Clay pot baked Chicken with potatoes and vegetables

Clay pot baked Chicken with potatoes and vegetables

Ingredients

For the toppings:

3 chicken drumettes and 3 winglets

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

1½ tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

2 teaspoons oyster sauce

pinch of white pepper

For the vegetables:

Potatoes cut in halves

Carrots cut in sticks

Artichokes cut in halves

1 cup chicken stock

1 onion sliced

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

1 slice ginger, finely julienned

1 scallion, chopped

a handful of dried wood ears (about ¼ cup when rehydrated), soaked, or any other chinese mushroom

Directions:

Marinate the chicken pieces in the topping for a while.

Cut the vegetables in halves and slice the onion and the mushrooms.

Soak the claypot in water for 30 minutes before you place all the vegetables in the pot. Sprinkle 2 tbs cornstarch over the vegetables. Place the marinated chicken over the vegetables and all the marinade over.

Place the clay pot in the oven with the lid on and cook at 190 celsius degrees for  2,5-3 hours.

When serving stir the vegetables and you will have a nice sauce around them from the marinade, chicken juice and cornstarch.

Roasted Pork Leg with Asian twist

Roasted Pork Leg with Asian twist

Ingredients:

1, 6 kg Pork leg roast (or any similar size)

1 tablespoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons oil

On the side:
Potatoes

Artichokes

Carrots

Onion

Directions:

Preheat oven to 190ºC. If your oven has a fan function then use this.

Score the skin of the pork leg with a sharp knife then pat dry with paper towel.

Mix together the flakes, seeds, garlic & salt and massage into the pork rubbing in well between the scored lines.

Place pork on a rack in a roasting tray (It's important to let air circulate around the roast for even cooking).

Insert a meat thermometer into the middle of the meat.

Drizzle over the oil.

Pour 1 cup of boiling water into the oven tray.

Place in the pre-heated oven for half an hour and then reduce the temperature to 120 º C and cook a further 3-4 hours until the juices run clear when the meat is pierced or until the thermometer reaches 71ºC.

When you have about 30 minutes left place potatoes, carrots, artichokes or other vegetables and sliced onion in the tray under the roast and bake it in the oven while it soaks up the juice from the roast as well.

Take out the tray and sprinkle in cornstarch and stir until you have a nice gravy with all the tastes from the pork and the vegetables and potatoes in it.

Leave the pork leg to rest for about 15 minutes before you cut into it. The meat will be as tender as you can tear it with a fork. The skin crisp and crackeling.

Posole Rojo

Posole Rojo

It’s somewhat of a feast, Posole. I guess you could make smaller batches, but since you have to cook it for several hours, it just makes sense to make a large amount, and then have lots of friends over with whom to enjoy it. Posole (or Pozole) is a traditional soup in Mexico, often served Christmas eve, and in many parts of the country on Thursdays and Saturdays all year round. This Posole Rojo, or “red” posole, is made with pork shoulder or shanks, red chiles, and lots of hominy corn.

Typically just the simple soup with pork and hominy is served, and the add-ins, or garnishes are set at the table for all to pick and put in their soup as they wish. The soup itself should be rather thin, or brothy, because you are going to load it up quickly with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, chopped avocados, cilantro, onions, and wedges of lime. More hot sauce or chiles can be added for more heat. Posole is all about the garnishes.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Yield: Serves 12, plus plenty for leftovers.

Ingredients

4 ounces (113 g) guajillo, ancho, or a combination of both, chili pods

Salt

1 large (108 ounce, 6 lb 12 oz, 3 kg) can white hominy, drained and rinsed 

3 lbs (1,3 kg) pork shoulder (preferably with bone), cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes (can also use pork shanks), make sure to use a cut well marbled with fat

8 cloves garlic, 4 cloves roughly chopped, and 4 whole cloves

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 Tbsp of dry oregano (Mexican oregano if available)

Garnishes 

(can prep while pozole is cooking):

Half a small cabbage, thinly sliced

One bunch cilantro, chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 avocados, chopped

4 limes, quartered

A bunch of red radishes, sliced thin

A couple dozen tostada shells* or taco chips

*Tostadas are crispy fried corn tortillas. They are sold packaged and can often be found in the same section of your grocery store as fresh tortillas, or can be found at Mexican markets. You can make your own by frying stale corn tortillas (or tortillas that have dried out a bit in a warm oven), in hot vegetable oil until stiff.

Instructions

1 Fill a large 10-12 quart stockpot with 5 quarts (4,7l) of water. Set on heat to bring to a boil while you proceed with the next steps.

2 Remove and discard the stems, seeds, and large veins from the chili pods. Heat a cast iron pan on medium high and lightly roast the chili pods for a couple minutes, until they begin to soften. Do not let them burn. While the chilies are heating, bring a medium pot with 3 cups of water to a boil. Once the chiles have softened, submerge them in the pot with the 3 cups of hot water, cover the pot and remove from heat. Let the chiles soak in the hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.

3 Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Pat the pork pieces dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them generously with salt. Working in batches, taking care not to crowd the pan or stir the meat much, brown the meat on all sides. Right at the end of browning the meat, add 4 cloves of roughly chopped garlic to the pan with the meat, let cook with the meat for about a minute.

4 Once the meat has browned, transfer it to the large stockpot of boiling water. Scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan, and any garlic, and add those to the pot as well. Add the rinsed hominy. Add bay leaves, cumin, and oregano. When you put in the oregano; smoosh together with your hands, so the oregano breaks up more as it goes in. Add a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes.

5 Prepare the red sauce by puréeing in a blender the chilies, 2 1/2 cups or so of their soaking liquid, a teaspoon of salt, and 4 cloves of garlic. (To prevent the blender from creating too much pressure, it's probably best to start with the chiles and garlic and only a cup of the liquid in the blender, and then adding the rest of the liquid.) Strain the red sauce through a sieve, discarding the tough bits of the sauce.

6 Add the red chili sauce to the pot with the pork and hominy. Add another couple teaspoons of salt. Return to a simmer, lower the heat to just high enough to maintain a simmer, partially covered. Cook for 3 hours until the pork is completely tender. Skim away excess fat. Taste for seasoning and add more salt to taste (you will likely need more than you expect, perhaps a tablespoon or more.) The resulting soup should be rather brothy, as you will be adding a lot garnishes. Add more water if necessary.

7 When getting ready to serve the pozole, you can prep the garnishes (slice the cabbage, chop the cilantro, etc.) To serve, arrange the garnishes in bowls on the table and serve the pozole soup into bowls. Let your guests pick and choose which garnishes they would like on their pozole. Serve with tostada shells (or tortilla chips if you can't find tostada shells).

Roasted Turkey

Roasted Turkey

Ingredients

1 Turkey

1 orange

1 lemon

Stuffing:

3 tbs butter

1 lemon

1 egg

0,5 dl water

1,5 tsp salt

0,5 tsp black pepper

750 g ground beef

1 dl bread crumbs
1 dl prunes

For the Turkey

4 tsp salt

50 g butter

1 dl pressed orange juice

2 tbs pressed lemon juice

Directions:

Defrost the Turkey and remove the giblets if they are in the Turkey. Save this for the sauce. Dry off the in and outside of the Turkey with a paper towel.

Divide the orange in smaller parts and even the lemon and put them inside the back part of the Turkey. Tie the legs with a steak string to keep the Turkey together. Put the oven on 175 Degrees Celsius.

Make the stuffing:

Cut the onion in small pieces and fry up in a frying pan in a little bit of oil, just enough for it to become shiny. Put aside.

Mix together the breadcrumbs, eggs, prunes cut in small pieces, water, salt and the ground beef. Last add the fried up onions.

Fill and roast the Turkey:

Put the stuffing inside the Turkey from the throat opening. Sew it up with a steak string to keep the stuffing inside while in the oven. Tie the legs together as well.

Put an oven thermometer inside the Turkey. Place it so you easily can see the temperature rising when opening the oven.

Take some butter and salt and pepper and mix with your hands and cover the Turkey all around with it.

Place the Turkey on a cooking grill and cover the Turkey with grill foil. Place in the middle of the oven. Place a pan underneath.  Pour some water in the pan, add the lemon and orange juice into the water.

As the Turkey is on the cooking grill the juice will be dripping into the pan underneath. After one hour open the oven and remove the foil and take a large cooking spoon and take from the juice and pour over the Turkey. Put the foil back over the Turkey and close the oven. Let it roast for another 40 minutes and do the same again with pouring from the juice over the Turkey.

After two hours in the oven, remove the foil. Roast for another 40 minutes and pour juice over the Turkey again.

Put the giblets in a small pan and cover with some of the juice and put in the oven to cook.

Try with a sharp knife if the Turkey is done. If the juice coming out is pink, roast for another 30 minutes. The temperature inside the Turkey should come up to 70 degrees Celsius when it is done.

Remember the breast part will be cooked and done before the legs. So try the legs with the knife as well. If it is not done, leave it inside the oven for another 30 minutes.

The time really also depends on the weight of the Turkey. I usually think about 45 minutes per 1 kg Turkey in the oven.

When it is roasted turn the oven off and leave the Turkey to rest 30 minutes before you decorate and serve it.

It is most important that you are pouring the juice over the Turkey regularly as you roast it. This will prevent the meat from becoming dry.

The gravy:

When the Turkey is roasted you will have a lot of juice in the pan underneath and also in the pan with the giblets. Pour the juice through a sift into a cooking pan and heat on the oven and make the gravy from this. To thicken you can mix a little Potatoe starch  or Tapioca starch with a little cold water (just 0,5 dl and some table spoons of the flour). Mix until dissolved and add into the juice from the Turkey. Cook to boiling point while stirring. When the gravy is as thick as you want it turn down the heat and taste. If you want more salt or pepper add. Usually it is enough taste from the juice in the pan. However this is a little after each and every one´s taste. Add a little cream into the gravy and stir.

Serve:

Serve with Brussels sprouts, carrots and mashed potatoes.

Cut the giblets and serve on the side as well.

Preparing the Brussels sprouts and carrots:

I prepared the Brussels sprouts and carrots through steaming them. Peel the carrots and cut in sticks the size you prefer. Steam to the tenderness you prefer them. This way they will be more crisp and not watery as if boiled in water, and you keep all the nutrients as well.

If you don´t have anything to steam them in, just boil them. 

To make the mashed potatoes:

Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces. This will lessen the time you need for them to boil. Boil the potatoes until soft. Mix them in a mixer until smooth. Add some boiled milk and butter and salt and pepper. Add milk to the thickness you like your mashed potatoes.

You can even look at another Turkey variation I made last year on this link:

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2012/11/thanksgiving-turkey-coming-from-norway.html