#2 the merits of pot roast

So this blog is about pot roasting, something I recently tried for the first time on some unsuspecting friends... and it turned out really well

I was inspired by the Autumn weather and wanted to do a roast of some kind - already had the veg sorted (made butternut squash gratin from the Sunday Times Style section - really yummy as you would expect something with cream and cheese in it!), and was inspired by my friend who has done a pot roast for me before..

So I started by phoning her and asking how she does it - a basic recipe is:

take one pot
add one chicken
add flavours - I would recommend chilli and lemon, but I also added rosemary as I had some and my friend uses chorizo too - put the flavouring in, on and around the chicken
then add hot water to the pot - so its approximately 1/4 inch deep
cook in a 180 degree oven for about an hour with the lid on
take off lid and let the chicken brown for about 10-15 minutes
then serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up the lovely juices..

I also served the squash gratin, spinach and some roasted new potatoes with mine.

I think my friends liked it - the lemony chilli chicken was quite tasty and the pot roasting left it so tender that it fell off the bone when carving.

To follow that up I decided to go with another Sunday Times Style suggestion - baked figs (in season and my new favourite!) with a chocolate sauce made with cream and Green & Black's cooking chocolate = heaven!

So pot roasting = thumbs up, and the sauce that was made from cooking the chicken in the pot was a mixture of the liquid added, you could try wine or stock instead of water, and the flavours, and the result of cooking with the chicken bones.

This reminded me of an Anjum Anand recipe that I've done that requires boned chicken and a special masala spice blend finished off with tamarind paste, so next time I pot roast think I will go Indian in flavouring...

The Camden Road Cook