Sunday 13 July 2008

Cooking with Rosemary again

During my recent trip to the San Francisco bay area, I brought home a bunch of home grown fresh rosemary. I was just trying my luck to see whether they would survive the long journey back. I wrapped them with kitchen paper towel before sealing them in a ziplock bag. I was glad that they made it...they even managed to stay fresh for more than 3 weeks. I planted a few sprigs into a pot of soil, I just hope they will root someday.


This first thing I made with the rosemary was a loaf of Wholemeal Rosemary Focaccia. I used the same focaccia recipe that I made previously. The only change I made was to replace half of the bread flour with wholemeal flour. This flat bread turned out to be very tasty especially with the enhanced texture from the wholemeal flour.


The next dish I tried was pan-fried Lemon & Rosemary Fillets. I seasoned the catfish fillets with some lemon juice, finely chopped garlic and rosemary, some salt and freshly grounded lemon pepper. It was my first attempt at pan-frying a fish fillet. I was real lucky that day, as the fillets didn't break into thousand pieces since I didn't use a non-stick pan, and on top of that I just couldn't kick the bad habit of turning a pan-fried fish several times while it is in the wok ;)


Another of my first attempt with the rosemary...roasting a whole chicken. It was the first time I have ever bought a whole chicken, and that is after 2 years of cooking at home. I find it such a gruesome task having to clean the cavity of the chicken!



I followed some of the steps as written in Jamie Oliver's Roast chicken and potatoes recipe, however I didn't use exactly the same ingredients to marinate the chicken. Instead I rubbed the whole chicken with a combination of finely chopped rosemary, salt, ground pepper, lemon zest and some mixed herbs. I thoroughly enjoyed the rich aroma from the chicken while it was roasting away...the lovely fragrance of the rosemary and lemon combo was simply awesome. The chicken meat was very flavourful and juicy, even the chicken breast was passable, not too dry as I would expect.

The next thing I will love to try my hands on would be a rosemary potato pizza!

19 comments:

Charmaine said...

I like the rosemary foccacia. Can I ask you how do you add the text on your photo (eg the label on your roast chicken)? Do you have special photo editing software?
Thanks for your advice.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Charming, I don't have any photo editing software. I used the photo editing tool in the flickr to add in the text.

Passionate About Baking said...

Wow HHB! Your food looks so delicious and tempting! I love the foccacia! I always love that! But I've never tried baking it, thought it's tougher than baking a normal bread. :p

Yuri said...

Hi hhb, i've been so busy haven't been baking and only managed to cook laksa fried rice last night. but forgot to take a photo of it :( as usual, your photos and food are well done and captivating *thumbs up*

Small Small Baker said...

The rosemary roast chicken looks so delicious! Very tempting to a chicken lover like me. Can I have a piece? :D

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm a new reader of your blog and have been clicking on your posts and recipes, hoping to be able to try them some day soon. Thanks for sharing. And that rosemary chicken looks absolutely delish!

ganache-ganache said...

Wow, your pics are all so well taken so pretty & tempting ! When I roast chicken, I'll brine the chicken overnight, that is to immerse the whole chicken in a large pot in salt water, for about 12 hrs then drain the chicken & pat dry. This way the chicken especially the breast is so succulent & tender, try it..........

amna said...

i love the way that bread looks

whoisneha said...

hi hhb! was missing your regular posts:) good to see your rosemary-spiced dishes..as usual the pics are soo well taken, that even after a heavy brunch..i am feeling quite hungry:P

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Rosemary I adore on just about anything! Though I must admit, that focaccia is really calling my name. I make a pizza in the fall with fresh figs, blue cheese, and rosemary you might like too.

Sally said...

谢谢你的分享,没吃过rosemary不知味道可以接受吗?还有哪里可以买到呢?想试试烤鸡,因为看照片烤得太好吃了。。。谢谢

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Passionate About Baking, you should give foccacia...it's not as difficult.

Thanks Yuri!

Hi SSB, sure you can :)

Shyanyan, thanks for visiting!

Thanks Ganache-ganache for your tip. I shall try this method next time.

Hi Nags, whoisneha, thanks for your comments!

Susan, I am sure I will like your pizza!

Sally, rosemary really enhance the taste of the dishes...the taste is acceptable, I'm sure you will like it. You can get it at cold storage.

Sally said...

hi hhb

谢谢你的回复,有空会试试,再让你知道。。

Sally said...

paiseh 又在麻烦你一次了Jamie Oliver's食谱我看到蒙查查,你可以给我你的食谱吗?谢谢

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sally, I am sorry I do not have a proper recipe for the roast chicken. Do let me know which step you are not sure, I hope I would be able to help explain it.

Sally said...

hi hhb

请问你放的mixed herbs是不是所谓的五香粉呢?谢谢

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sally, no mixed herbs are different from 五香粉. You can check out either NTUC or Cold storage outlets...look for spice bottles labeled as "Mixed Herbs" from either this brand McCormik of MastersFoods. Do not get mixed up with "Mixed Spices", which is totally different thing. Hope this helps :)

Sally said...

hi hhb

了解了,我曾经在ntuc有看过这种牌子,谢谢你的回复:)

Kate said...

hello HHB,
我收到了。谢谢你mail 来的roast chicken recipe,感谢你的用心解说了roast chicken 的烘法,感谢感谢。