CELEBRATE WEDNESDAY WITH PLUM-GLAZED DUCK BREASTS

Posted in Celebrate Wednesday, Poultry by sallybr

It wasn’t our wedding anniversary, nor his birthday, nor mine. Valentine’s Day won’t arrive for a couple of months. It was just a simple Wednesday, stuck in the middle of a frantic week with the usual extra-struggles after traveling for a while. But, I wanted a special dinner for us, just for the fun of it. Duck breast filets (maigret de canard sounds even better… ;-)) are very easy to prepare, although potentially intimidating if it’s your first time to cook them. A recent issue of Fine Cooking had a recipe with plum preserves to form a saucy glaze, perfect with the duck meat, that shines with a little sweetness and a little spice.

PLUM-GLAZED DUCK BREASTS
(from Fine Cooking magazine, October 2011)

2 boneless, skin-on duck breast halves
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup plum preserves
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Heat the oven to 425°F. Trim any excess skin and fat from the duck breast and, using a very sharp knife, score the skin and fat underneath in a 1-inch diamond pattern. Be careful not to cut all the way through the flesh, you want to just get the layer of fat underneath the skin to be exposed, so the fat renders more efficiently. Pat the duck dry and season with salt and pepper.

Heat an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Put the duck in the skillet skin side down, reduce the heat to medium low, and render the fat until only a thin, crisp layer of skin remains. It will take 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the preserves, soy sauce, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Remove the duck to a platter, pour most of the fat off the skillet, and return the filets to the pan, skin side up. Brush the preserves mixture over the breasts. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a breast registers 135°F for medium rare, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the duck to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Heat the remaining plum mixture briefly, slice the duck diagonally and spoon the pan juice over.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

You won’t need much else to round out this meal. White rice and carrots with an agave nectar glaze were wonderful for us, next to the rich and flavorful duck. But the best part of this meal was the smile on Phil’s face when I said we were having maigret de canard for dinner… Sweet memories of Paris make any evening a special event!

ONE YEAR AGO: Holiday Double-Decker

TWO YEARS AGO: Tried and Tasty!

8Dec2011

GRILLING RIBBONS

Posted in Veggies by sallybr

We use our outdoor grill pretty much the whole year, as even during the winter we’ll have nice breaks in the weather, with temps reaching the mid 60’s. Grilling brings a glimpse of summer into the kitchen, and that is a feeling any Brazilian-American always appreciate!

I found this recipe in a Food and Wine magazine, and the first thing that called my attention was the way it treated the squash: thinly cut as ribbons, then threaded into skewers. The photo in the magazine was quite gorgeous, evidently some practice is needed to cut the squash in the perfect thickness and grill them carefully enough to preserve a nice shape. Let’s say my technique needs to be improved before serving this dish to guests… But even if you don’t hit the jackpot with your technique, this is a fabulous side dish. Don’t omit the prosciutto, it is a key component.

GRILLED SQUASH RIBBONS AND PROSCIUTTO WITH MINT DRESSING
(adapted from Food and Wine magazine)

1 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil + more for brushing veggies
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium zucchini, very thinly sliced lengthwise
2 medium yellow squash, very thinly sliced lengthwise
6 ounces sliced prosciutto

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill, brushing or spraying the grids with a little olive oil. In a small bowl, combine the lime zest and juice with the mint, and the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.Alternately thread the zucchini, yellow squash and prosciutto onto 4 pairs of 12-inch bamboo or metal skewers (soak the bamboo skewers in water to prevent them from burning). Lightly spray the vegetables and prosciutto with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.Grill the skewers over high heat until the zucchini and yellow squash are lightly charred, maximum of 2 minutes per side. Serve the mint dressing on the side (it is great for salads too).

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I suppose the same recipe would work without going through the trouble of making the ribbons, but they do add a lot of charm to the dish. I wasn’t sure about grilling the prosciutto, as it is a bit dry to start with, but it turned out as a great match for the squash ribbons. Salty and chewy, it gave that extra bite to the veggies, just like croutons on a Caesar salad. We both loved everything about this recipe, a real winner!

Food & Wine suggests using these veggies + dressing as a “sauce” for pasta. Simply cook the pasta al dente, and slide the veggies off the skewers, mixing with the pasta while it’s still very hot. Add some of the dressing, adjust the consistency if needed with the pasta cooking water, and voila’: heaven on a plate!

ONE YEAR AGO: Peppery Cashew Crunch

TWO YEARS AGO: Ossobuco Milanese (a GREAT dish!)

5Dec2011

FOCACCIA WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES AND GORGONZOLA

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I used my basic “No Need to Knead” recipe as the starting point for this version, that includes a small amount of rye flour in the dough. Rye gives it a more “rustic” feel, and the sun dried tomatoes a hint of sweetness to balance the sharpness of the gorgonzola cheese. This colorful focaccia will be a great addition to your end of the year festivities, and it is so simple to prepare, you can pull it even in the middle of an intense cooking marathon.

FOCACCIA WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES AND GORGONZOLA
(inspired by Suzanne Dunaway’s “No Need to Knead”)

2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
3 + 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rye flour
3 tsp salt
1-2 Tbs olive oil
4 ounces sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
2 ounces gorgonzola cheese
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
kosher salt for topping

Measure the water in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, sprinkle yeast over the water and stir until dissolved. Add the two types of flour, and the 3 teaspoons of salt. Mix for a minute or so, until ingredients form a shaggy mass. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Using the kneading pad, knead the dough for about 8 minutes, until smooth. It should still cling to the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until almost doubled in volume (1 to 1.5 hours). Meanwhile, cut the sun dried tomatoes in small pieces, and crumble the gorgonzola cheese. Reserve.

Heat the oven to 500F. Oil one (or two) non-stick 13×18 inch baking sheets (I prefer to use a single one, to get a thicker focaccia).

Pour the dough onto the sheet, brush the surface with 1 Tbs olive oil. Dip your fingers in cold water or olive oil and make indentations all over the dough, working to stretch the dough as you go. Distribute the sun dried tomato and gorgonzola cheese all over, pushing them into the dough, using a little more olive oil, if necessary. Sprinkle rosemary leaves all over, a little salt (careful, gorgonzola is salty), and place it in the oven, reducing the temperature to 450F.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I went back into kneading-mode for this version, using the KitchenAid instead of stirring with the wooden spoon, and noticed that a longer time of fermentation was better, perhaps because of the rye flour, so leave it for a full hour and check if the dough is bubbly and noticeably risen. If not, leave it for another 15 to 30 minutes.

Some of the sun dried tomatoes might insist on falling off the bread, but guests don’t seem to mind chasing them… 😉

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting. Stop by to see what everyone else is bringing to the party!

ONE YEAR AGO: Revisiting Spring

TWO YEARS AGO: Basic Sourdough Bread

3Dec2011

DO YOU EAT YOUR BOOKS?

Posted in General by sallybr

If you don’t, perhaps you should start. My life got a lot easier ever since I joined “Eat Your Books.” Would that be good for you? Let’s go over a few simple questions.

1. Do you have more than 50 cookbooks?

2. Do you subscribe to food magazines such as Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Gourmet?

3. Do you download recipes from some of the very popular food blogs around?(Smitten Kitchen, Simply Recipes, many others available too)

4. Do you often remember a particular recipe, can even visualize the page in your mind, but are absolutely unable to remember where the heck is it?

5. Is this situation familiar to you? Your partner / roommate / parents / siblings know it’s better to leave you alone when you are sitting on a sofa with 12 cookbooks open around, and a very distressed look on your face. You need that recipe, and you will find it, at all costs. 😉

If you answered yes to at least 3 out of the 5 questions, you need to start eating your books. I am sure glad I do! Once you add all the cookbooks and magazines you own to your “bookshelf”, you can search recipes by ingredients, type of cuisine, author, anything you remember about it. Adding cookbooks is very easy using the database available in the website. It is just a matter of clicking on the cookbooks you own, and they end on your virtual bookshelf, ready to be searched. No, I do not own stock in the company, and was not contacted to write a review. I just find it a great tool for cookbook addicts, and maybe some of my readers will benefit from it. 😉

And this, my friends, is my first post composed in the iPad! It took me a ridiculously long time to do it, but I am having fun with My Preciousss…

ONE YEAR AGO: Into the Light

TWO YEARS AGO: Dinner in a hurry

1Dec2011

MY PRECIOUSSS

Posted in General by sallybr

My beloved husband gave me an early Christmas gift, the iPad2! I am in love with it, although we are still in that phase of getting to know each other. I’ve been quite busy figuring it out, particularly the possibility of composing posts for the blog using this baby.

I am having problems leaving comments in some blogs I visit using the iPad and cannot quite understand why, but once we arrive home tomorrow, I’ll have more time to indulge in “My Preciousss.” If any of my readers blogs using the iPad2, please drop me a line by email (sallybr2008 at gmail.com), as I’d love to get some feedback.

The Bewitching Kitchen will soon re-open for blogging business! 😉