Come and meet Australia’s leading Organic Food Cook

Anni Brownjohn  founded of The Right Food Group in 1999 with a dream to bring to the world her passion for clean, healthy, low allergy food. It has now grown to be Australia's leading developer and manufacture of organic condiments and sauces.  OZGANICS brand is available nationally and internationally.

She will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 27^th November to the 5^th December 2012  and will be giving demonstrations at Jaya Grocer, Empire Shopping Gallery from the 27^th of November to the 5^th of December,  2012. Food lovers should not miss this chance to meet her in person and learn more about the organic movement.  You will not only get to enjoy a three course lunch cooked with pure organic ingredients but will also recive RM100 worth of OZGANICS products for your holiday cooking.  I can’t wait to attend her demos and learn some healthy and wonderful holiday dishes from her. 

Since the holiday is near I will like to share with you a Thanksgiving recipe. For those who are not a big fan of turkey, you might consider making roast chicken instead.

QPC Roast Chicken

Picture taken by my iPhone 4S because 

we can't wait to taste it. LOL!

Ingredient:

1 chicken aprrox. 1.5 kg

1 bulb garlic minced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

olive oil, enough to oil the whole chicken

Mix all the following to prepare the rub.

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon

1 tsp chopped thyme,

1 tsp chopped rosemary

1 tsp sage

Method:

Preheat oven at 200 degree C or 400 degrees F.  Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Rub minced garlic and finely chopped underneath the skin. Next rub the mixture of spices underneath skin and on the skin. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil, rubbing it all over the chicken.Prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife and pop into the microwave for about 30 secs to bring out its flavor. Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity and truss the chicken. Place the chicken  in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until internal temperature of thickest part of the chicken is 74 degrees C or 165 degrees F. Baste the chicken halfway through cooking. When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes. Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside before carving the chicken. 

Serve the chicken either with your favorite gravy or roasted vegetables. That is entirely up to you.

I served it with butter garlic spinach and braised carrots, potatoes and swede. My Quay Lo suggested that I place the roast chicken breast on top of the swede so that the skin will stay crispy. Good point! 

Picture taken with my iPhone 4S

My mum recommends this for Thanksgiving

Back in the 60s, I don’t think there is such thing called Fusion food, is there? From what I read, Chinese food was introduced to America in the mid-19th century. Other Asian food like Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai cuisine were not known to most American diners, not until the 70s. It seemed this is when fusion cuisine emerged. Fusion cuisine are interesting because they are usually exotic and special in their taste just like this Roast chicken recipe that I am about to share with you. The Chinese goose liver sausage enhanced the flavor of the roast chicken as well as the flavor of the vegetables that were roasted together.  The taste of this roast chicken is unique and truly exotic. I get great reviews from all my guests. 


Mum and I used to chat in our kitchen a lot. Just yesterday, we were talking about what to make for this Thanksgiving and I told her I wanted to make fusion roast chicken again since I still have some Chinese goose liver sausage in the freezer but then this is such a rich and sinful dish. I asked my mum why most sinful dishes taste so awesome? Guess what my mum's answer to my question? She said, "If the food taste awesome, eat it. No need to stay away from sinful dishes. As long as we eat everything moderately and do regular exercises, we should be fine and I am a good example!"  Aiyoh, my mum so proud of herself...I "beh tahan" (cannot stand) LOL!  She recommends you to consider trying this recipe for this Thanksgiving too but she said, "Eat at your own risk!" I laughed my head off from her remarks. She is a piece of work! 

Roast Chicken with goose liver sausage, 
sweet potato and carrots

Ingredients:

1 x 1.5-2kg/3lb 5oz-4lb 6oz free-range chicken

2 medium carrot

1 medium purple sweet potato

1 tbs lemon pepper

small bunch of fresh thyme

1 tbs ground oregano

1 tbs duck fat

zest of a whole orange

3 pcs Chinese goose liver sausage

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Place chicken, potatoes, carrots and goose liver sausage a roasting pan. Rub olive oil, lemon pepper and ground oregon all over the chicken. Insert a sprig of thyme into the cavity of the chicken. Paint duck fat on potatoes, carrots and chicken. Tie chicken, refer to link how to do this. 



Cover the chicken loosely with foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and remove the goose live sausage and set aside. Return the chicken and roast for another 20-30 minutes and reduce the temperature to 160C-180C/320F-350F. It's fully cooked when the juices run clear when the bird is pierced in the thigh with a skewer. 

Turn off the oven and let the bird rest in the residual heat for at least ten minutes. Remove from the oven, then carve.

Make you favorite gravy with your pan juice. I made brown sauce with it.

Serve the carved chicken and roasted goose liver sausage, potatoes and carrots on a large platter and serve with gravy on the side and crusty bread.


Note: if you cannot find Chinese goose liver sausage, use other kind. I think it will still taste good.

Roast Chicken and roasted chestnut

Roast chicken stuffed with roasted chestnut

Ingredients:

1 medium sized whole chicken (about 2 lb)1.5 tbsp red chili powder (or substitute with cayenne pepper)

Salt to taste

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ ts fresh chopped thyme

1 ½ ts fresh chopped rosemary

1 ½ ts fresh chopped sage

For the stuffing:

20-30 roasted chestnut

1/2 cups shallots thinly sliced

1/2 medium white onion chopped

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tsp olive oil

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp red chili powder

salt to taste

          

For the gravy:

1/2 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 tsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp red chili powder

1/2 cup fresh chopped coriander

1 cup chicken stock

Method:

Clean and dry the chicken, remove as much skin as you can without breaking the chicken. Make a paste of the chili powder, salt and vinegar and apply liberally on the chicken inside and out. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 3 hours or more.

Place a large roasting pan or a large oven-proof pan on the stove, heat 1 tbsp oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep aside.

Add more oil to the pan if necessary, and add the whole peeled chestnuts. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the shallots, garlic and bay leaves to the pan and mix well. Add the chili powder and salt and saute for about three minutes. Add the white wine and thyme and cook till the wine is reduced down to a glaze. Remove from the heat.

Stuff the chicken with the chestnut mixture, and tie the legs with a kitchen twine to secure the stuffing.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F.

In the meantime, prepare the gravy. Add a little more oil to the pan, if needed, and add the diced onions and saute till onions are soft. Add the red chili powder and coriander powder and saute till the spices start to brown. Add the ginger paste and saute a bit more. Now add the diced tomatoes, mix well and cook till the tomato pieces are cooked. Add the hot water and salt and boil till the gravy is medium thick.

Place the stuffed chicken back into the pan, and pour some gravy over the chicken with a spoon, if it is too thick, rub some over the chicken with the back of the spoon.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes breast side down. Keep some hot water ready. Turn the chicken over, baste with the juices from the pan (if the juices have dried out, add some hot water to the pan.) and roast for an additional 40 minutes, basting the chicken every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let it cool a bit. Untie the chicken and scoop out the chestnut stuffing into a bowl. Cut the chicken into eight pieces and serve with the chestnuts

 and lemon wedges on the side.