Roasted Patty Pan Squash

Roasted Patty Pan Squash
patty pan squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
oil
salt
pepper

This hardly qualifies as a recipe and hardly needs an explanation but here it is.
Toss the squash in oil, salt, and pepper, arrange on a baking sheet and roast in a hot oven until tender.

Pattypan squash are a type of summer squash, kind of similar to a yellow zucchini but looks more like those little gourds you get around Halloween/Thanksgiving time. They are small, round, and yellow with scalloped edges and sometimes called "spaceships" or "flying saucers".

Roast Pork Loin

For my roasted pork loin, I began with two pretty big pork loins. I'm talking like, industry standard sheet pan length. Times two. I made a quick spice rub with garlic powder, cracked black pepper, paprika, ground oregano, summer savory, and fresh finely chopped rosemary and thyme. I rubbed this all over the meat side of the loin, then flipped it over so the fatty side was on top. I roasted this quickly at a high temperature. Although low and slow is typically better, the high heat here helps to melt and render down some of the fat, which then bastes the meat. At 450◦F, the roasts took less than two hours to reach 140◦F. I then let them rest for nearly an hour before slicing them. 
I served them with their own juices along with a sweet-sour brown sugar and apple cider vinegar gastrique sauce. 

Roast Pork Loin Dinner

• Spiced roasted pork loin
• Sour cream and grainy mustard mashed potatoes
• Honey glazed carrots
• Caramelized apples and red onion
• Roasted patty pan squash
• Brown sugar apple cider gastrique

Rosemary, Thyme, Garlic, Black Pepper Prime Rib

• One prime rib roast (this one was 6 bones, and about 3.5kg)
• fresh thyme leaves
• fresh rosemary sprigs
• garlic cloves
• black peppercorns
• 2 white onions
• 3 carrots
• 1 bunch celery

1. Clean up the roast as necessary and pat dry
2. Put the thyme, rosemary, and pepper in a spice grinder and blitz until finely chopped Do not blitz too long as the fresh herbs contain moisture and will form a paste. You want more of a dry rub.
3. Mince the garlic by hand or machine and mix together with the above herb and spice mixture. This will make the rub a little wet, but it should be easy to spread on the meat.
4. Place the roast in a roasting pan or large pot (I used a rondeau). Position it so that is is resting on the bones with the fat cap up. This will serve as a natural roasting rack and the fat will baste the meat during cooking.
5. Apply the herb mixture to the meat, spreading it in an even layer all over and ensuring it sticks.
6. Roughly chop the vegetables and add to the pan around the meat.
7. I then covered this with plastic wrap and allowed it to be seasoned overnight.
8. The next day, I cooked the roast at 425◦F for about 3 hours until the internal temperature was 120◦F.
9. You can lower the oven temperature to 325◦F-350◦F after 15 minutes or so, just to get the initial browning or cook the roast at a lower temperature for longer to avoid shrinkage.
10. Allow the roast to rest, covered with foil, for an hour or so before carving.

Sunday Roast

At the restaurant where I work, Sundays are always special. We have a live Irish music session, as well as a big, special Sunday roast dish which is unique each week. Last Sunday was my first time doing the roast, and I was super excited. This is what I came up with:

• Irish style prime rib roast (flavored with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and black pepper)
• Brown butter champ mashed potatoes (green onion, garlic, brown butter, cream, black pepper, salt)
• Yorkshire pudding
• Red Wine Jus
• Braised baby onion and shitake mushrooms
• Roasted colored cherry tomatoes
• Creamed spinach