Sunday Roast

Hello everybody!

Hope you are all having a lovely week, and apologies for posting a little bit late.

To redeem myself, I will be posting 2 more recipes today + I have a lot more planned for this week! NOW - I recently got a new oven (FINALLY) which in my opinion is essential in cooking. Since my kitchen, and everything that it contains is pretty small - including the fridge which doesn't even have a freezer, whatever it is that I wanted to cook would have to be done from scratch. Don't get me wrong - there is a lot you can learn or get inspired by while doing everything from scratch, but sometimes it's just NOT convenient. While I aspire to use these disadvantages that I have as inspiration, there are moments where I don't have time or I'm either lazy to get my tuches into the kitchen.

PRESENTING theeeeeeee mightyyyyyyyyy OVENNN!

It's fascinating how people can only learn to appreciate these "normal" appliances or any other thing for that matter, once it's taken away from them.

Let's not go in to deep shall we? The main point is that I'm super excited to finally have an oven, and that I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with all sorts of foods. Not only is it super quick and easy to just whack everything in a tray and let it do its thing, but it also transforms & creates flavour compositions which can't be achieved in ye' regular old pot or pan. And hey guess what? I CAN FINALLY BAKE! Yes, desert recipes are on their way.

Enough chit chat, let's crack on with the recipe, shall we?

INGREDIENTS (serves 3, a hungry 2)

3 chicken drumsticks (skin on, or use any other cut which you prefer)
800g potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
3 small shallots, peeled and left whole (or just use 1 whole onion)
1/2 onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
5 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
3 fresh thyme sprigs (strip off the leaves, or use dried)
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
salt & pepper to taste

Very easy guys, very easy!

Start off by peeling and slicing all of your veggies. Once you do place them all into a bowl. So - your potatoes, onions & shallots, garlic, and aromatics. Season with salt & pepper, and add the olive oil. Toss to make sure that everything is nicely coated.

A little tip! The thiner your potato wedges are, the faster the cooking time.

I normally cut mine in half lengthways, then another lengthways cut, and the final cut is on an angle, so that you achieve a wedge. Depending on the size of the potato of course, you want to cut them all roughly the same size, so that they cook evenly.

Preheat your oven to 200°C. While doing that, leave your roasting tray inside the oven, allowing it to get hot. Once it does, add in your butter and give it a moment to melt. Follow up with your veggies. You want that nice sizzling sound! Leave the potatoes in the oven for approximately 20 minutes before adding your chicken. Flip them once to ensure that they cook evenly.

As for the meat, season with salt & pepper, add a little bit of olive oil, and massage it into the meat. This will ensure that your skin gets nice and crispy. Add the meat after 15 minutes with the skin facing up. Roast for an additional hour or so, depending on how brown you like your meat. What I also recommend you should do, is to baste the meat!

Every 20 - 30 minutes or so, remove your tray from the oven, tilt it to a side so that you concentrate all the fat and oils into one place, grab a couple of spoonfuls for each piece of meat that you have, while generously pouring it over. This will essentially marry all of your flavours together, and ensure that the skin gets nice and crispy!

Here are some snaps that I took during the process, and the finished result, as always!