Roasted Chicken with Lemon Grass

Back in the day, whenever my late aunt would come and visit, she would pass by and buy a whole roasted chicken from the local rotisserie a block away from our home. This would come with their own special gravy sauce and a small container of atchara (pickled papaya). I thought why not relive it by turbo broiling a whole fryer. It didn't taste like the one my aunt bought. It tasted like the competitor's recipe hahaha.

Ingredients:

1 whole fryer (about 1.2 kilo grams or more)
3 stalks of lemon grass, washed, tied into a knot
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon or calamansi juice
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsps. flour

Clean chicken really well. Dry cavity and skin with paper towels. Rub the black pepper in and outside the fryer then stuff with the lemon grass (stalks and leaves). Combine soy sauce and lemon juice then pour over the chicken. Massage the chicken in its marinade for 5 minutes. Store in the refrigrator for atleast 4 hours, covered. For best results, marinate the chicken overnight.

Preheat the turbo broiler to 350F and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 250 - 300F and continue cooking for another 30 minuted or until the juices are clear. Transfer chicken to serving dish. In a sauce pan, melt butter and add in flour to make a roux. Add in drippings and stir until sauce thickens to the desired consistency. Serve on or on the side of the chicken.

Broiled Pork Belly

Mom loves lechon kawali and we would prepare this on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, or days when she wants to just treat herself. Unfortunately, as the years go by, she can't indulge on too much pork pleasures for health reasons. As we would remind her, preventive measures are better than just letting our indulges get in the way :). So this made me want to try the broiling approach over deep frying. So far, with my first attempt the skin came out cripy, the meat tender and moist. Taste wise, everyone liked it except for mom. She really doesn't care for spices like five spice power, which I used for this recipe. They think the marinade would be good on chicken too. Maybe will try this and let you know.

Ingredients:
1 kilo pork belly (with skin on, bones removed and with a thin layer of fat)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2-3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 tsp. light soy sauce
a pinch of black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. five spice powder
2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard

Dry the pork well and pierce the skin mulitple times until the whole skin is full of holes or score the skin to be able to make sure the pork dries faster and it would easily crisp. Puncture parts of the meat to allow the marinade to get through the meat. Rub 1 tsp. salt on the skin of the pork.
Mix the rest of the ingredients well and rub on the flesh side of the pork. Avoid rubbing on the sides of the pork to avoid from burning. Air dry the pork for 8 hours or until overnight.
Preset the broiler to 200C and set the pork with skin side up. Line the broiler with a pan with water to catch the drippings and for easy cleaning afterwards. The skin will start to brown and "bubble". Broil for 10 minutes. Adjust the temperature to 190C and continue to broil for 1 hour. Let the meat rest for 10 - 15 minutes and slice into 1x1 1/2 inch. Serve this with hot rice.

The next time I will try broiling pork belly, I will try to remove the marinade and season the pork with just salt and pepper. My mom would perfer this one in my opinion.