Culinary Class: Roast Chicken with Roasted Root Vegetables, and Funnel Cake

We are continuing our survey of dry cooking methods. For this class, we were exploring roasting. We made a marinade, halved some chickens, and cut up some vegetables. Probably our easiest prep yet.

The marinade was made up for us, so it had time for the flavors to blend. It had oil and vinegar, and was flavored with a variety of herbs, spices, and prepared mustard.

We cut up an onion, some celery, a sweet potato, carrots, and a beet. We tossed them with the marinade, and roasted them
in the oven. They were quite good.

We cut some chickens in half, and tossed them with the same marinade. We roasted them until the skin was crispy, and the meat juicy and tender.

It was good, though it could really have used some sauce or gravy. Wish we'd made a pan sauce from the drippings. Seemed a waste.

To keep busy while everything was roasting, we made funnel cakes. That was fun, I've never done that before. We did not get to make the batter ourselves, it needed to sit for a bit. The batter was placed in squeeze bottles, for easy of piping.

We pan fried them in a skillet half full of oil. One touch I liked, we used heart shaped cookie cutters to contain and shape the funnel cakes. We piped the batter into the outline of the cutter, then removed the cutter as the funnel cake set. Once browned on the bottom, we flipped them over to finish.

We had the option of sprinkling the funnel cake with powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or cinnamon sugar with cayenne. I chose the last. I liked the kick it gave the funnel cake.

It came out very light and tender, but crisp on the outside.

As always, all recipes courtesy chef Joe Orate.

Recipes

Chef Joe's Spiced Oil for Roasting

2 cups salad oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 Tbsp. granulated garlic
1 Tbsp. prepared yellow mustard
1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 Tbsp. paprika
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
1/2 Tbsp. salt

Blend together all ingredients.

Chef Joe's Funnel Cake

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

oil for frying
powdered sugar for garnish

Mix together all ingredients, place in a squeeze bottle.

Place 1/2 to 3/4 inch oil in a heavy skillet.  Heat oil to between 350 F and 375 F. Place a metal ring in pan. Pipe batter into ring. When dough is set, remove ring. When brown , flip and allow to cook on the other side. When brown on both sides, remove from oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Happy eating!