Slow Roasted Lemon Chicken

Friends coming to lunch, and wanting something new to try Pinterest becomes my go too at the moment. I wanted a slow cooked, succulent and soft roast with my soft bread and a nice grilled vegetable salad....thinking yes should tick all the soft maybe to try and eat for the Wisdom Tooth extracted Daughter.

After reading lots of different slow cooked chicken recipes, they all seemed very similar to one I had done before that is a Nigel-la recipe - so here is what I did.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.8kg tray of chicken pieces from Coles
• 1 kilo chicken drumsticks
• 1 head of garlic, crushed and bruised, cloves still have the skin.
• 4 lemons cut into chunks
• 6 larger new potatoes cut into wedges
• fresh from my garden oregano - about 4 sprigs, leaves plucked
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup Marsala
• Salt and Pepper

METHOD

1. Pre-heat oven to about 150.
2. Place chicken, garlic, lemons, potatoes, oregano, olive oil, Marsala and salt and pepper into a very large baking tray
3. With your hands massage all the oils and seasoning's into the chicken and potatoes. Try if you can to make sure that the chicken is skin side up.
   
4. Cover tightly with foil and put in the oven to cook at that slow temp, you will think it's not cooking after about 2 hours, the smells will just start leaching from beneath that foil...remove oh my the aroma will be there... yes this is what you want...
5. Crank the oven too 200
   
6. Cook uncovered now for about 30-45mins, if like me you cooking some nice fresh bread to go with pop it in now. The chicken skin will start brown and lemons should start to caramelise a little.
   
7. At this point, impressing table service is to transfer the potatoes, garlic bulbs and some of the lemons into a nice serving platter, topping with the chicken pieces.
8. Skim from the top of the baking tray the oily residue - I didn't have too much, a few sheets of good paper towel soaked it up quick then pop the baking tray onto the stove top and reduce that wonderful sauce by about half, and serve in a jug beside your slow roasted lemony garlic chicken.

MasterChef Veal Osso Bucco with Cannellini Beans

Being an avid cooking household it's no surprise that we are hooked on any cooking shows and Masterchef of course is a daily vigil in our home. When they shared their Osso Bucco Recipe Brian was busting to get into the kitchen and cook it.


Image Source

Ingredients

1.5kg bobby veal shin, cut 2.5cm thick (about 12 pieces) (well clearly we only got four large ones)
1 cup plain flour
100ml olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
¼ bunch parsley stalks, leaves picked and roughly chopped, stalks reserved
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
250ml white wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs thyme
Zest of 1 lemon
400g tin crushed tomato
2 cups veal stock
100g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight (OK cheatsville here we used a can, well you can't cook on a whim if there is overnight prep)

To finish
Freshly cracked white pepper and sea salt
½ bunch parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
1 loaf crusty bread, thickly sliced ( oh the hot buttery bake at home rolls worked a treat to mop up all that Delicious sauce)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C.
2. Season meat with salt and white pepper and toss in flout to coat, shaking off excess. Heat oil in a frying pan, add meat and pan fry until caramelized. Add celery, onion, carrot, reserved parsley stalks, garlic and cook10 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes and deglaze with wine.
4. Add remaining ingredients. Cover with a lid and cook for 1 ½-2 hours.
5. Remove lid, cook for 45 minutes until sauce has thickened. (This is where time extended due to picking up of working teenage son, and the sauce thickened it so stewy and Delicious (salivating just remembering it)
6. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cracked pepper, sea salt, chopped parsley and lemon zest.
7. Serve with crusty bread.

oops yep got in a scoffed before I remembered to snap, and yep I mopped all that sauce up with a yummy bread roll....mmmmm I dare you not to Cook it and ENJOY IT!!!

Karen Martini's Lamb Shanks braised with cinnamon, garlic and thyme.

This dish has strong Middle Eastern overtones, with a heady scent of cinnamon and cumin and slight heat from the chilli. Karen suggests serving this dish with a fresh, leafy salad  It's the perfect do-ahead dish for a small dinner party. (we just has fresh bake at home rolls with ours - so so filling)

YOU WILL NEED

• 4 lamb shanks, knuckles removed
• Salt flakes and freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil
• 4 sticks celery, finely sliced
• 80g pancetta, sliced
• 4 golden shallots, peeled and cut in half
• 10 cloves of garlic cut into quarters
• 6 sprigs of thyme
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 small red chillies split
• 2 large green chillies split
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
• 3 Desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
• 2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cups (1litre) chicken stock

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
2. Season shanks with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a large, heavy-based oven proof casserole dish over high heat.
4. Add the shanks and cook for a few minutes, until browned.
5. Remove shanks from dish.
6. Add celery, pancetta {I used diced bacon}, golden shallots {I used one large brown onion sliced}, garlic {seems a lot but no after taste so use it}, thyme, cumin {I only had ground} and cinnamon {the best part of the dish the smell was amazing} and stir well.
7. Add Chillies {working from my cupboard I only had the diced in the jar in the fridge so added about 2 teaspoons – and it was a nice warmth not too spicy}, remaining vegetables {ok no parsnips in my fridge so it was 4 carrots, and I had small chats so added 8 and only cut them in half} and tomato paste and stir again.
8. Return shanks to the dish, pour on the stock and simmer for 2 minutes, check seasoning and adjust if necessary.
9. Cover dish and bake for 2 ½ hours or until the meat is very tender and falling off the bone. Serve Immediately.
10. {I decided I wanted some fresh beans – so dished up the shanks with large portions of the vegies, and then popped the remaining vegies and sauce back on the stove and tossed in my beans for about 2 minutes – the sauce reduced to a nice thick one and the beans were cooked to our liking – still crunchy, then ladled over the sauce and beans. This was a simple easy to cook and delicious meal we will definitely be having this one again.}

Recipe by Karen Martini from Where the heart is Serves 4