Sous Vide Rack of Lamb

While rack of lamb isn't something I make often, it sure as heck doesn't need to be saved for special occasions. I mean, everything goes on sale once in a while, and when that happens, I take advantage.

As far as cooking it, of course I cooked it sous vide. It's my favorite way to cook a lot of different kinds of meats, and it's particularly good when you want an exact doneness.

And, unlike when you're roasting, you get the same doneness all the way through. You don't end up overcooking the thinner parts or the outside edges. and you don't have to watch it like a hawk. If it cooks a little longer because you didn't hear the alarm, it's not going to get ruined.

This was insanely easy, and it was done pretty quickly, too. While this was a "just for me" splurge, this would be a great main dish for company. To make it even easier, you could cook the meat sous vide the day before, then sear it right before serving, to get that nice crust and to warm the inside.

Sous Vide Rack of Lamb
Depending on the size of the rack and what else you're serving, figure on 2-4 chops per person.

1 8-bone rack of lamb
Salt and pepper, to taste
Greek seasoning mix*
Olive oil

Heat the sous vide water to 135 degrees.

Sprinkle the rack of lamb with the salt, pepper, and seasoning, to taste. Drizzle with olive oil, just enough to moisten, and rub the seasoning onto the meat.

Place the meat in a sous vide bag, vacuum, and seal.

Place the bagged lamb in the water and cook at 135 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove the bag from the water. Remove the lamb from the bag and pat dry.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan until it's just about smoking. Sear the lamb, fat side down, until it's brown and crispy, then sear on the other sides.

Let the lamb rest for a few minutes before slicing into individual chops.

*Or use any spices or any spice mix you like. With lamb, I like oregano or rosemary with lemon, but feel free to use anything you like.

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Sous Vide Beef Roast (and some Dulce de Leche for dessert!)

Click here for a line art version of this photo that you can color!

I've become quite enamored with sous vide cooking. It's foolproof (with a good recipe) and much of the cooking is hands-off. Just put the food in the bag (with or without seasonings or other stuff), seal it, and drop it in the pot. Set the and temperature, and you don't have to think about it until it's done.

Much of the time, I cook the food and then refrigerate it until the next day, when I sear or broil it to get some browning on the outside. And of course, this also heats it up to serving temperature.

This time, my sous vide cooking was inspired by a new cookbook, The Complete Sous Vide Cookbook by Chris McDonald. Since the recipes are soooo easy, you're getting both a beef roast and some dulce de leche.

I hadn't heard of the author before, so I was wasn't sure how reliable the recipes would be. Sous vide cooking isn't like any other method when it comes to temperature and timing, so that's why it's a good idea to start with a good recipe, before you wander off on your own.

In this case, I actually did do some wandering. The recipe was designed for a prime rib roast, but I cooked a New York strip roast instead. I figured it wouldn't be too terribly different, since it's a tender roast that could use the same kind of cooking. Turns out, I was right. It was just as tender as when I've done rib roasts.

The one thing that's a little different with this recipe is that you preheat the water to a hotter temperature, then lower the temperature for the cooking time. I've never done that before - I usually just put the food in the water bath and let it heat up to the cooking temperature before I start timing the cooking.

I don't know if this method made a difference in the final product, but it worked well, and it made sense. When the cool roast went into the hot water, the temperature dropped to close to the final cooking temperature, so it was ready to start the timing.

Sous Vide New York Strip Roast
Adapted from The Complete Sous Vide Cookbook by Chris McDonald

1 New York strip roast or boneless rib roast
Olive oil, as needed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the water bath to 190 degrees.

Meanwhile, rub olive oil over the roast and season with salt and pepper. You could also use another spice mix or rub. I actually used a seasoning that's made by my local butcher shop.

Place the roast in the sous vide bag and vacuum seal. Put it in the water bath, reduce the temperature to 134 degrees, and cook for 9 hours.

Remove the pouch from the water and let it stand for 20-30 minutes, then remove it from the pouch, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate fro 20-30 minutes.

Note: I just chucked mine in the refrigerator and seared it the next day. By the time it was browned, it was warmed to a decent serving temperature.

Preheat a grill to medium-high (I used a cast iron frying pan).

Put the roast on the grill and brown on all sides.

Transfer to a cutting board and slice against the grain.

Dulce de Leche

Click here for a line art version of this photo you can color!

If you've ever looked at recipes where you're supposed to put a whole can of condensed milk in a pot and cook it ... and you've wondered if that's a safe and sane thing to do, this method of making dulce de leche is pretty foolproof.

Just transfer one can of sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk!) to a sous vide bag and seal (don't vacuum it into your machine - just get most of the air out and then seal it).

I tried this method with plain sweetened condensed milk, and with chocolate sweetened condensed milk. Both worked fine.

Heat the sous vide bath to 200 degrees. Place the bag in the water and cook for 8-10 hours. I tried both 8 hours and 10 hours, and didn't see a difference. So cook it for however long is convenient for you.

Remove the bag from the bath and transfer the dulce de leche to a storage container.

I found the easiest way to get the dulce de leche out of the bag was to snip a corner and squeeze it out as soon as it was reasonable to handle. If you wait until it's room temperature, you can still squeeze it out, but it's pretty thick, so it's not as easy.

I received the book from the publisher at no cost to me.

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Technique: The anti-trussed poultry

I grew up with a mom who tended to overcook poultry. Or she overcooked the breast. The dark meat was usually fine. But here's the thing. Dark meat can handle being cooked longer and to a higher temperature. It doesn't mind at all. That's why you'll find thighs in recipes that require braising, and you'll find breasts in recipes that cook quickly.

The problem is that the breast is right there, up-top, where it gets the most oven heat. Meanwhile, the joint between the thigh and body is tucked away, protected from all the heat.

And then recipes tell you to truss the bird. Tie its legs together. This is somehow supposed to protect the breast from overcooking. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a chicken that had legs that covered the breast that well. Meanwhile, that thigh joint is still tucked away, right?

A while back, I was working on a chicken recipe where I was stuffing things under the chicken skin, and with all that fussing, the skin tore and the thighs spread away from the breasts and I decided to just go ahead and cook it that way. It wasn't a pretty, round, neat chicken. It looked messy. Lazy. Sort of ... ugly, if I'm being honest.

But here's the thing. That thigh joint was exposed to oven heat, and the chicken cooked much more evenly.

I had forgotten about that chicken until recently. I don't roast a lot of whole chickens. I cook a lot of chicken pieces. But I was cooking a recipe from Sheet Pan Suppers and I saw the words "truss the chicken" and I said "Oh no. I want to anti-truss it." Instead of trying to protect the breast so it would cook slower, I wanted to expose the thighs so they'd cook faster.

And ... it worked! The only downside was that the skin on the thighs didn't get crisp. If the chicken had been cooking on a rack, the thighs would have gotten some air, but the chicken was sitting on a bed of vegetables, so the skin was kind of flabby.

In the photo, the chicken isn't quite done yet, but it's almost there. You can see how the meat in that body-thigh joint is still a little pink. It would have been a LOT more pink if that joint had been protected.

The good news is that breast wasn't overcooked by the time the dark meat was completely done. It was a sloppy looking chicken, but if you serve your chicken cut up, it doesn't really matter, does it? I'm calling it a win. I'm also calling it dinner, and sandwiches, and soup.

Next time, I might remove the leg-and-thigh sections completely so I can roast them skin-up. I mean, seriously. What would you rather have, a chicken that looks pretty, or one that's cooked correctly?

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Cubano Roasted Vegetables

Let's start off with this: I love Cuban food.

Cuban food isn't anything like Mexican food or like Jamaican food or like ... well, it's not like a lot of foods you might think it's like. Cuban food doesn't use hot peppers, but you will find plenty of non-hot spices, along with citrus and garlic. It's really flavorful, but there's no burn. Don't look for chiles.

As much as I do love spicy food, I also love non-spicy food.

So, when I got a copy of Chef Ronaldo's Sabores de Cuba, I figured it would be a good book for me. I didn't even notice that it was a book put out by the American Diabetes Association. But that's fine, too. I have a few of their books, and the recipes are good. There's not a lot of sugar, obviously, but when it comes to Cuban food, I'm mostly interested in the savory foods than the sweet ones.

I bookmarked a couple of recipes, and had it narrowed it down to just a few. One was black beans and rice. I'm still planning on making that. But meantime, I decided to make a vegetable recipe. I chose Cubano roasted broccoli florets, but used cauliflower instead. because I love cauliflower and I happened to have one waiting to be used. It needed to cook longer than the recipe stated, but I think that's because cauliflower is more dense than broccoli. Or maybe I just wanted it more cooked.

I think this would also be really good with Brussels sprouts.

This is the sort of recipe where a little more or less of the vegetables (or a lot more or less) isn't really going to make a lot of difference. Just add more spice, if you need it, and it's all good.

Cubano Roasted Broccoli (or Cauliflower) Florets
Adapted from Chef Ronaldo's Sabores de Cuba

3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (I used black garlic)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon lime juice (I added more; lemon would also be good, but try the lime!)
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper (I didn't measure)
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion (I used a whole onion and didn't measure)
2 teaspoons avocado oil (I used olive oil)
16 ounce broccoli florets (I used 1 small head of cauliflower. I didn't weigh it.)
(I also added salt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil for easier cleanup.

In a medium bowl, combine the garlic, cumin, lime juice, pepper, and onion. stir or toss to combine. Add the oil and broccoli (or cauliflower) and toss again to combine.

Place the cauliflower (or broccoli) on the prepared baking sheet. (Sprinkle with salt, if desired. The book didn't suggest adding any, but I think it was needed.) Bake until done to your liking. The time it takes depends on how done you like your vegetables. The book suggests 25 minutes for broccoli. I cooked the cauliflower for 1 hour because I wanted some browning.

After tasting the cauliflower, it seemed that the lime flavor was totally gone, so I drizzled a little more lime juice on after it came out of the oven, and gave it another little toss.

Serve warm. This is also good room temperature or cold in a salad.

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Roast Pork Shoulder with Sepo Sauce

I bought a pork roast specifically so I could test a device called The Ribalizer. I'm reviewing it for my review blog, but when I'm reviewing a cooking tool, it usually means I've got some cooking to do.

The Ribalizer is designed for cooking ribs, but the instructions said that with the rib separator rack removed, you could use it for roasts. Well, okay. I had already cooked ribs with it, so it made sense to try its other function.

While The Ribalizer is intended to be used on an outdoor grill, the weather wasn't cooperating. It was chilly and rainy and I wasn't in the mood for going in and out of the nasty weather. Staying in a warm, cozy house made more sense.

So I fired up the oven instead of the grill. And then I checked the size of The Ribalizer to make sure it would fit in my oven. Luckily, it did.

The ribalizer is covered in more detail on my review blog, but basically it's a two-piece metal rack that's designed to fit into disposable aluminum roasting pans, and its main purpose is cooking ribs. If you don't happen to have a ribalizer sitting around, you can cook your roast with this method in a lidded roasting pan with a rack.

I knew that I wanted to use some spices or a sauce or ... something ... on top of the roast, but I didn't make the final decision until the roast was at that stage (you'll see). So I started digging around in the refrigerator to see what might be interesting.

I grabbed a jar of Sepo Sauce that I got from a company called Seponifiq. It's supposed to be used as a dip, sandwich spread, or salad dressing, but I thought it might be just right for adding a little flavor to the crust of my pork.

I had already tried it drizzled on vegetables, so I knew what it tasted like - it reminded me a bit of Caesar dressing, but not quite the same. I thought the garlic flavor would work really well with the pork. And, gee, I was right.

The beauty of this recipe is the versatility of the leftovers. You can slice thin for sandwiches (hot or cold) or cut the meat into chunks for stew, green chili, or mom's midwestern chop suey. You can continue cooking it until it falls apart for pulled pork. Or ... I'm sure you can think of more!

Roast Pork Shoulder

Roast pork in the oven!

1 8-9 pound* pork shoulder roast
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup (or as needed) Sepo Sauce
Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Season the roast on all sides with salt and pepper, as desired.

Put the pork shoulder, fat-side up, in a ribalizer or in a roasting pan on a rack. Add about water to the pan to cover the bottom of the pan with about 1/4 inch of water - just make sure it's below the level of the rack - you don't want the meat swimming, you just want to create steam.

Put the lid on the ribalizer or the roasting pan. Place it in the oven and cook, covered, for 4 hours.

Remove the cover. The pork should be tender if you stab it with a fork. It shouldn't be falling apart, but it should be easy to poke. Brush Sepo Sauce on the top and sides of the roast and return it to the oven, uncovered. Cook for another 45 minutes.

Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

*it doesn't need to be exactly this size - a little larger or smaller isn't going to kill the recipe, but if you stray too far, the cooking time might need to be adjusted.

I received the Ribalizer for the purpose of a review on Cookistry Reviews; I was not required to mention it in a recipe. I received Sepo Sauce from the manufacturer; I wasn not required to use it in a recipe.

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Potato-Stuffed Roast Chicken

I've stuffed plenty of chickens, but I have to say that I've never stuffed one with potatoes. But why not? Chicken and potatoes go together perfectly. So when I saw a recipe for potato-stuffed chicken in the book Smoke & Pickles by Edward Lee, I knew I had to give it a try.

This is one of the books that's being mailed around in the Cook My Book group that I belong to. I'll admit that the chicken wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever made, but it was delicious, and the skin was super-crisp.

The interesting thing about this chicken recipe was how evenly the thigh and breast meat cooked. Usually the breasts cook faster and tend to dry out, but in this case, the layer of potato shielded the chicken breast from the heat. Meanwhile, all the fussing with the skin caused the legs to splay out a bit. And then I gave them a little encouragement, so that thigh-body joint that tends to be a problem was exposed to more direct heat.

Next time I make this, I'm going to add some flavor to the potatoes. Fresh herbs would be good, or maybe some roasted garlic or some onions cooked with the potatoes.

And there's going to be a next time for sure. This was a really good dish. Not stunningly pretty when it was done  - but I always cut up poultry before I serve it. So it doesn't really matter what it looks like in the pan.

Potato Stuffed Roast Chicken
Adapted from Smoke & Pickles by Edward Lee

1 large Yukon Gold potato (about 11 ounces), peeled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
Fresh herbs, roasted garlic, or other flavorings (optional)
1 roasting chicken (3 to 3 1/2 pounds)
2 teaspoons olive oil

Grate the potatoes coarsely using the large holes on your favorite grater. Wrap the potatoes in some cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel and wring out as much liquid as possible.

Melt the butter in your largest cast iron skillet over medium heat (you'll be using this skillet to cook your chicken, so just make sure the chicken fits). Add the grated potato, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper (or to taste). Stir gently and cook for exactly 2 minutes, then transfer the potatoes to a plate and let them cool.

When the pan has cooled, wipe it out with a paper towel; you'll be using it again.

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. The chicken needs to fit in the pan on that rack, so make sure it fits - ovens are not all the same, and you don't want the chicken bumping the top of the oven.

Now it's time to wrangle the chicken. Place it on your work surface with the breast side up and the legs facing you. slide your fingers under the skin and start moving it from side to side to release the skin from the breast meat. You want it completely loose from front to back. If you like, you can spin the bird around and work at it from the opposite side. Try not to tear the skin.

If you're adding fresh herbs or other flavorings to the potato mixture, mix them in now. A teaspoon of fresh herbs should be fine, or add what you like to taste. Stuff the potatoes into the space between the loosened skin and breast meat. Try to get it in somewhat evenly, then massage the outside skin of the chicken to get those potatoes into an even layer all across the breast.

Rub the chicken with the olive oil and season with as much of the remaining salt and pepper as you like.

Heat the cast iron pan on medium heat. When the skillet is hot, place the chicken breast-side down in the pan and press it gently against the bottom of the pan. Hold it while it browns lightly - about 3 minutes.

Flip the chicken over onto its back in the pan and place it in the oven. Cook at 400 degrees (yes, that's correct) for 50-60 minutes, until it reaches your desired cooking temperature. These days, 155-160 degrees is accepted. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes.

Carve the chicken as desired. The best thing to do with the breasts is to carefully remove them from the chicken bones and cut each breast into 3 or 4 large pieces for serving.

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Barbecue Sauce #FromScratch and an Anolon cookware #Giveaway

Do you love my buns? The recipe is here.

When my friends at Anolon approached me and asked if I'd develop a recipe for them for their "Start from Scratch" campaign, I was all over it. I cook from scratch much more often than I cook from boxes, bags and mixes.

When I saw the list of suggested recipes, I chose barbecue.

This recipe is more from-scratch than the sauces that typically start with something like ketchup, or even canned tomato sauce. Oh, no. This sauce starts with fresh tomatoes.

It doesn't get any more from-scratch than that, unless you happened to grow the tomatoes yourself.

The sauce takes quite a bit of time to cook and reduce, but this is something you want to do slowly. Don't rush it ... good things take time. The resulting sauce is rich, deep, luxurious, with a sweet, tart, and savory all wrapped up in one bite.

And then I made it better by roasting some pork and making barbecue pork sandwiches. Seriously, you WANT one of these.

Hint: If you're avoiding wheat ... try barbecue nachos. Seriously. When I was a kid, barbecue at home usually came with potato chips (and I still tend to serve them with barbecue sandwiches. These days, I'm much more likely to have tortilla chips on hand rather than potato chips. So, I thought, why not serve those barbecue pork sandwiches with a side of tortilla chips and cole slaw?

Makes perfect sense to me.

This cookware is oven-safe.

As part of this campaign I was able to choose an Anolon pot to work with, and I chose the 5.5 quart covered braiser. Not only was it perfect for cooking the pork roast that ended up in the sandwiches, but it also was perfect for simmering and reducing my sauce. The wide, flat surface let the liquid reduce quickly, and the heavy bottom meant that it heated evenly.

The braiser has a round wire rack that can be used to keep food off the bottom of the pot - as when I used to to roast my pork. But if you don't use it in the pot, it makes a great trivet, too. Or a cooling rack.

Although it's not part of my barbecue recipe, the pot is also pretty nice for steaming corn on the cob. Steaming cooks faster, and less water means it heats faster. I also used the pot for steaming eggs. Which might sound a little crazy, but I ended up with perfect hard-boiled eggs.

The recipe for the barbecue sauce and for the pork roast are on Anolon's website. Co! Check them out! Then come back here! Yay! (Sorry ... I get a little excited about barbecue!)

GIVEAWAY!!!

One lucky reader can get a set of Anolon Advanced cookware that you can find at Macy's right now for $299, if you're in a buying mood. The set includes: 1.5 Qt. Covered Saucepan, 3 Qt. Covered Saucepan, 8 Qt. Covered Stockpot, 8.5" Skillet, 12" Covered Deep Skillet, 3 Qt. Covered Saute. Bonus Items are: 10" Open Skillet, 3 Qt. Covered Sauteuse with swing lid.

I own several pieces of Anolon cookware from different product lines, and I have to say that the Advanced line is pretty sweet. It's nonstick, but it's also safe for use with metal utensils. And, the color is classy, with the dark gray and silver. It just looks good on my stove, and it cleans up easily, both inside and out.

If you win this set, you're gonna love it! Or someone is gonna love you very much if you give it as a present. Christmas is coming.

The giveaway is now OVER.

And don't forget to check out my recipe, available at Anolon.com.

Because you really do want this pork sandwich in your life.

Or maybe these nachos.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

About this campaign: Anolon sponsored the Start from Scratch campaign to encourage home cooks to consider making a wider range of foods from scratch. From August 13-31, Anolon’s Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest social media sites will promote the campaign, with opportunities for you to win Anolon cookware prizes. There is also a special 20 percent off promotion on Anolon open stock items available at Macy’s. I am a paid participant in this campaign.

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Sous Vide Pork Roast with Caramel Mustard Sauce

Okay, so I'm still having fun with the Anova sous vide device, and this time I used it for a 37 Cooks challenge.

The idea for this one was really fun. We all picked some of our favorite food items - either local goods, or just things that we like, and we sent them to someone else in the group.

And then we were challenged to cook something using something we were sent.

Right off the bat, I decided that the Wicked Natural Caramel Mustard Dip sounded like fun. I could imagine dipping pretzels in it, but that wasn't quite enough of a recipe, so I decided to slather it on a pork roast. Twice.

I twice-cooked the roast - the first time using sous vide, and the second time I roasted it in the oven (after an overnight refrigerator nap) to warm it and brown it.

Caramel Mustard Roast Pork Loin

4(ish) pound pork loin
Wicked Natural Caramel & Mustard Dip

Coat the pork loin with a thin slather of the caramel mustard dip, place in a vacuum-sealer bag, then vacuum-seal it.

Place in the sous vide water set for 145 degrees, and cook for 6 hours. I'm still messing around with cooking times and temperatures to see what works best.

When the time's up, remove it from the sous vide and refrigerate. In theory you don't need to do this - just brown it and serve, but I find that it fits better into my schedule if I cook in two stages.

When you're ready to cook, heat the oven to 375 degrees, put the roast on a rack on a baking pan, and - from refrigerator temperature - roast for about an hour, slathering it with more caramel & mustard dip after it has cooked for 45 minutes.

If you're cooking straight out of the sous vide, slather it with the mustard caramel sauce and just cook until it's browned - the longer cooking time was required to get it warm after it was refrigerated.

Let the roast rest before slicing.

Let's talk about sous vide, shall we?

Contrary to what some folks believe, sous vide isn't about boiling food in a bag, like that freaky rice my mother used to make once in a while.

In fact, sous vide is about not boiling. The food is sealed in a bag, sometimes along with flavorings. Then it goes into a precisely controlled water bath. To keep the water - and the food in it - at a constant temperature, the sous vide device constantly monitors the temperature and heats the water as needed to keep the temperature steady. There's also a pump that gently circulates the water, so that there aren't hot spots and the food is always surrounded by water that is a consistent temperature.

There's some sciencey stuff that happens, but what's important to me is the results. The rib roasts I've made have been the most tender meat of that type I've ever cooked, so it's worth having this device just for that.

Early sous vide models were geared toward restaurants, and the first home models were pretty bulky, since they included tanks. The Anova model I have is just a big stick that attaches to a pot, so it doesn't take nearly as much storage space as the tank units.

I'm hooked, that's for sure.

Note: Since this post was published Anova came out with a new model with bluetooth and wireless. That's the model I use now, but the older model is fine, too.

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Honey Roasted Onions

One of my husband's favorite parts of pot roast or stew is when I include whole onions (or halved, if they're really big) in the stew. They get softer and sweeter and they take on the flavors from the stew.

So when I found a recipe for roasted onions in Tyler Florence's cookbook Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen, I had to give them a try. And then I had to adapt the recipe a bit. Or a lot, actually. His recipe has 1/3 cup honey and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and uses red onions. And his cooking instructions are different.

But in any case, the credit for the idea goes to Tyler Florence.

I got the honey from a company called Nazareth Secret, and it's a honey imported from Israel. It's got a nice flavor and good traditions behind it. It might have been better suited for stirring into my tea, or other applications where the honey flavor would have been more prominent. But ... it worked well in cooking too.

Honey Roasted Onions
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen

4-6 large onions
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Nazareth Secret honey
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Peel and trim the onions and slice in half through the root end (so the halves stay together).

Line a baking sheet** with aluminum foil for easier cleanup. Chances are there will be some burnt sugar to deal with, and it's easier to toss the foil than scrub the pan.

Combine the oil, honey, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl that will fit your onions as well. If you're not sure how much salt and pepper, use 1/2 teaspoon of salt and three or four grinds of pepper from your mill - or about 1/4 teaspoon.

Whisk to combine, then add the onions and stir them around to coat with the mixture. Place the onions, cut side up, on the prepared pan. Leave the remaining liquid in the bowl - you'll be using that later.

Place the onions in the oven and bake until tender. Depending on the onions, this will take an hour or longer.

BUT ! ! !

After about 30 minutes of baking time, remove the pan from the oven and divide the remaining honey/oil mixture on top of each onion. At this point, the onion layers should be less tight, and the liquid will drizzle into the onions as well as coating the top.

Continue cooking, stopping every 10-15 minutes to scoop up the liquid from the bottom of the pan to drizzle it on top of the onions.

** Now that I've contemplated this a bit, I think a 9x13 baking pan might make more sense than a flat baking sheet. The onions could be cooked, covered, for the first 15-20 minutes to steam them and encourage them to cook faster, then drizzle with the oil/honey mixture and keep cooking, drizzing and basting regularly until the onions are done. Also, since most of the oil/honey drips off the onions right away, so I'm thinking that there's no need to try to coat the onions at all at the beginning - just drizzle some of the mixture on top of the onions at the beginning, and then regularly throughout the cooking time - which should also be shorter if they're cooked covered at first.

If you make these, let me know what you do and how they work for you!

I received the honey from the manufacturer, but I was not required to write about it. The book was part of the Cook My Book group exchange. More about that here.

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Whole Foods Feasting: Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Roast chicken and vegetables might might not be the fastest thing to make from start to table, but once everything's in the oven, you got plenty of time to do other things, whether that's making salad, helping the kids with homework, or chatting with our guests.

The other great thing about a meal like this is that you can customize it any way you like. You can add extra herbs or spices, or you can change the vegetables to suit what you like, or to accommodate what's in season I love asparagus, so that was the focus of my vegetables.

Paprika is one of my favorite spices for use with chicken. You can find several varieties of paprika- sweet, sharp, or smoked - so use the one you like.

The really great thing about chicken is that the leftovers are good cold. The breasts can be sliced for sandwiches, or you can chop it for chicken salad.

Of course the carcass can be sued to make soup. Speaking of that carcass, I spatchcocked the chicken, but instead of removing the backbone completely, I just cut along one side and left it attached.since I wanted to use it for the stock, and I know it would have more flavor if it was roasted.

A spatchcocked chicken doesn't look as pretty as a whole chicken. In fact, it looks just  little weird. But it cooks more evenly, so you don't end up with undercooked thighs and overcooked breast meat. I don't present whole chickens at the table, anyway - I cut them up to serve. So it doesn't matter if the chicken looks a little strange in the oven.

Roast Spatchcocked Chicken

1 3-4-pound whole chicken
Salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Paprika, to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Turn the chicken so the breast side is down. and use kitchen shears to cut along one side of the backbone.

Open the chicken up, turn it open-side down, and press down along the breast bone to flatten it. I did this right on the baking sheet I was going to use to cook the chicken on. It fit perfectly on a quarter-sheet pan, but you can use whatever pan you like.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika as desired.

Roast the chicken at 325 degrees until the chicken is cooked through - 160 degrees in the breast and 180 in the thigh, Depending on the size of the chicken and how cold it was going into the oven, this will take 60-90 minutes.

Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before you cut it into pieces. I like to serve the legs, thighs, and wings whole and cut the breasts into several pieces or slice it into thick slices.

If you like, you can use the drippings from the chicken to make a gravy. Or, if you prefer, save the dripping to use when you make stock from the chicken bones.

Roasted Asparagus (and friends)

I like grilled or roasted asparagus, but sometimes it can dry out before it's tender. One way to thwart that is to use more oil. Or sometimes I steam the asparagus to par-cook it before roasting.

But I found another way around it. But putting the asparagus on the bottom of the pan with the rest of the vegetables on top for the beginning of the cooking time, the asparagus steams a bit in its own juices, so it gets tender. Then, I stir the vegetables around so they get a nice roasty flavor.

Roasted Vegetables

2 bunches asparagus, tough stems removed
1/2 pound white mushrooms
1 small zucchini
1 red onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Arrange the asparagus on a quarter-sheet baking pan (or whatever similarly-sized pan you have.)

Cut the mushrooms in half and put them on top of the asparagus. Trim the ends off the zucchini, cut it in half width-wise, then cut into wedges lengthwise. Arrange them on top of the asparagus.

Peel the onion, then cut it into thin wedges and put the wedges on top of the asparagus.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, then use tongs to stir the vegetables around. Continue cooking until the vegetables are done to your liking, stirring again as needed. Depending on who well done you like your vegetables, they'll be done in another 30 to 60 minutes.

Serve warm.

For more information about my relationship with Whole Foods, see the tab at the top.

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Whole Foods Friday: Roasted Chili-Cheese Cauliflower

I love finding an ingredient and then creating recipes just for that one ingredient. Sometimes that's something in the produce aisle or a new cut of meat or a new type of fish. This time it was the bulk spice section that hooked me. I found some cheese powder that most people would sprinkle onto popcorn.

But, hey, cheese goes with a lot more than popcorn, right?

I'm a big fan of all sorts of cheese, from fresh soft cheese to aged hard cheese and from blue cheese to yellow. I like high-end cheeses and I like mass-market cheeses.

So why use a cheese powder?

Well, sometimes I just want the flavor of cheese without the moisture, gooeyness or texture that cheese would bring to the table. Like when I'm sprinkling cheese powder on popcorn. Once you start working with cheese powder, you'll probably find a lot of uses for it.

This time, I used it on cauliflower. It seems pretty natural - I've made cauliflower soup with cheese, and I've served cauliflower with cheese sauce. But this time I had had different plans.

Roasted cauliflower is much different than boiled or steamed - it's like a whole different vegetable. It's sweeter,  it's caramelized, and it's toasty. The color is also more interesting that plain white cauliflower. It's great when it's prepared simply, with just a bit of oil and salt.

But I didn't want to stop there. First, the cheese powder. Then some spice.

This is a very simple recipe, and it doesn't need a lot of attention, but once it starts browning you do need to watch it so it doesn't burn. Caramelized cauliflower is great; blackened cauliflower isn't so great. To get the cauliflower cooked evenly, I suggest stirring it around a few times during cooking.

Roasted Chili-Cheese Cauliflower
Recipe © by www.cookistry.com. Do not republish without permission.

1 head cauliflower
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons cheese powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Remove the core of the cauliflower and break it into florets. Cut the larger florets into smaller pieces so that all the pieces are about the same size.

Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Stir the cauliflower around to get it coated with the oil as best you can. If you used a really huge cauliflower, you can add a bit more oil.

Roast the cauliflower at 350 degrees, stirring it every 10 minutes or so. When you see it starting to brown, after about 20 minutes of cooking, sprinkle with the cheese powder and chili powder. Toss it around a bit to get it evenly coated.

Continue cooking until the cauliflower is cooked through and can be easily pierced with a fork, about another 10 minutes. It won't get mushy-tender like it can when you boil or steam it.

Keep in mind that the cooking time will vary depending on how large your florets are and how well-done you want your cauliflower. It could be done to your liking in 20 minutes, or you might like it better when it's seriously browned.

Serve hot. If you like, sprinkle with some additional cheese powder before serving.

Yum

Roast Chicken - a guest post with Grace

This guest post is from the wonderful blogger, Grace, who lives in Boulder and has her own food blog, Grace(full) Plate where she shares favorite recipes, her traveling foodie excursions and local food happenings in Colorado and beyond. 

Alongside her blog (and her day job of running the sales department for an online startup) she writes for Eater Denver, runs the Facebook page Boulder Food News and is the co-founder of Boulder Food Media, a growing meetup. 

You can find her tweeting @gracekboyle or for all things food @gracefullplate. 

Finally, she said she is excited to be guest posting on Donna's wonderful blog. "Thanks for having me!"

Thanks, Grace, for sharing this great recipe!

Fall Roast Chicken With Sweet and Russet Potatoes 

When colder weather sets in and the leaves start to change I start to retreat into my home, hunker down in big, comfy sweaters and cook food that warms me up. To me, a favorite simple comfort food during Fall is roast chicken. I love the crispy skin, baking vegetables and apples alongside the dish and making sandwiches and soup with the leftovers. The other best thing is that this doesn’t require hours of prep and it yields food for a few days after.

Ingredients:

1 5-pound chicken
1/2 cup softened butter
4 cloves chopped garlic (I’m Italian, I may even add more!)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 apple chopped
2 onions diced
2 russet potatoes chopped
1 sweet potato chopped
1 lemon
salt and pepper
1 springs of thyme

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Completely remove the giblets from inside of the chicken. Wash the inside and outside of the chicken with cold water. Next, pat dry with paper towels inside and outside the chicken.

Thoroughly season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.

Cut the apple, onions and lemons into quarters. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon, apple, half of the onion quarters and a spring of thyme. Note: Choose whatever vegetables are in season or taste great roasted, to your liking.

Take the softened butter and mix with garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well. With your fingers, separate the skin from the meat of the chicken without tearing the skin off.  Gently, rub the butter mixture underneath the skin of the breasts. Once done thoroughly spreading the butter under the skin, season the outside of the chicken with salt and pepper.

Tuck the chicken thighs and wings closer to the breast / body (make it compact) so it cooks evenly.

In a baking pan, place the chicken in the center and surround the chicken with the remaining chopped onion, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Bake for approximately 1.5 hours or until the juices have run dry and the chicken is golden brown.

Let the chicken sit for about 15 minutes, then carve and serve. Stay warm and enjoy!

Yum

Lamb, Two Ways

The lighting is weird - they were medium rare, not totally rare.

Every year, I buy a whole lamb so I can have it on hand any time I want it. Buying a whole lamb is cheaper than buying the occasional high-end parts, even after I pay for the whole lamb plus the processing free.

Even better, I get all the parts, so I've got a good selection of tender bits and stew-worthy meat. And I get some odd cuts that never show up in grocery stores.

So when lamb was on the menu recently, and I decided to make it two different ways: racks and meatballs.

No exact recipes for either version, but here's how it went.

The racks (4 bones each) were seasoned, then seared in a hot pan. Then I brushed them with mixture of dijon mustard and honey, then covered that with some fresh bread crumbs.

The racks went into a 425 degree oven until they reached about 130 degrees.

I pulled them out and let them rest for a bit more than 20 minutes, then cut each rack into two 2-bone pieces. They were perfectly cooked, juicy, and wonderful.

The meatballs started out as lamb stew meat, which I ground, then seasoned with Greek seasoning from Penzeys, and a generous amount of cracked rosemary.

After the lamb made its way through the grinder, I also ground some onion and some bread, which I added to the mixture. I also added an egg, and mixed it all up gently before I let it rest overnight in the fridge.

Before I stashed them in the fridge, I cooked a couple test meatballs. They needed a little more flavor, so I added a bit more salt and more rosemary. Seasoning is to taste, and I wanted more.

The next day, I formed the meatballs and browned them on all sides, then finished them in the oven. For presentation, I put the meatballs on skewers, and I served the meatballs with some homemade tziatziki sauce for anyone who wanted it.

I've got to say that I liked both dishes. Hard to pick a favorite. But next time I make lamb, the sure bet is that it will be something else. I've got plenty to choose from.

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