Roasted Heirloom Carrots

My great friend and college roommate was in town this past weekend.  We went to the farmers market at the Ferry Building on Saturday.  We picked up some amazingly fresh veggies, including baby heirloom carrots.  They were amazing, I couldn't believe we scored these.  They are almost too cute to eat, almost.

We made Chili con Carne, an arugula salad, cornbread, and roasted carrots.  I think the carrots were my favorite part of the meal.

Roasted Heirloom Carrots:

1-2 bunches of baby carrots, stems trimmed but left on
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Wash and dry the carrots and place in an oven proof dish.  Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and bake in the oven for 20ish minutes (depending on the size of your carrots, mine were little).

Thanksgiving!!

I couldn't be more excited for Thanksgiving   It's not only my favorite holiday, it's a meal I wish would be replicated more than once a year, sans calories of course.  Every year my mom and I cook the same meal and I can't get enough of it!  She will take care of all the baking, two kinds of pies.  I'll usually take care of the turkey, stuffing and side dishes to make it less work for her.

Sorry about the picture quality, only had my phone with me.

This past weekend we did a Friends Only Thanksgiving and had a great time.  Everyone brings a dish and we all have this pot luck style Thanksgiving dinner with lots of wine, football and no stress that La Familia sometimes bring.  I was responsible for the Turkey, a 23 pounder I aptly named Tessa.  I rubbed the inside and outside of her with Sage, Lemon, Salt and Pepper while also basting every 20 minutes.  She took about 3 hours but she was very tasty and juicy.

This Thanksgiving I will be celebrating with just my Parents.  The Boy is going home to the east coast for a few days and will be missed but we will have plenty of leftovers when he comes back.

I'll post some recipes later this week, especially my favorite - Stuffing and Sweet Potatoes.

Christmas Roast

Christmas this year was a little out of the ordinary, we had the boy, his roommate, my college roommate and her mother all over for Christmas Dinner.  Every Christmas we either do a Duck or a Standing Rib Roast.  This Christmas because we had so many people a Roast was not only requested but required.  This year I decided to do something different and add a breadcrumb crust.  It came out juicy on the inside, and crisp on the outside, most of all, everyone loved it.

Photo courtesy of the boy's roommate...

Standing Rib Roast:


1 4-5 pound rib in roast
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
1 tbsp. salt and pepper
1 tsp. sugar
few pinches of red pepper flakes
1/2 - 1 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. freshly chopped thyme
1 tbsp. freshly chopped rosemary
1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil


Take out the roast 1 hour before cooking, pat dry with paper towels, and let come up to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 425F.
 Combine the breadcrumbs and all the herbs and spices together.  Add the olive oil in till the breadcrumbs will "paste" together or so.  Once combined thoroughly, press all over the roast firmly so it sticks to the meat.

Place on a rack in a roasting pan, fat side down, and put in the oven.  Roast for 45 minutes, turn the pan around, and check temperature of the meat.  Continue to roast the meat till it is medium rare (about 1.5 hours), you should take out the meat at 140 F.  Let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes (it will still stay warm) and slice thinly after resting, then serve.

Sweet Potato Fries

Another side dish to the asparagus that I made were Sweet Potato Fries. Technically they're Yam Fries because we used yams instead of sweet potatoes but that's just a technicality. You cut up the potato into thin fry like strips, coat with olive oil and some seasoning and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. They're super delicious and extremely good for you.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 large sweet potatoes, cleaned and cut into thin match like strips
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder (you can use regular or ancho depending on your preference)
1/2 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. On a lined baking sheet (I used foil) coat the taters in the olive oil and the seasoning, use you hands, get down and dirty and mix it all up. Bake for about 20-30 minutes till the potato is cooked and they're a bit crispy. Keep and eye on them and don't let them get too mushy, you may need to add some olive oil in the middle of the cooking process.

Sunday Night Dinner, Kinda

Roast Chicken, need I say more? I have been craving one of these for a very long time and finally took the time out of my busy day to go for it. I had the boy over, it was delicious, the entire apartment smelt like chicken for a day or so but it was glorious! I am a huge fan of the crispy skin afterwards and the meat turned out to be sooo moist! I even made a chicken salad afterwards. I usually make this dish on a Sunday Night, it takes a bit of time and to me feels like a great way to start off the week. However, nothing ever goes as planned so we did a Monday Night Dinner.

*Make sure to take out the chicken and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour. Placing a cold chicken in the oven results in uneven cooking.









Roasted Chicken


1 whole chicken, 5-6 pounds
1/2 lemon, cut up into wedges
1/2 small onion, cut up into wedges
2 garlic cloves, smashed
6 springs of rosemary
2 springs of thyme
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp each of salt and pepper + more for seasoning inside the bird
pinch of red pepper flakes
Kitchen Twine



Preheat oven to 400 F. In a bowl combine the olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in a bowl and set aside. Separate the skin from the meat with you fingers and go as far down the bird as you can. Take the olive oil mixture and rub the meat under the skin with it. You can also substitute butter pad for this as well. Stick a sprig each of rosemary between the skin and the meat (where you just massaged) and stick it as far down as you can. Season the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper and then stuff the cavity of the chicken with the onion, lemon, garlic, thyme and rosemary. You want the cavity to have some aromatics in it but not completely stuffed full.


Tuck the wings of the bird underneath it's body and use some kitchen twine to tie the legs together. Place on a lined baking dish and stick in the oven for about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the bird. Cook till the bird is about 160 - 165 F and the juices run clear when poked. Once at that temperature, pull out the chicken and tent with tin foil and the bird will continue to cook for a few more minutes out of the oven.

Let rest for about 15 minutes, carve her up and serve. You can also season the skin with a little salt at then end if you like. If you don't end up using all the chicken, save it and make Chicken Salad with it later in the week.