This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That? I’ve made it a lot, because, well, it’s easy. It’s also delicious. It can be put together ahead and baked whenever. The pan juices are great over rice or couscous.
Boneless chicken breasts with the skin on can be harder to find, you will most likely have to go to a butcher shop. In Louisville, Red Hog Artisan Meat has them in the case, and Fresh Market and Paul's Market both have butchers that will bone a chicken breast and leave the skin on. Whole Foods might do so as well, but I have never asked.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic - 9 cloves (I only used 5, seemed enough to me)
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest from two lemons
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice of one of the zested lemons, it measured about 3 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon of minced thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 4 skin on boneless chicken breasts
- 1 lemon
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat the olive oil with the garlic in a small pan for a minute or two, but do not let the garlic brown.
- Put the garlic & oil, white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon of salt into a 9 x 12 inch baking dish and stir.
- Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up in the dish.
- Brush the chicken with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper,
- Cut the lemon into wedges and tuck among the chicken (I used the second zested lemon for this rather than an additional lemon).
- Tuck some thyme sprigs among the chicken.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is done (165 degrees) and the skin is browned. If the skin is not browned, place under the broiler for a couple of minutes.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes and serve with the pan juices. Ina directs you to cover the chicken during its rest, but I prefer not to since the skin will not stay crisp.
This is one version of pot roast, and really consists of my basic recipe for any braised beef or lamb. Start with browning the meat (chuck roast, short ribs, veal or lamb shanks), remove and brown a pureed mirepoix, add wine and reduce, add canned tomatoes/stock/water and herbs, and cook for hours. Voila - a delicious cold weather meal with tender meat and a deeply flavorful sauce! I tend to make these braises at least a day ahead since I like to chill them to make excess fat removal easier. Braises are a wonderful winter dinner party do-ahead meal since you can - and should - make at least a day ahead, and it can be made weeks ahead if you freeze it.
Please feel free to adjust any ingredients to suit your taste.
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 pound chuck roast
- 1/4 pound of pancetta - diced
- 3-4 carrots
- 3-4 celery stalks
- 1 large onion
- 4-6 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1-2 tablespoons umami paste (optional)
- 1 bottle of dry red wine
- 1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- bunch of thyme tied with string into a bundle
- 4 bay leaves
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Saute pancetta in a large dutch oven over medium heat (I used a #26 Le Creuset) in a tablespoon or two of olive oil until crisp. Remove and set aside on a paper towel lined plate. Pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of fat.
3. Season roast with salt and brown deeply on all sides in now empty pan over medium high heat. This should take about 8-10 minutes Remove and set aside. Again, pour off all but two tablespoons of fat.
4. Finely chop the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in a food processor (almost puree) and add the the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook over medium high heat, scrapoing the pan frequently as the vegetables brown. This will take about 10-15 minutes.
5. Clear a spot in the pan and add the tomato paste and umami paste and stir until brown, about one minute.
6. Pour the bottle of wine into the pan, scraping up any brown bits, and reduce over meduim high heat for 8-10 minutes.
7. Add the tomato3s, thyme, bay leavess and the roast to the pan. Taste and adjust the salt.
8. Cover and put in the oven for 3-4 hours, checking now and then on the progress. The roast is done when it is very tender.
9. Refrigerate the roast overnight and remove the hardened fat. Reheat and enjoy (or freeze to enjoy later).
This recipe is based on Anne Burrerll's porchetta from Cook Like a Rock Star. The idea of roasting the vegetables under the roast is hers. I thought the vegetables would fall apart after cooking so long, but they really don't. They are delicious after cooking in all that pork jus and fat. I changed the seasonings, some of the veggies, and the cooking temperature and timefrom Anne's recipe. I like to serve this with a simple green salad with a lemon dressing.
I usually make a lot of this, but feel free to cut the recipe down to a size that would work better for you. It is a great dinner party dish since it can be made ahead. For me it is a must do ahead since I like to chill the jus to make it easy to remove the rather large amount of fat.
Note:
Anne Burrell suggests using a pork shoulder roast with the skin on. I tried this, as did my sister, and neither of us cared for the skin after roasting. Bob Hancock from Blue Dog told me I wouldn't care for it with the skin on, and he was correct. It was sorta leathery and not delicious. The skin also prevented the fat under it from getting all brown and crispy. Maybe scoring the skin would help?
The dry marinade I use on the roast came from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have used it for years on pork loin roasts and think it works very well in this recipe as well.
This will serve 10-12 people.You will need a large roasting pan.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal - if using Morton's cut to 2 tablespoons))
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons of dried ground thyme
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground fennel
- 1 teaspoon ground bay leaves (Pendery's Spices)
- 1 7-10 pound pork shoulder roast, boned, skinned and butterflied (keep the bone!) or two smaller roasts
- 2 large onions
- 2 fennel bulbs, cored and tough outer layers removed
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and seeded (a grapefruit spoon works great for removing the seeds and strings)
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled
- 1 pound fingerling potatoes, halved
- 10 bay leaves
- 1 bunch of fresh thyme, tied with string
- 1 bottle of dry white wine
- 1 quart pork or chicken stock (Red Hog sells pork and chicken stock)
- salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Combine first 6 ingredients and rub over the inside and outside of the pork roast.
2. Roll roast into a neat bundle, tie with butcher's twine, cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for one to two days.
3. Remove roast from the fridge to sit a room temperature for about a hour. Set oven to 425 degrees.
4. Cut the onions, fennel, squash and sweet potatoes into 1-2 inch pieces. Put all the vegetables in the roasting pan and toss with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Put the pork bone in the center of the pan and place the roast on top.
6. Add the bay leaves, thyme and wine to the pan.
7. Roast for one hour, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and roast for another 2-3 hours. Cover the roast if it gets too brown and add the pork stock if the pan gets dry. When done, the roast shoud be fall apart tender and register 180-190 degrees.
8. Remove the roast from the pan and set aside to rest. If making ahead, let the roast cool, then slice and place in an oven proof serving dish that can hold the meat and the jus. Cover and put in the fridge.
9. Dispose of the bay leaves and thyme, and remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon to an oven proof serving dish. If making ahead, cool, cover and refidgerate.
10. If there is alot of jus left in the roasting pan, put it back on the stove top, bring to a boil over high heat, and reduce to 2-3 cups.
11. Strain jus into a container. If making ahead, place in fridge. Remove the fat that rises to the surface and solidifies. Pour over the pork. (if the jus is jellied, warm up to pour over the meat)
12. Reheat the meat and vegetables covered with foil in a 325 degree oven for about one hour.
