Basics: Roasted Rich and Robust Chicken Stock

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One of the things that has been missing from this blog from the very start are posts dedicated to the basics:  stocks and broths, salad dressings, sweet and savory sauces, gravies, the "how tos".  Sure, some of those things are embedded within a post about soups or stews, crab cakes, dinner salads, and desserts, but very few are the stars of their own page. So one of my goals this year is to remedy that omission.

Herewith is my first Basics:  A hearty, rich and robust chicken stock made by roasting chicken bones along with aromatics to a rich, golden, caramelized goodness, pan deglazed, then onto the stovetop to cook into a stock.  After that the reduction begins.  What you have at the end of the process is a deeply flavored dark stock to enhance soups, stews, braises, risottos, rice and pastas, sauces, or whatever floats your culinary boat.

I began this stock with the carcass (skin and cartilage included) from a previously roasted 5-pound chicken, but you can use backs and wings purchased from your butcher and begin the roasting with this recipe - no need to pre-roast.  I do suggest that you always save and freeze the bones, wingtips, etc from any bird that you cook so you always have some on hand to make a stock. 

The aromatics (onion, carrot, celery, garlic, spices) all get roasted at the same time with the chicken bones.

A touch of salt, a drizzle of olive oil and into the oven it all goes at 375-degrees for about an hour.  I tented the pan with foil for the first 25 minutes then let it go naked for the remainder of roasting time.

Instead of deglazing the roasting pan with wine at the end of the cooking time (which is what I normally do), about two-thirds of the way through I removed the pan from the oven, quartered a very ripe Meyer lemon (thanks Bill!) and drizzled the juice over the pan contents, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom with a spatula, dropping the spent lemon parts into the pan, and continued roasting until it was all done to a golden perfection.

Bones, veggies, lemon pieces, spices, browned bits and all went into a large stockpot along with bruised fresh bay leaves, sprigs of fresh thyme, a small hot red Padrón pepper from a plant that is struggling mightily in my greenhouse, some sea salt and 12 cups of fresh, cool water (preferrably non-chlorinated).

After simmering for an hour, the yield was 11 cups of delicious stock.  And really, you could stop right there and start making soup, but I wanted my stock to be richer, more concentrated and de-fatted, so I strained it through 2 layers of cheesecloth and put it in the fridge overnight to cool, allowing the fat to congeal on the surface.  The next day it was easy to skim the fat from the surface of each container.

Again using 2 layers of cheesecloth and a fine mesh strainer, I strained the stock back into a stockpot, brought it to just under a boil, lowered the heat to a simmer and let it reduce down to 6 cups - about 40 minutes total.  The flavors were fantastic, the stock the deep, rich brown that you see in the top photo.  Four cups of it are freezing in ice cube trays as I type this, the remaining 2 cups are in the freezer to be used as a soup base later in the week.  I think you're gonna like this.

Christine's Roasted Rich and Robust Chicken Stock

(Print recipe)

Ingredients:

Carcass of one 5-pound or two 2 1/2-pound chickens, cut into pieces, preferrably previously roasted

1 large sweet yellow or cippolini onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

10 or so cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1/2 teaspoon each whole black peppercorns and whole allspice berries

1 Meyer lemon, washed, quartered, seeds removed

2 fresh bay leaves, bruised

4 long sprigs fresh thyme

1 small hot pepper, stem removed, jalapeno will do, I used Pimiento de Padrón, from my greenhouse

1 teaspoon fine kosher salt or sea salt

2 teaspoons olive oil, about

12 cups cool, fresh water

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees

Place the chicken parts, onions, carrots, celery, garlic cloves, peppercorns and allspice berries in a large roasting pan and drizzle with the olive oil.  Shake the pan to distribute the oil.

Tent the pan loosely with foil and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Remove the foil and drizzle the pan contents with the juice of the Meyer lemon, dropping the lemon pieces into the pan.  Scrape the pan with a spatula to loosen the browned bits from the bottom and return pan to the oven for another 30 minutes or until the bones and vegetables are golden brown. Be sure to not let the garlic cloves burn. That would be a bad thing.

Scrape the contents of the roasting pan into a large stockpot and cover with 12 cups water.

Add the bay leaves, thyme sprigs, hot pepper and the salt and give it a stir.

Bring to just under a boil over medium-high heat.  If scum rises to the top, use a skimmer or fine mesh sieve to remove it then reduce the heat to a simmer and allow the stock to cook this way for 1 hour.  Check the heat periodically to maintain a simmer, not a boil.

Remove the stockpot from the heat and allow the stock to cool for 30 minutes.

Remove as much of the solids as you can with a slotted spoon then pour the stock through 2 layers of cheesecloth in a large sieve into glass containers.

Place the containers in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours or overnight so the fat can rise to the top and congeal.

Remove the stock from the fridge and skim any hard fat from the surface (your doggies and kitties will be waiting for this part; there's nothing like a little chicken fat to liven up a dish of kibble).

Using 2 layers of cheesecloth and a fine mesh strainer, strain the stock into a large stockpot over medium-high heat and bring to just under a boil.

Lower the heat to a simmer and reduce the stock to about 6 cups; about 30 minutes simmer time.

Allow the reduced stock to cool then strain it again, for the last time, through 2 layers of cheesecloth and a fine mesh strainer.  I know all that straining may seem like a lot, but I think you will be happier with a stock that doesn't end up with grit at the bottom.

When the stock has cooled, you can pour it into ice cube trays, freeze them hard then remove them from the trays into freezer-proof ziptop bags, label and date the bags, and put in the freezer.  Or, you can pour the stock into freezer-type storage containers in any volume you prefer and freeze.

The stock will keep well in the freezer for up to 6 months but, honestly, once you taste this you'll want to use it up sooner.  And that's good because you can always make more.

 Enjoy!

Copyright © 2005-2011, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken

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I don't know why a roasted chicken makes me think of Sunday night dinners. Maybe Norman Rockwell covers from the Life magazines of my childhood are imprinted deeply in my mind. Maybe I heard the phrase "A chicken in every pot..." too many times as I was growing up. Maybe it's because when I was very, very little my mother raised chickens and we ate a lot of chicken. At any rate, when I get a craving for roasted chicken, it's usually on a Sunday.

I wrote a roasted chicken post way back here and forgot to take a photo. Being a smarter blogger now than I was back then, this time I had my camera ready.

This is about as easy as cooking gets. Everything goes into the pot and into the oven. The herb and smoked paprika coating on this bird lifts an ordinary roasted chicken to new heights. The cooking process results in luscious pan juices and very juicy breast meat. Don't forget to baste toward the end of the cooking time.

Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
1 whole fryer chicken, 3-4 pounds
1 large Meyer lemon
1 heaping tablespoon Italian herb seasoning
1 tablespoon smoked paprika, I used sweet but if you like it spicy, go for it
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled and left whole
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Olive oil
Preparation:
Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken. (Reserve the giblets for another use or cook them with the chicken. Or fry 'em up, chop 'em and give 'em to your kitties.)
Wash the chicken thoroughly with cold water then pat dry both inside and out.
Rub olive oil over the entire chicken then rub the Italian herbs and the paprika all over the outside.
Slice the lemon in half and squeeze over the chicken. Put the lemons halves inside the cavity.
Sprinkle the chicken body with kosher salt and black pepper.

Truss the chicken by cutting a slit in each side of the vent, then bring a leg across and push the end through the opposite slit. Repeat with the other leg.

Place the sliced onions in the bottom of a cast iron pot or dutch oven and put the chicken on top of the onions.

Scatter the garlic cloves and the mushrooms around the chicken. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the vegetables, cover with a tight fitting lid and place in a 375-degree oven for 45 minutes.

Remove the lid from the pot and continue roasting the chicken another 15 minutes or so, until done. Baste the chicken with the pan juices several times during these last 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

To serve, slice the chicken and place on warmed plates. Be generous with the garlic and onions, as well as the delicious pan juices. A medley of roasted winter vegetables makes a well rounded meal.

Cook's Notes:
No potatoes, polenta or pasta accompanied our meal but if I were to serve this to company, oven roasted potatoes, creamy polenta or pappardelle pasta would be a nice touch.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Pan Seared, Oven Roasted Freshwater Bass with Meyer Lemon Zest and Capers

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As we were taking our leave from our hunter-gatherer son, Josh and his bride Kelly's first Thanksgiving, Josh gave us these bass fillets that he'd recently caught while on a fishing trip. He's on another trip right now, so I can't ask him if they were smallmouth or largemouth bass. My guess is smallmouth. This is wild, freshwater river and lake fish, not the sea-going bass that is so overfished in the ocean. I was mistaken about the species of fish: Josh tells me that "the bass ... are striped bass, an anadromous sea-run bass native to the east coast, transplanted out here (California) long ago. They come from the ocean up into the river systems in the fall and go back out to sea in the spring. They are not commercially fished here and sport fishing takes place when they are in fresh water ... ." (This is directly from the fisherman's mouth.) If you don't have access to this fish, halibut fillets may be successfully substituted.

Large, thick, tender white meat fillets with no bones, they were dipped in buttermilk then in seasoned breadcrumbs, seared on the stove top and finished in the oven. The only way they could have possibly been better, in my humble opinion, was if they'd been eaten just-caught from the river while sitting around a cozy campfire.

Pan-Seared, Roasted Freshwater Bass with Meyer Lemon Zest and Capers
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
2 freshwater bass fillets, about 1-inch thick in center
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
zest and juice from 1 Meyer lemon, keep separate
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed and drained
1 cipollini onion, peeled, cut crosswise then sliced into thin half-moons
olive oil for the pan
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Wash the fillets under cold water then pat dry with paper towels.
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Trim the filets of any thin side flaps, as these will cook too quickly. Save them for another use.
Set up your mise thusly:
Zest the Meyer lemon into a small bowl.
Strain the juice into another small bowl.
Rinse the capers, drain and place in yet another small bowl.
Slice the cipollini and set aside.
Using two wide, shallow bowls, put the buttermilk in one and the seasoned breadcrumbs in the other. See my Cook's Notes about the breadcrumbs I use.
Heat a large, heavy skillet (I used cast iron) over a medium-high flame, add olive oil to coat the bottom.
Dip one fillet in the buttermilk, coating it completely, then dip it into the breadcrumbs, coating the fillet intirely.
Place the fillet in the hot skillet and, working quickly, repeat with the other fillet.
If necessary, add more olive oil to the skillet to prevent the fillets from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the fillets are in the pan, don't move them around, let them sear for about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, sprinkle half the lemon zest over each fillet.
Flip the fillets and sear the other sides another 2 to 3 minutes, maintaining the flame at medium-high and taking care that the breadcrumbs don't burn.
Sprinkle on the rest of the lemon zest, then drizzle the lemon juice and the capers around and over the fish.
Remove the pan from the heat and nest the onion slices around the fillets.
Place the pan in the oven and roast the fish for 7 to 10 minutes but no more than that or it will be overcooked.
Test for doneness by putting a fork gently into the center of one fillet and pulling up some of the meat. The meat should be moist but flake easily.

Cook's Notes:
Sadly, I used the last of my cipollini onions, which I get seasonally from our farmers market. I know I can buy them at the grocers or online, but it's just not the same. *Sigh*.

I buy lightly salted croutons from Brio, our local artisan bakery, and keep them in the freezer. When I want breadcrumbs, I take out a cupful of croutons and buzz them in the food processor. The croutons are a mix from the breads that have been baked that week and include lots of whole wheat cubes.

One of these bass fillets made 2 generous servings paired with a side dish of roasted broccoli, carrots and whole garlic cloves. The other fillet kept Mr CC in fish taco heaven for several days and me with a delicious lunch at work.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

The Way I Roast Garlic

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My boys love roasted garlic. When they're in my kitchen, they can hardly wait for the garlic to come out of the oven before they start picking the soft caramelized, succulent cloves from their skins. Didn't used to be that way. They had to grow a bit, develop a keener sense of taste. But now, if Mr CC and I want some garlic for ourselves when the boys are around, I have to be sure to roast a lot and even then there's no guarantee.

So this post is for my boys: The way I roast garlic. Make your own! Just kidding.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Take several heads of garlic and, using your fingers, peel the skins away to where they're just covering the cloves and keeping the heads together.

Laying a head on its side, cut the tops of the cloves off with a sharp knife. Trim the tips from the lower cloves with a small sharp knife.

Place the head in a small, lidded casserole and drizzle generously with olive oil.

Sprinkle with kosher salt, cover with the lid and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and soft.

To make enough for a crowd. Follow the above directions and place the prepared heads in a large baking pan that has been drizzled with olive oil.

Continue with more olive oil and kosher salt then cover the pan tightly with foil and roast per the above directions.

Another very nice way to do the for-a-crowd method is to lay herbs in the bottom of the pan and place the garlic heads on top of them. I've used sage, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. You can use your imagination. Just be sure to use hardy herbs as soft ones will burn in the oven.

Cook's Notes:

The sweet little garlic roaster came to us as a gift from our friend Luis. It's made in Mexico.

I'm going to be gone for a few days. The sisters and nieces are meeting in Colorado for our annual Hornitas-fest. I'll tell you about it when I return.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Cabbage Garlic Tofu Soup With Roasted Garlic Gruyere Croutons

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A number of days ago while reading posts from some of my favorite food bloggers, my mouse finger became very still as I spied a photo and recipe on Catherine's blog, Albion Cooks, that resonated deep in that place in the food section of the brain that says, "Oh, yeah! This would taste really good, right now!" And so I told Catherine, right then, that I HAD to make her soup and would she mind if I posted it. She kindly gave me permission to rif.

My pantry and fridge came up short in the green garlic department and none of the local markets had any either, so I went with what I had on hand, which was organic garlic cloves. And since I subscribe to the more-is-better-when-it-comes-to-garlic philosophy, I roasted a few heads to smear on the croutons. Makes me drool just writing this.

The soup was everything I thought it would be: warming, spicy, garlicky and light. You could eat a lot of this. I know I did.

Cabbage Garlic Tofu Soup With Roasted Garlic Gruyere Croutons
Adapted from Catherine's Cabbage & Green Garlic Soup, with thanks
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 head green cabbage, sliced thin
3 medium-size green onions (scallions), cut on the diagonal into 1/4-inch wide pieces
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon green olive paste
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (see Cook's Notes)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 package firm tofu, cut into small cubes (no more than 1/2-inch square)
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 seeded baguette (locally produced from the North Coast Bakery)
2 heads roasted garlic
Olive oil and kosher salt
grated Gruyere cheese

Preparation:
About 1 hour before starting to prepare the soup, heat your oven to 350 degrees and generously oil a small covered baking dish.
Peel the papery outer layers of skin from two large heads of garlic, keeping the cloves intact.
Place one head on a cutting board on its side and using a sharp knife, cut off the tops of the garlic cloves just to where the lovely kernel inside is revealed. Repeat with the other head of garlic. Don't worry if some of the cloves become detached, just throw them into the dish with the rest.
Place the garlic heads in the baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt.
Put the lid on the dish and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the garlic is soft and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the dish with the lid off.

Make your croutons:
Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.
Cut the baguette into 1/4-inch wide diagonal slices, place them on a large baking sheet and toast in the oven, turning each piece over halfway through toasting, until they are golden brown. This will take 7 to 10 minutes.
When they have toasted, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in the baking pan. You will smear the garlic and melt the cheese later.

NOW we're ready to make soup:
Put the 1 tablespoon each olive oil and Earth Balance (or butter if you prefer) into a soup pot over medium heat.
Saute the onions until soft. You may have to lower the heat so they don't burn.
Add the finely sliced garlic and saute for about 1 minute more. The garlic aroma should just begin to hit your nose.
Add the cabbage and cook for about 5 minutes more.
Pour in the vegetable broth, green olive paste and red pepper flakes, if using and tofu cubes. Bring it just to a simmer then allow it to cook gently, covered, for about 10 minutes, adding the scallions after 5 minutes cooking time.
Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper (see Cook's Notes),add the vinegar, allow it to simmer for a few more minutes and it's done!

To finish off the croutons:
While the soup is in the 10-minute simmer stage, crank your oven up to 300 degrees.
Remove the cooked garlic cloves from their skins and smear one (or two) on each toasted crouton. Top each crouton with a bit of grated Gruyere cheese, place the baking sheet back in the oven and heat just until the cheese begins to melt.

To serve:
I ladled the soup into warm bowls and place a warm crouton on top. That wasn't particularly photogenic so the croutons went on the side for the photo shoot.

Cook's Notes:
I have very small, very hot, whole dried red chile peppers and when I want flakes I put a chile into my mortar with a pinch of coarse kosher salt and grind the heck out of it. One chile will usually yield 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes, which is about right for my tastes.

The organic vegetable broth that I used for this soup was low in sodium. I found that I needed to add a teaspoon or more of kosher salt to bring out all the good flavors in the soup.

Vegetarian as is, this meal could easily become vegan by omitting the cheese from the croutons.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved.

Eggplant Caponata

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My father-in-law, Ralph Johnson, was an artist and art teacher. He was one of the very early faculty members of the art department at UC Davis , teaching there from 1957 until his retirement in 1988.

Besides being a wonderfully whimsical painter and sculptor, he was an excellent cook. One of the many dear things about him that cemented our relationship early on, I'm sure.

The first time I met him, he had invited Clay and his "new girlfriend" (that would be me) over for dinner and served us steaming bowls of succulent crab cioppino accompanied by hot, crusty French bread. Not only did I fall in love then and there with both the man and his cooking, my culinary bar was raised a number of notches.

We delighted in cooking and sharing meals, talking over glasses and bottles of wine and I am glad for the years I spent in his company.

One evening he prepared a Sicilian caponata (an eggplant based anti-pasto dish) which delighted my taste buds so much, I begged to have the recipe. He copied it from the cookbook on his kitchen counter (I cannot remember which cookbook it was) and to this day I have it tucked away in my old yellow plastic recipe box, hand written on yellow lined paper, sporting a tomato stain.

Ralph passed away a number of years ago so please don't think this is a eulogy to recent loss. It's just that when I found the beautiful eggplants at my grocers I remembered that I had his caponata recipe and decided to finally give it a try. All these years and I hadn't made it once.

I suppose you could say I followed the recipe, in that I used eggplant, onions, tomatoes, golden raisins and capers, but there the similarity stops. Given my whimsy and what was on hand in the cupboards, the end product is a very different yet tasty beast, as was confirmed by the "beach nighters" who gobbled it up this evening.

Eggplant Caponata
Christine's original recipe* (with inspiration from and with loving memories of Ralph)
Ingredients:
2 pounds of whole eggplants, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and left whole
Kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan
1 cup coarsely chopped sweet onions
14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes - I used Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted
12 of Kalyn's Slow Roasted tomatoes, skins removed and coarsely chopped (or use sundried tomatoes, about 1/3 cup chopped)
2 heaping tablespoons golden raisins
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 heaping tablespoons coarsely chopped toasted almonds (I was out of pine nuts, which is traditional)
1 packet Splenda sweetener or 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Zest of a Meyer lemon
Juice from the above Meyer lemon - about 2 tablespoons

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Drizzle a large roasting pan with olive oil to coat the bottom.
Add the eggplant cubes and the whole garlic cloves and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Using your hands, mix well, adding more olive oil if the eggplant seem dry. Eggplant drinks olive oil and then releases some of it later in cooking so don't go overboard on this step. About 1/4 cup total should be sufficient.
Cover the pan with foil and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the eggplant is soft.
Remove the foil and continue roasting until the eggplant is golden brown and tender to the bite. Don't allow it to burn or stick to the pan. Frequent shaking of the pan may be necessary.
Remove the eggplant from the oven and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, add a bit of olive oil to a large heavy pot set over medium heat.
Add the chopped onions and saute gently until softened but not browned.
Add the diced tomatoes, the slow roasted or sundried tomatoes, the raisins, capers, sugar or Splenda and the allspice and stir to blend.
Add the eggplant mixture to the pot, stir again and cook gently for about 15 minutes until the caponata is soft, aromatic and thickened.

Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts, lemon zest and juice. Adjust the seasonings if necessary, but I don't think you'll have to.

Eggplant Caponata is my offering for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by its founder Kalyn Denny of Kalyn's Kitchen. Kalyn will be posting her roundup on Monday. Read how to join in the fun here.

Cook's Notes:
This is best served at room temperature with good whole wheat crackers or crusty artisan bread. If you have to refrigerate it, bring it out early enough before serving so it can warm up a bit.

Thanks to Bill and Erika for the inspiration to use Meyer lemon juice instead of the more traditional red wine vinegar. It was one of those "Ah-ha's" that truly makes this dish sparkle.

Edited on 2-11-07: *I've struck out the word 'original' here because, on thinking it over, I did not invent caponata, I simply made a different version of it. For more information on the dish and its origins, please click on these links.

Rotisseried Leg of Lamb With Rosemary-Garlic Paste Filling

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This group of recipes should be entitled Christmas Redux. Late in getting them posted, I try nonetheless to keep my promises--even though in the world of blogging, Christmas is SO past.

This post is dedicated to Mr. CC and son Josh who not only love a good leg of lamb but who also were a tremendous help in my kitchen over Christmas, keeping a close eye on the roasting lamb amidst the cacophany of company, laughter and merriment.

If I had to pick just three foods in all the culinary queendom to combine into a meal, they would be garlic, rosemary and lamb. Throw in a good red wine and I would want for nothing else, no matter the season:

Two boneless butterflied legs of local lamb, spread with a thick paste of garlic and rosemary, rolled, tied, or, in this case, encased in netting, and skewered to the rotisserie spit of our gas grill. Just writing these words brings back the taste sensations of Christmas dinner.

At about 3 1/2 pounds each, in a 350 degree closed grill, the legs were a perfect medium-rare in 1 1/2 hours. We let them rest for about 15 minutes then sliced and served them with a roasted winter vegetable medley of celery root, parsnips, whole garlic cloves, carrots and garnet yams, accompanied by another tray of roasted broccoli, cauliflower, fennel and more whole garlic cloves. Ya gotta have your veggies.

To make the paste, I used a golden balsamic vinegar dressing that I'd made for a dinner salad the previous night. This turned out to be the perfect vehicle for the garlic and rosemary.

Golden Balsamic Salad Dressing
Christine's original recipe
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients:
2 ounces golden balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard (I use Maille)
1/4 teaspoon sugar or Splenda granular
pinch kosher salt
several grinds black pepper
3 ounces toasted walnut oil
3 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
In a measuring cup, pour in the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk until combined.

Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the walnut oil then the olive oil.

Keep whisking until the mixture has thickened and is fully emulsified.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Rosemary-Garlic Paste
Christine's original recipe
Makes about 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
1 medium head of garlic, cloves separated, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 tablespoons golden balsamic dressing
Preparation:
Place rosemary and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Drizzle the olive oil then the dressing through the feed tube, pulsing all the while until emulsified. Mixture will be thick.

Rotisseried Leg of Lamb with Rosemary-Garlic Paste Filling
Christine's original recipe
Serves 8 to 10 with leftovers
Ingredients:
2 - 3 1/2 pound boneless, butterflied legs of lamb
1/2 cup Rosemary-Garlic paste
good olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper


Preparation:

Lay the unrolled legs on a cutting board, cut side facing up.

Spread 1/2 of the rosemary-garlic paste over the entire cut surface of each leg.

Roll each leg firmly into an oblong shaped log.

Tie with string or encase in an elasticized net bag (which was provided by my butcher.)

Rub the outside of each leg with olive oil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Skewer the legs onto a rotisserie spit, leaving enough space between the legs to ensure even roasting.

Have the gas grill pre-heated to 400 degrees.

Once the rotisserie has been set up and the legs are turning over the grill, lower the heat to 350 degrees, cover the grill and allow to roast until the internal temperature reaches 135 to 140 degrees for medium rare.

Remove the legs from the spit and let sit, tented loosely with foil, for about 15 minutes. During this time the internal temperature will continue to rise 5 to 7 degrees.

Slice the lamb crosswise and serve hot.

Cook's Notes:

Preparing the leg of lamb above assumes that the cook has some knowledge of how to use a gas grill and a rotisserie set up.

Oven Roasted Prawns & Asparagus

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When it's too cold to grill outside, pan roasting comes awfully close.

These babies were soaked in a citrusy - soy marinade for two hours and then roasted in a hot oven

2-4 lbs. medium-sized prawns, 31-50 per pound (depending on how many you're feeding. For this occasion, there were 12), shells and tails intact. With a very sharp knife, slit the rounded back of each prawn and remove the sand track. Combine the following (adjust to your personal taste):
1/2 cup Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar or a mix of your own citrus juices such as orange, blood orange, lemon, & lime plus some Champagne vinegar to taste.
1/3 cup lite soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup orange pineapple juice concentrate
2 tablespoons water
Place prepared prawns in a glass bowl or dish and pour the marinade over, turning the prawns until they are fully coated. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Reserving marinade, with a slotted spoon remove the prawns to a large roasting pan and roast in a 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until all the prawns are bright orange, shaking pan often. Remove the prawns from the pan and tent with foil to keep warm.
Strain both the marinade and the juice from the roasting pan into a sauce pan. Stir 1/4 cup orange pineapple juice concentrate and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened. Taste for seasonings and pass as a dipping sauce with the prawns.

First California asparagus of the season!
For the asparagus, trim tough ends and, using a vegetable peeler, peel the skins if tough. Place the asparagus in single layers on parchment paper in a large jelly roll pan. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Roast in a 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.