Roasted chicken with fennel and pasta

This is a dish that I made while up at Whistler to feed the returning skiers. I wanted to make something that did not require me do a lot of cooking near serving time, using few dishes and I was presented with a lovely free range chicken as my main ingredient. For the most part I was trying to use what I found in the fridge, which was fairly well stocked.

To feed 4

1 whole chicken cut up or equivalent in pieces
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
2 cups of grape tomatoes or you could use large ones sliced
1 cup of pitted olives.
3 table spoons of olive oil
4 cups of dried penne pasta
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 bucket of baby arugula
juice of 1 lemon

Put the fennel onion and garlic in large shallow roasting tin.  Place the chicken pieces on top and scatter over the tomatoes and olives, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive and salt and pepper.

Place in a 400 oven for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and crispy golden.

Roast pork tenderloin with roast vegetables

I really like pork tenderloin, it is pork and I love pork, but it also low fat and tender, and therefore fits in with my healthy eating plan right now.  I picked up a couple of pork tenderloin's from Hopcott's and though there was only two of us for dinner, I decided to cook them both, so that I had left overs for dinner or lunch during the week.

This is a one dish meal (less washing up) and with an addition of a green salad is healthy and very tasty. I used potatoes, carrots and fennel, because that is what I had in the fridge, but winter squash, eggplant or red peppers would have been great too.

Enough for 4

2 pork tenderloins
grated zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of chili powder
4 medium potatoes
4 large carrots
1 bulb of fennel
1 sprig of rosemary
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Toss the vegetables with the garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil  and rosemary and place in a roasting tin.

Put this in a pre heated 400 oven for about 15 minutes.  While this is cooking prepare the pork tenderloin, by rolling it in the spices and lemon zest.

Pulled pork and asian style slaw to go

On Friday night we had a mission to deliver dinner to 3 boats full of weary sailers who had been battling against the wind all day.  Nearly everyone one of them had been sea sick at some point during this oddesey, and no one felt like preparing dinner.  We got the call early enough to be able to cook a pork roast long and slow, so that it was falling apart in the way that only pork butt roast can. we were delivering this dinner to Gibsons Landing Marina about an hours drive away at the southern tip of the Sunshine Coast.

When we arrived it was calm, hot and hard to believe the stories that we heard of the rolling seas, high winds and all the throwing up over the side.  Any way who are we to judge, and we did feel like  we were on a mission of mercy.

I made a rub to rub all over the pork roast as follows.

1 tablespoon of ground coriander

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 teaspoon of sweet paprika

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 tablespoon of salt.

I rubbed this all over the pork butt roast, then wrapped it in foil and placed on a barbecue with the lid down for about 3 hours.  I turned the heat down to low on one side and placed the roast on the other.  The barbecue was at about 300.  Obviously you could do this in an oven as well, but it was very hot and the oven was playing up.  

After 3 hours I unwrapped the pork and cooked it for a further 1/2 hour uncovered at about 400.

The pork was getting crusty on the outside and meltingly soft and falling apart in the centre. Just before we left to drive down to Gibsons, I wrapped the pork in foil and then in a large beach towel to keep warm.