Ok, so it is like the 'ol Perdue commercial ... there had to be an intervention. I had Roaster Phobia. The suggested therapy was to roast every weekend for a month. I took the last three weekends to try a little "creative" experiment. Each weekend I roasted using all the same spices but I switched up the meat. The first week, I roasted chicken, the next weekend I roasted beef and the last I roasted pork, this weekend I am back to chicken.
I don't know what took me so long to do this because it is SO easy and takes very little work.Simply trow it together and watch football or a movie while the oven does the work.
The Seasonings:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
season all
olive oil spray
Veggies:
Onion
Carrots
Celery
Here is what I did. I sprayed the roaster and added two cups of water to the pan. I placed the meat of the week in the roaster and threw in quartered onions, carrots and celery. Then I took the seasonings and sprinkled them generously over the meat. I covered and roasted at 350 degrees for several hours (chicken 3 hours, beef 6 hours, pork 4 hours).
When done, the meat fell off of any bones and the fat melted away. I discarded the veggies, reserved the stock from the chicken and beef and froze it to cook with later (great for soups).
With the chicken, we shredded it, and we took fancy bread and made gourmet paninis with our choice of onions, tomatoes, cheese and spicy mustard/mayo.
With the beef, we shredded it and spread it on half of a 12 inch tortilla, covered with shredded cheddar cheese, sprinkled with paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and season all then folded it in half (to form a half circle) Then we grilled it in our panini maker, cut it with a pizza cutter into strips or triangles and served with salsa and sour cream or cream cheese with a package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mixed in. YUM!
The pork was pulled and shredded as well and served with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, green beans with tomatoes and Paula Deens Harvest Crunch Apple Pie.
This weekend, I am back to the chicken, roasting it the same as above but this time it was shredded and added to gravy (made from the chicken stock in the roaster) and served over waffles. I also made fried apples. Easy enough to do with butter, cinnamon, sugar and a touch of nutmeg in a cast iron skillet. Top those apples with a dollop of cool whip or a scoop of ice cream.
What always held me back from roasting is that I always felt like roasting HAD to be accompanied by mashed potatoes or roasted veggies and although that is good, it gets real old, real quick. These ideas is a creative approach to use roasted meat in a variety of ways and take the mundane out of the mix. All these ideas are sure to make your families mouths water and comming back for more as well as cure Roaster Phobia!!
