Cook Book 8, Rôtis Roasts for every day of the week by Stéphane Reynaud.
Rôtis by Stéphane Reynaud
Stéphane Reynaud came into my life via Saturday Kitchen. I can’t remember what he cooked but it made me go out and buy his cookbook Pork & Sons, and I have bought several of his cookbooks since then. The one I am featuring in this blog post is Rôtis Roasts for every day of the week.
I love a good roast as basically it’s what I call no faff cooking. Season up the meat, pop it in the oven and basically it cooks itself into a beautiful meal. I am always looking for new ideas when it comes to roasts and this book beautifully fills the bill.
The book’s chapters include, Beef, Veal, Poultry, Pork, Fish, Lamb, Game, Side Dishes and also a chapter on what to do with any leftovers. Each recipe is accompanied by a photograph.
What I love about this book is that it is clearly stated how much preperation and cooking time is needed for each recipe; so that you can easily find recipes that work with your cooking time budget. Want a fast roast? Try the Roast Beef with Olives which requires 15 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking time or the Roast Lamb Loin with Pesto which requires 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking. I also appreciate that Reynaud gives ideas and serving suggestions for a simple roasts. For example, he gives recipes for 4 sauces to go with beef, ideas for stuffing or seasoning a plain roasted chicken, 4 different ways to cook a veal shank in addition to the traditional Osso Buco.
Chicken stuffed with sautéed shallots, fresh tomatoes, mustard and tarragon.
I opted to be inspired by his 4 ideas for stuffing a chicken. One of his stuffing ideas is to stuff a chicken with Boursin cheese. I have done this on many occasions; melted Boursin mixed with roast chicken pan juices makes a delightfully sinful gravy. This time, I sautéed shallots and fresh tomatoes and then added some mustard and tarragon. After cooling the mixture I stuffed the chicken with it. I had some homemade mixed herb “pesto” in the fridge and used some of this to rub on the chicken breast under the skin. The tomato mixture kept the chicken moist and when added to the pan juices, made a delectably rich gravy.
I find all of Stéphane Reynaud’s cookbooks charming, playful with well written recipes that are easy to follow. If you love a good roast and want to add to your repertoire, this is a great cookbook to have.
You can find this book at good local book stores and on Amazon by clicking the image,
*If you want to know more about Carol’s adventure with food or even join her on one then check out Food Adventure Ltd.
