40 Clove Garlic Chicken

This is good chicken, but the real crown of the recipe is that the soft, slow-cooked cloves can be spread on toast and eaten. Most of the pungency is cooked out, and what remains is delicious. This is a simple recipe. The hardest part of prep is peeling the garlic.

8 pieces of chicken, bone-in (one whole chicken cut into parts, or 8 thighs)

40 whole cloves of garlic, peeled (about 3 heads)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbs olive oil

2 tsp thyme

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Salt and pepper them. Heat up a tablespoon of the olive oil over high heat in a pan on the stove, and sear half the chicken on both sides, just enough to brown it a bit. Remove to a baking dish. Use the other tablespoon of oil to brown the remaining chicken in the same manner, then place in the dish with the first batch.

Sprinkle the thyme and cloves over the chicken in the dish, then pour on the remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil. Cover with a lid or foil, then bake for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

Let rest 5-10 minutes, then serve with a crusty bread or some toast.

Duck Breast

The technique here is very simple. I use a similar one for my Chicken Fajita recipe (https://alpharaposashearth.wordpress.com/2018/02/28/simple-chicken-fajitas/). If you have cast iron, or a steel skillet with an oven-safe handle, it’s the best way to cook many different kinds of meats.

For duck breast, set the oven for 400 degrees F.

Rinse and pat the breasts dry. Carefully score the skin side- you want to cut through the skin and some of the fat, but not quite all the way to the meat. Simple slashes are enough. You can do a criss-cross (diamond) pattern if you want to do more.

Warm up some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Salt your duck breasts.

When the oil shimmers, lay the breasts, skin side down, into the skillet. Leave (don’t move) for 5-8 minutes, while the fat under the skin renders out.

This is a good place to use a spatter screen if you have one.

Once most of the fat is rendered out, flip the breasts over and cook on the other side just two minutes.

Remove most of the rendered fat, leaving a thin layer at the bottom, before placing the skillet in the hot oven. Cook until the internal temperature reaches at least 135 degrees (medium rare), another 15-20 minutes.

Remove from pan and let rest 7-10 minutes. Slice thinly. Serve with a sweet fruit sauce, such as cranberry sauce, or Cherry BBQ Sauce (https://alpharaposashearth.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/cherry-bbq-sauce/)

Simple Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1-2 bell peppers
• 1-2 onions
• olive oil
• salt
• dried oregano (leaves are best, ground okay)

A skillet that can go both on the stove and in the oven (cast iron skillets work great for this, but steel is fine so long as the grip is all metal).

Set the oven for 350 degrees.

Rinse the chicken, pat dry, and salt the top. Pour a tablespoon or two of oil in the skillet and heat over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes. (Cast iron that’s warm enough will have a distinctive metallic smell when it’s ready.) If you have a vent with a fan, turn the fan on now.

Place the chicken in the skillet, salted side down. Salt the other side. Set timer for 3 minutes. DO NOT MOVE THE CHICKEN during this time.

When the 3 minutes are up, flip the chicken and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side. When these are done, remove the skillet (chicken and all) from the stove and place in the preheated oven. If you have a probe thermometer that you can set, use it, set to 165 degrees. If you don’t, then set a timer for 15 minutes.

Chop the veggies while the chicken is baking. Onions should be sliced in half lengthwise, then sliced thinly to make half-moon shapes. Bell peppers, slice into thin strips.

If you’re not lucky enough to have a probe thermometer, you’re going to have to check the chicken the hard way. Chicken is cooked at 165 degrees, or when you can cut into the flesh and it’s peachy white all the way through. Begin checking at 15 minutes. Cut at the thickest part if you must check it that way, as that will take the longest to cook.

When the chicken is done, remove from oven. Remove the breasts from the skillet to a cutting board. Place the vegetables in the newly vacated skillet, add some salt and oregano, and gently cook over medium-high heat until the onions are soft and the bell peppers are tender.

(Incidentally, the juices and brown bits left by meat in a skillet is called fond. Cooking veggies in it adds more flavor to the veggies, and scours it off the skillet.)

One the veggies are cooked, remove from heat. Slice the chicken breasts thinly, and place on top. Serve with tortillas, cheese, and any other toppings you prefer with fajitas.

Bacon in the Oven

I’m cook bacon in the oven because it’s a little less time consuming. I use a broiler pan, because it comes with a drip pan already attached. You can also use a cooling rack over a half sheet pan, or a half sheet pan lined with foil, or parchment paper, or even just bare.

Set the oven for 400 degrees fahrenheit. Spread the bacon so the strips are just touching. Put them in and set a timer for 12 minutes. The bacon probably won’t be done by then, but you’ll want to start checking it. The strips at the end often finish first, so have a fork or pair of tongs handy for removing those as soon as they’re done. Check every couple of minutes until all the bacon is finished. Drain the grease while it’s still warm (I keep a jar for bacon grease- it’s very stable in the fridge).

You’ll probably want to soak any messy surfaces.

Leg O’Lamb

Yes, that center is quite rare. Yes, it’s supposed to be that way. Lamb, like veal, is delicate and needs to be cooked lightly.

This is my first time roasting a leg of lamb, and I loved it! I got the recipe from a website that had a ton of pictures and even video (that could not be scrolled past) before you could get down to the recipe. I’m not going to do that to you guys.

Ingredients:

5-7 lbs leg of lamb, bone-in (bone provides flavor!)

3 tbs olive oil

salt and ground pepper

6 cloves garlic

3 stems of fresh rosemary

roasting pan (with rack or raised bottom

aluminum foil

Take the lamb out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking. Warm meat cooks more evenly! Rinse the leg, trim any unwanted fat (if the layer is thick, trim it down until you can see meat through it). Pat dry.

Rub the lamb all over with the olive oil. Place on rack in roasting pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Set your oven to broil and adjust the top rack so the lamb will be just under the heating element/flame. Broil the lamb for five minutes. Turn it over, season the other side with salt and pepper, and broil for five more minutes.

Remove the lamb from the oven and set the oven to bake, 325 degrees. Chop the garlic and rosemary until both are minced fine together (remove the leaves of rosemary off the stems- the stems are too tough to chop). Flip the lamb back over to the first side you broiled, and rub/coat the top with the chopped garlic and rosemary.

Cover the lamb loosely with foil. If your roasting pan is tall enough, you might just cover the whole top of it. Roast the lamb for 1 hour, then check. Lamb can be eaten at 135 degrees (rare). You can roast it until it hits 145 if you prefer more “done” meat. Don’t go too far, though. Overcooked lamb ruins its flavor. If the lamb needs more cooking, place it back in for another 15-20 minutes, then check again.

Rest the lamb at least 15 minutes before carving. The lamb will “coast”, continuing to cook a little on the inside due to stored heat.

Carve into slices, and eat. (We had ours with rice pilaf, with some dried rosemary in it.)

Rosemary Lemon Spatchcock* Turkey

*Or Butterflied

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey, thawed or fresh, may be brined or not.
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
• 1-2 Tbs crushed rosemary (or fresh rosemary, chopped)
• 1-2 Tbs salt
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks of celery
• 5-6 cloves of garlic

You’ll want a large knife and/or poultry shears for this work. And a very large cutting board with a groove to catch blood.

Oven to 400 degrees F for this. You should be able to use the center rack.

Rinse the turkey all over and remove the neck and giblets. Cut off the Pope’s nose (the tail piece). Starting from the back, cut along the spine on each side, trying to leave as much of the meat attached to the remaining bird as possible. (This takes some work.) You will also have to cut some of the skin and meat attached at the ends.

Once the spine is removed, cut the wishbone either with a short snip of shears or a couple of hits with the edge of your knife. Turn the turkey breast side up and push down on the keel (the part between the breast) a few times. “Give it CPR”, as my dad says. It’ll crunch and settle into a basically flat shape. Cut some of the extra neck skin off. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. If the oven isn’t on yet, turn it on.

Make the compound butter- Put the soft butter in a bowl and add the salt and rosemary. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze over it. Use a fork to mix it together as best you can. You will probably have extra juice that doesn’t work in- that’s fine.

Cut the onion into four or eight chunks (remove the peel and roots) and spread around the bottom of your roasting pan. Likewise, wash and chunk the celery. Cut the garlic cloves in half (peeling not necessary). Add the remains of the lemon you used with the butter.

Place the flat turkey on top of the veggies. You may have to remove the wingtips (I did), but you might be able to tuck them under the body. Turn the legs out so the drumsticks point straight away from the center.

Slip your fingers under the skin over the thighs and breasts of the turkey. You can gently lift from the cut edges and get all the way across the thighs and a little onto the drumsticks. You should be able to get across all of both breasts.

Get a handful of the compound butter and stuff it under the skin in each place. Squish the skin around to spread it as evenly as you can get under the skin. Rub whatever butter is left all over the outside of the turkey. Wipe your hands clean and then wash them, then sprinkle just a little more salt over the top of everything. Pour any leftover lemon juice into the roasting pan.

Place in 400 degree oven until a meat thermometer in the thigh reads 165 degrees, about an hour and a half. Remove and let rest at least half an hour before carving.

I tell you, I don’t usually care about crispy skin and all that, but the skin on THIS bird was amazing. Delicious all on its own.

Use all the bits you removed and cut off the bird to make some great stock- put in a pot with a couple quarts of water (enough to cover and maybe a little more) and simmer gently while you get everything else done and the turkey roasts.

Pulled Pork in the Oven

To make excellent pulled pork in the oven, you’ll need:

• 1 bone-in pork butt (shoulder), 5-8 lbs
• either 2 Tbs kosher salt OR 1/3 cup “rub” of your choice
• 1/2 cup liquid, combination of: water, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple juice.

You’ll also need an oven-safe pot or casserole (with lid) that will fit in your oven. If you don’t have one with an oven-safe lid, you can use aluminum foil.

Set your oven to 225 degrees F and make sure your racks are set so you have enough room for your container. Rinse your pork butt all over. One side will have a thick sheet of fat on top. That’s the fat cap. Sometimes, it still has the skin, too. It is up to you whether you leave any skin on. If you’re using a rub, you’ll get better flavor without it, but you do want to leave most of the fat cap.

Place your pork butt, fat side up, in the bottom of your pan/pot/casserole. Sprinkle your seasonings on top. Pour your liquids down the side so they’re at the bottom. Cover with lid or foil.

Bake for 6-8 hours. That’s correct- hours. When it’s finished, remove from the oven. Remove your pork to a large pan and use a pair of forks to tug away at the meat so it shreds into pieces (this is the “pulled” part). You’ll want to remove the bone as you work, and any pieces of gristle that didn’t melt away as the pork cooked. Once the meat is completely pulled, pour a few tablespoons of the drippings over it and mix it a bit for more flavor.

Serve warm. Pulled pork is a very rich, fatty meat, and so goes best with acidic, vinegar-based sauces (such as are common in North and South Carolina). Gold sauce is a favorite of mine. You can eat pulled pork with a fork, or pile it up on a sandwich. Add some cheese, some sauce, and maybe a few bread and butter pickles or some coleslaw.

Don’t just stash your meat for leftovers- keep the drippings, too. They make magnificent broth for beans. Adding a little more drippings into your leftovers before tucking them away helps keep them from drying out.