for about 4 minutes then add the leaves and boil for another 4 minutes. Drain. Then put into a big bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again. Grab handfuls and squeeze out the water. Then chop it up.

This is what you end up with

Make simple cheese sauce by making a roux of flour and butter, whisking in milk, then adding small pieces of cheese - the cheese choice is yours. I like fancy schmancy cheeses but to be honest I'm sure a good quality cheddar would be just fine. Put your Chard into a large bowl and add enough of the cheese sauce so when you taste it it has a nice flavor but is not all soupy. Put it into little oven proof ramekins - in this case these are creme brulee dishes.

Sprinkle with some bread crumbs and olive oil

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes

A Wonderful Realization

New Zealand was a fabulous place. So much beauty.

We're back home now and into our day-to-day life. Always tough to get back to real life when you've had a great vacation right?

But as I have been going around town here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I've looked at our mountains, our vistas, our beautiful clear blue skies, our fantastic weather. And I've looked at the beautiful house we created for ourselves. And I came to this realization. Yes there are beautiful, beautiful places out there like New Zealand. And yes there are lots of lovely, wonderful houses with views and everything out there.

But every day I actually live in one of those beautiful places and get to live out my daily life in it. I live in one of those beautiful houses with vistas and views and everything.

How cool is that?

How wonderfully fortunate am I?

And I feel very grateful indeed.

Blogged Out

After all the intense blogging of the three weeks in New Zealand, I find that I am just not getting to the ole posting page with alacrity. I like to blame it on work and the time I need to focus on that. And I certainly have had things that I would normally write about. But the truth is I think I'm just a little burnt out. I'm sure I'll be fine in a few more days.

The Camera Sherpa and the Photogarpher

ROLE DESCRIPTION OF THE CAMERA SHERPA

Purpose of the Camera Sherpa is:

To facilitate the photographers desire to achieve their true artistic goals by fulfilling the mundane activities a photographer needs done to physically take pictures

such that the photographer overcomes obstacles inherent to any photographic effort that are preventing them from achieving their true personal goals,

so that the photographer is able to accomplish their artistic goals and a satisfied photographic experience results.

Camera Sherpa Functions:

• Be responsible for the transport of all camera gear whether my mechanical device or by bodily transport
• Assist in the setting up and take down of gear as appropriate
• Be prepared to protect photographer and equipment from elements
• Provide food and shelter for the photographer
• Provide reconnaissance for all potential places to ‘pull of the road’ in order to ‘catch the shot’
• Research all meteorological information so the photographer can adjust the itinerary as appropriate to have the best light
• Be aware and make suggestions of potential shots – keeping in mind your position and never forgetting who is the artist

Three Weeks in New Zealand Seen Through the Photographer

Final NZ Foodie Post

For our last meal, I asked our B&B host to recommend a restaurant that had excellent lamb for me and excellent fish for Wife. She made a reservation for us at a Pedro's, a Spanish restaurant.

We started with seafood appetizers - for once modest sized portions appropriate for just tempting the appetite. I went with their version of small eels which is the whitebait I've tried in omelets twice before. Wife does garlic shrimp. They do the whitebait in the same manner. The shrimp were excellent. I'm not sure what the huge uproar is over whitebait. Just doesn't seem to have much flavor to me.

Whitebait in Oil and Garlic

Garlic Prawns

Then we went on to the main courses. Wife had a filet of hake. It was very good but after our meal at Fleur's Place it was just a little less. The lamb I had was a whole roasted shoulder. It was HUGE...and DELICIOUS!

It was very different from other lamb preparations. Since I live safely a hemisphere away, he gave me the recipe. You cook the lamb at a low temperature with a few herbs, garlic, olive oil and white wine for a long time - 5 hours or so. Then you finish it in a 500 degree oven for about 20 minutes to give it an extremely crispy crust. The result is a lamb that is tender like a pot roast surrounded by a crispy exterior. It was addictive.

Filet 'o' Hake

Lamb Extrordinare!

Because of driving and our different dishes we were drinking wine by the glass. For the lamb our waiter told me to leave the selection to him. He chose a syrah from Hawkes Bay that had a great nose - almost like a cabernet - but that characteristic dryness I've come to enjoy with New Zealand wines.

It was a great end to our dining in New Zealand.