Jaime Oliver's Roast Chicken

It had been a while since my baking friends and I had a gathering. I suggested to come to my house this time for our gathering since I had moved to a new place last year. It was a simple gathering with potluck where they cook and bake very delicious food. We had curry devil, scotch eggs, chutney, mango cake and sakura panna cotta. I also made lemongrass drink and a salad. They were all yummy homemade goodies. And of course, we also had some store bought food too! With these group of baking and cooking experts, I decided baking a roast chicken might suit their taste. So I made Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken with roast vegetables. I was glad they like it! The roast chicken was soft and tender and flavourful. The roast vegetables were crisp but soft. This is truly one easy and impressive dish to whip up for a function!

Recipe for Roast Chicken with roast vegetables, adapted from Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients:
1 large fresh Chicken 
2 medium onions 
2 carrots 
1 bulb garlic 
1 lemon 
1 bunch of fresh Rosemary herbs
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
Paprika

2 large Sweet Potatoes, cut randomly
3 Potatoes, cut in wedges
2 Zucchini
1 packet Cherry tomatoes 

Method:
1. Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
3. Wash and roughly chop the vegetables.Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.
4. Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with oil.

5. Drizzle the chicken with oil and season well with sea salt, black pepper and paprika, then rub all over the bird. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
6. Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife. Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs.

7. Place the tray in the oven, then turn the heat down immediately to 200°C and cook for 45mins.
8. Add in the vegetables after 45mins of cooking. The vegetables would have been mixed with olive oil, black pepper, salt and paprika.
9.  Continue cooking for another 45mins.
10. When the chicken is cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. 
11. To carve your chicken, carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.
12. Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick.
13. Finally, arrange the chicken and the vegetable on a plate and serve.

Laing - AFF Philippines July 2014

When I was in Legazpi, Philippines, my friend took us to a popular eatery called Small Talk Cafe. It was my first meal in Philippines. It was like a small family business. It served yummy fusion Filipino Italian food.

I tried a pizza with taro leaves. The leaves tasted like some creamy coconut. I really like the taste of it. When my friend knew that I liked it, she purposely asked the driver to detour and let me buy the leaves. It was frozen packed. When I came back, I requested my helper to cook it. As taro leaves are special to Bicol province, she has not tasted this before. I had to surf the web and instruct her to cook it.

This was how it was described.
"This Laing recipe or Bicol laing is a dish indigenous to the Bicol province. Rich and creamy, it's made from dried taro or gabi leaves and coconut milk."

Recipe for Laing (Taro Leaves Cooked in Coconut Milk), modifed from Filipino Food.

Ingredients:

250g Frozen Taro Leaves (including roasted pork, garlic, salt and chilli)

80g Coconut Milk

1 tsp Sauteed Shrimp Paste(Bagoong Alamang)

1 tbsp Cooking Oil for sauteing

Method:
1. Heat the wok, then add the cooking oil.

2. Add in the defrost taro leaves and gently stir to cook. 

3. Add coconut milk and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.

4. Cook until the taro leaves have fully absorbed the coconut milk and almost rendering fat.

5. Serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.

Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk - AFF Philippines July 2014

Last year, I was coaxed by my dear Filipino friend to visit Philippines. She arranged my whole itinerary. It was truly one of the best holiday I ever had! We not only had a lot of sight-seeing and activities, we also experienced all kinds of cuisines, especially Filipino cusines! It was also my first time having fresh sea urchin and balut. And best of all, we were driven around by her chauffeur in Manila! She was truly such a good host I almost can't bear to leave Manila!

While I was there, I ate a lot of dishes cooked in coconut milk. They were known as ginataang gulay. It means vegetables stewed in coconut milk. Here are two of these I had in Philippines.

They were so good, I had to ask my helper to re-create them at home. She was pretty familliar with this. And since I bought Achuete seeds and bagoong, she added them to the vegetables to make it more Filipino taste. The achuete seeds made it more reddish. Here's how to prepare them.

Recipe for Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk aka ginataang gulay
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Half a large oval (Cameron) cabbage
1 Carrot, sliced
4 slices Ginger
200g Pumpkin
1 tbsp Achuete seeds
1 tbsp Bagoong
250g Coconut cream
Cooking oil

Method:

1. Heat wok, add the cooking oil.
2. Sauteed achuete seeds in the oil, when the oil is dark orange in colour, discard the seeds.
3. Add in bagoong and ginger and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in pumpkin and cooked till slightly soft.
5. Add in cabbage and carrot and sauteed till soft.
6. Turn down the heat, and add in coconut milk and let it slimmer for about 15mins.
7. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.