Our Yummy Mummy classes got down to serious business a couple of weeks ago when we learned how to prepare meat and vegetables to be roasted. The Yummies tucked garlic and sprigs of fragrant rosemary and shallots into the pan among the seasonal vegetables and a whole chicken breast. We sprinkled in a dry rub that we’d mixed up, and, with a final slosh of olive oil, we ended up with a tasty, hearty dish.
The mini-chefs could go home after this class and help out with a whole meal. Whenever you are roasting, you can, as we did, use the vegetables that are available to you locally. For us in New York City, that meant we had beautiful root vegetables to choose from: carrots, parsnips, potatoes. Often at home we’ll add beets to that mixture. For meat, we buy organic and check what is selling for a bargain during our trip to the market (or grocery) that day.
The dry rub can be used with any kind of meat or vegetables, and please don’t be afraid to adjust it by adding, say, dried mint if you know that your family eats lamb often or by adding more dried rosemary if fresh rosemary is not available to you. We mix this rub up in bulk at the beginning of the month and use it for seasoning, sometimes adding cumin or curry or a squeeze of lemon, depending on our mood.
Big Apologies for no pictures of the cuties actually making the recipes in class. Unfortunately, this was the class when I left my camera in the back of a cab-never to be returned. Bah!
Yummies’ Meat and Veg Dry Rub
*3 T. sweet paprika
*3 T. sea salt
*2 1/2 T. garlic powder
*1 T. black pepper
*2 t. ground white pepper
*1 T. onion powder
*1 T. dried thyme
*1 t. dried rosemary
*1 1/2 T. dried oregano
Mix everything together in a bowl, and store in an airtight container for up to two months.
Basic Roast Chicken and Veggies for Winter
*One chicken breast, skin on, bone in
*4 carrots, scrubbed and cut into inch-long pieces
*4 parsnips, scrubbed and cut into inch-long pieces
*a few roasting potatoes (French fingerling, la ratte, etc.)
*4 medium cloves of garlic, skin still on
*3 medium shallots, peeled
*4 little springs of rosemary
*2-3 T. of Yummies Dry Rub
*a good slosh of olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Together: Your mini-chef can help prepare the vegetables by scrubbing them with a vegetable brush and setting them out on a clean kitchen towel to dry. Big Person can do the actual cutting.
Then, take out a big roasting pan (If you don’t have a big roasting pan, then aluminum foil or baking sheets with a lip can be used.), and scatter all of the carrots, parsnips, and potatoes into it. Tuck the shallots, garlic cloves, and rosemary springs here and there amongst the veggies. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the dry rub over all of this, letting it rain over the veggies. Give a good slosh of olive oil. Mix this all up with your hands.
Big person: Season the chicken with the rest of the dry rub and place into the roasting pan. (In places where salmonella is not an issue, you can, of course, let your mini-chef help with this preparation.). Place the roasting pan into the oven and cook till the chicken is no longer at all pink, the juices run clear, and a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F/ 82 degrees C. During the cooking time, which is about and hour and a half, you might want to shake the pan a couple of times to roast the veggies evenly. If you space out and don’t, though, no worries. It will still come out tasting pretty delicious.
