Sunday Roasts
A Year’s Worth of Mouthwatering Roasts
by Betty Rosbottom
Chronicle Books
September 2011
$24.95/Paperback
Color Photographs
ISBN-13: 978-0811879682

Contact: David Hawk
415.537.4276
David_Hawk@chroniclebooks.com

In her book Sunday Soup, veteran cookbook author Betty Rosbottom put forth a year’s worth of soups to leisurely prepare on your laziest day of the week. Sunday Roasts is a return to that formula, with more than 75 inspiring recipes including old-fashioned pot roasts, perfectly roasted turkey, racks of lamb, oven-roasted salmon, and much more. In addition, there is a whole chapter on side dishes. Sunday Roasts provides a strategy for enjoying good food and good living.

Betty’s earthy sensibility celebrates fresh ingredients – vegetables, butter, herbs – and the primal irresistibility of roasted meats. With 50 recipes for roasts ranging from beef to fish, there’s a main course for almost every week of the year, with more than 25 recipes for sides and sauces to round out the meal.

It doesn’t get simpler or more satisfying than Bistro Roast Chicken with Garlic, Onions, and Herbs or Lamb Shanks with Dates and Olives. Add a simple starch or a green salad to make either dish a feast! When your Sunday calls for something elegant and sumptuous, Standing Rib Roast with Porcini Mushroom Sauce or Scallop Gratins with Lemon-Garlic Bread Crumbs will fit the bill. Butternut Squash with Walnut-Goat Cheese Crumble or Honey-Glazed Carrots and Parsnips slide into the oven during the last leg of cooking. A Four-Hour Roasted Pork Shoulder for Pulled Pork Sandwiches is great for a picnic and for leftovers that you’ll happily consume over the course of the week. Any of Betty Rosbottom’s luscious roasts would be perfect for holiday menus, from winter feasts to summer picnics.

With a collection of recipes for roasts for every season, kitchen, and budget, Sunday Roasts is a timeless cookbook that will be well-loved in any kitchen.

About the Author

Betty Rosbottom has been a cooking teacher, syndicated columnist, PBS host, and cookbook author for two decades. She is the author of Sunday Soup, The Big Book of Backyard Cooking, and Coffee (all published by Chronicle Books). She lives part-time in Amherst, MA, and Paris, France.

Susie Cushner is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her client base ranges from editorial to advertising, and her work has appeared in more than 20 books. She also teaches at the International Center of Photography and travels extensively.

Sample Recipes

Turkey Breast with Cremini, Porcini, and Pancetta Stuffing

When you want to serve turkey elegantly and on a small scale, try this spectacular boned and stuffed breast. Although it will require more than an hour of your time to assemble the stuffing and to prepare the breast, both of these tasks can be done a day ahead. The breast roasts to a beautiful golden brown in about 45 minutes, far less time than a big bird would need. When carved, the slices are striking, with the dark, rich mushroom stuffing set against the luminous white turkey meat.

Serves 4 to 6

Cost: Moderate
Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes, including 10 minutes to butterfly the breast if necessary
Start-to-Finish Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Materials: Kitchen twine
Short metal skewers, or wooden skewers that have been soaked in water for 30 min­utes (see market note, page 108)

Stuffing
3/4 ounce/20 grams dried porcini mushrooms
4 ounces/115 grams sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 ounces/170 grams brown mushrooms, such as cremini, chopped
1/2 cup/65 grams finely chopped onion
1/4 cup/8 grams finely minced flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups/110 grams fresh bread crumbs

Turkey
1 boneless turkey breast half, about 2-3/4 lb/1.25 kilograms, with skin left on, butterflied
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups/480 milliliters reduced-sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed
4 tablespoons/55 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup/60 milliliter dry white wine
Several long sprigs parsley and rosemary for garnish

FOR THE STUFFING:
1. Put the porcini in a medium bowl and cover with 1 cup boiling water. Let stand until softened, for about 20 minutes. Over a medium bowl, strain the mushrooms with a fine strainer, pressing down to release as much liquid as possible. Chop the mushrooms; reserve the mushrooms and the strained liquid separately.

2. Place a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the pancetta and sauté, stirring, until crisp, for 6 to 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels/absorbent paper to drain. Add the oil to the drippings in the pan and, when hot, add the brown mushrooms and onion. Sauté, stirring, until the mushrooms start to brown and no liquid remains, for 6 minutes or more. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pancetta, chopped porcini, parsley, rosemary, fennel seeds, ¾ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, and bread crumbs. Mix well and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Stir in 3 tbsp of the reserved porcini mushroom liquid or just enough to moisten but not soak the bread crumbs. Cool to room temperature.

FOR THE TURKEY:
1. Cover the butterflied breast with a sheet of plastic wrap/cling film and, using a meat pounder or rolling pin, pound the meat into a ½-in/12-mm-thick rectangle (about 14 by 10 in/35.5 by 25 cm). Remove the plastic wrap/cling film and season the breast with salt and pepper.

2. Pat the stuffing evenly over the turkey breast, leaving a 1-in/2.5-cm border on all sides. Sprinkle with additional porcini mushroom liquid if dry. Starting at a long end, roll into a cylinder and tie at 1-in/2.5-cm intervals. Close the ends of the roast with skewers. (The turkey can be prepared 4 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

3. Arrange a rack at center position and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/gas 5.

4. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof roasting pan/tray set over 1 or 2 burners on medium heat. When hot, add the breast and brown on all sides, for 6 to 8 minutes.

5. Pour 1/3 cup/75 ml chicken broth over the roast in the pan and brush with 1 tbsp butter. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Roast for 30 minutes, basting the roast 2 more times with 1/3 cup/75 ml broth and with 1 tbsp butter. (Be careful to use mitts so that you do not burn yourself when you remove the foil to baste the bird.) Remove the foil and continue to roast until the turkey is evenly browned and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F/77°C when inserted into center of the roast, basting occasionally with broth and butter, for about 15 minutes longer. Total roast­ing time will be about 45 minutes. Transfer the turkey to a carving board and tent with foil. Let rest for 15 minutes while you make the sauce.

6. Pour the pan juices into a glass measuring cup. Add addi­tional broth if needed to measure 1¼ cups/300 ml liquid. In a small bowl, blend 2 tbsp of butter with flour to form a paste.

7. Place the roasting pan over medium-high heat and add 1¼ cups/300 ml pan juices, any remaining porcini mush­room liquid, any extra butter, and the wine. Cook for 5 minutes, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan with a whisk. A little at a time, whisk in the butter-flour mixture. Continue to whisk until the sauce thickens slightly, for about 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

8. To serve, remove the strings and skewers. Cut the breast into ½-in-/12-mm-thick slices and arrange them overlap­ping on a platter. Garnish with bouquets of parsley and rosemary sprigs. Pass the sauce separately.

SIDES: Best-Ever Mashed Potatoes (page 138), Honey-Glazed Carrots and Parsnips (page 145), and Cranberry and Dried Cherry Chutney (page 165) would make delicious sides.

LEFTOVER TIP: Extra sliced turkey is delectable reheated and napped with leftover sauce, and the slices are equally good served at room temperature (without sauce) accompanied by a green salad tossed in a balsamic dressing.

MARKET NOTE: You can use metal turkey-lacing pins (available at super-markets) in place of skewers to secure the ends of the roast.

COOKING TIP: For this recipe, a boneless turkey breast half is double butter-flied: The breast is split lengthwise down the center and opened, then each side is slit, this time horizontally, and opened. This will give you a nice rectangular piece. If you are on good terms with your butcher, smile and ask him or her to do this for you. If not, just follow the directions below.

Place the breast on a work surface, skin-side down, with the pointed, nar­row end toward you. (If there is a tender on the underside of the breast, remove and save it for another use.) With a sharp knife, starting at the upper, thicker end of the breast, cut a lengthwise slit down the center of the breast, being careful not to cut all the way through and stopping 1 in/2.5 cm from the pointed narrow end. With the knife held horizontal to the work surface, slice about one-half to two-thirds of the way through the center of each side of the breast and open each side up like a book.

Brussel Sprouts, Bacon, and Apples