Christmas Roasted Duck

 Keith and I were doing our last visit to Costco before Christmas and saw that they had whole duck for $3.99 per lb. We didn't have a plan yet for Christmas dinner, so we decided...duck...why not?

It seemed like a good idea at the time, and then we got home and I started looking into how to cook this sucker. I started with Julia Child's "Duck L'Orange," followed quickly by someone trying to do her recipe and failing miserably. Not encouraging. I then checked out Alton Brown, he disassembled his duck before cooking, very practical, but I wanted the whole impressive bird for presentation. I moved on to Jamie Oliver, who always makes everything look incredibly easy, and true to form, he whipped up a Christmas duck without breaking a sweat. There was quite a variance in techniques and attitudes toward the process. I decided to take the things I found helpful from all of them and combine them into my own attempt. I was pleased with the end result. I have decided that duck is not an ingredient I need to be afraid of trying and Aaron has declared it the most tasty bird he has ever eaten. Which from my #3 who this week has decided that he doesn't eat lentils anymore, is very high praise. Duck goes really well with potatoes and some greens. Joe brought his best potato game, which is his official job at Via Cannuccia. They were amazing. Maybe he will let me post the recipe later. This recipe also creates a lovely pan sauce that I am really fond of. Don't forget to put your duck carcas into a pot with some water after you carve it. The carcas makes some lovely broth that we have already used for soup this week.

Christmas Roasted Duck:

Ingredients:

4-5lb whole duck (with gibletts)

1 cup orange juice

1 cup pineapple juice

15 peppercorns

1/2 cup salt

4 medium purple onions

1 tablespoon ground cloves

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

sprig of rosemary 

1 cup water

2 cups grapes

1 cup dried figs

1 cup red wine

Directions:

1. Brine the duck: in a large ziploc bag combine orange juice, pineapple juice, peppercorns and salt. Close the bag and swish the ingredients around to dissolve the salt. Remove the duck from its packaging, give it a rinse and remove the neck and giblets (set aside for later). Trim any excess fat from the end of the duck and pull any excess fat from the cavity. (Julia's duck video is excellent for more on this) Put the duck in the ziploc bag with the brine. Press to remove as much air as possible from the bag and put it in the refrigerator. Allow the duck to sit in the brine for at least 6 hours and up to three days. 

2. Prepare the roast: Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. (I know this sounds bonkers, hang in there with me) Get out a roasting pan that will fit your duck but will also provide some room around the duck to add the grapes and figs later on. Quarter your onions and lay them flat side down in the bottom of the roasting pan. Retrieve your giblets and put them in the middle of the roasting pan in the midst of the onions. Get your duck and remove it from the brine, place it on top of the onions and giblets. The onions act as a kind of "rack" for the duck, and they cook down into a soft jammy consistency with all the roasting fat that makes an amazing sauce at the end. 

With your duck in place, use a sharp knife to score the skin on the breasts. Duck is a very lean meat, but there is a lot of excess fat under the skin. Scoring the skin, especially down near the wings and legs, will help release the fat. Combining this with starting the bird at 500 degrees crisps up the skin. 

Purple onions are preferable but of course, I only had white

After scoring your duck, rub the skin all over with the cloves, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Don't forget to season the inside cavity. *note: I know this seems like a copious amount of ground cloves, again, trust me. At first it smells very strong, but in the end it is perfection* Place the rosemary sprig inside the cavity. Pour 1 cup of water into the roasting pan.

3. Roast the duck: Place your duck on the middle rack of a 500 degree oven and roast for 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook for 1 hour 15 minutes. Ater 1 hr, 15 minutes, remove the duck from the oven. Baste the duck with the fat in the pan, then drain any excess duck fat into a jar to save for later. *note: duck fat is amazing to cook with later. Put the jar in your refrigerator and use the fat to brown vegetables for soup, start a stir fry etc..* Add the grapes and figs to the pan around the duck. Return to the oven and continue to cook about 30 minutes or until the duck has reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees. You can also know that your duck is done if you tip it and the juices that run out of the carcas are clear and not red. 

4. Rest the duck and make the sauce: Remove your duck from the pan and let it rest on your serving platter or cutting board. Also remove some of the more whole-looking grapes, figs and onions and set aside with the resting duck.  If your roasting pan can go on the stove burner, add 1 cup of wine and 1 cup of water to the pan and scrape the pan to release all the browned bits from the bottom, (that is the flavor). If your pan is ceramic or glass, do the same and then add all the contents of your roasting pan: liquid, soft onions, neck and giblets, soft grapes and figs to a saucepan to finish the sauce. Bring your roasting pan contents to a simmer, continue to scrape the sides of the roasting pan to release the caramelized bits form the bottom. Use a potato masher to crush up the duck neck, giblets, onions, grapes and figs to create a jammy sauce. Simmer 10 minutes. After the sauce has simmered for 10 minutes, run it through a fine-meshed metal sieve. Use a spoon to push the fruit pulp through and scrape the underside of the sieve to make sure you get all that jammy goodness. Discard the bones and remaining un-sieved fruit. Carve your duck and serve with the sauce. 

Just a note: These are the new family ducks that live in my brother's garden. They in no way influenced my inspiration to cook duck for Christmas, but I am sure they would be 1. horrified if they knew and 2. delicious if I cooked them like this. 😂

Riddlehaus Christmas Stollen

 

Merry Christmas 2023!

One of the first Christmas traditions I remember from growing up, other then laying under the lights of a sparkling Christmas tree, is Stollen. Both my mother and grandmother made Stollen. Both their end results were very different. My mother's recipe, which came from the original "Joy of Cooking" was lighter than my Grandmother's which was much more dense. In my experience, there are a myriad of definitions of Stollen. (just google it and look at the photos) Some recipes only use raisins, some add a core of almond paste, some are more buscuit like in their consistency and some, like this one, are more like a brioche. This recipe is how I like Stollen. It is a light, flaky enriched dough with lots of candied and rum soaked fruits. I would add nuts but I have one son in the house that doesn't like nuts. This was my first time making an enriched dough which was fun. I was pleasantly surprised with how lovely the dough turned out. The recipe does require several steps, but don't be affraid, they are all worth it. This recipe makes one loaf, but it doubles well if you need more than one. 

Riddlehaus Christmas Stollen

Ingredients:

1 cup candied fruit peel

1 cup assorted dried fruits: I used raisins, cherries, cranberries and apricots

3 tbsp rum

1 package rapid rise dry yeast

3/4 cup whole milk warmed to between 105 to 115 degrees

3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

14 tbsp very soft butter

1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

These are the ingredients for a double recipe

Directions:

1. Prepare your fruit:  in a bowl, combine your chosen dried fruits with the rum, then add boiling water to just cover. Set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes or up to three days. 

2. Start your dough: In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. With the mixer on low, slowly add the warm milk. When the milk is incorporated, add eggs, zest and vanilla. When the dough comes together, knead by hand or mix on low with the dough hook for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, make a pile of the dry ingredients on your counter, and make a well in the middle so it looks like a volcano. Slowly add the milk to the middle of the dry indredient well, and knead to incorporate. Do the same when adding the eggs and flavorings. 

That's a lot of butter!!

3. Adding the butter (enrich the dough): With the mixer on low, add the butter one tablespoon at a time until the butter is completely incorporated and the dough is once again smooth. *This looks super strange at first, but have patience, it will be amazing* Doing this bit by hand is much more messy than using the mixer but it does eventually work. 

4. Add the fruit and nuts: Drain the liquid from your soaked fruits. When the butter is incorporated and the dough is elastic again, add the soaked fruits, candied citrus peel, and nuts if you are using them. Knead with the dough hook until just incorporated. 

Time to rest!

5. Rest #1: Put the dough in a bowl and cover with a moistened kitchen towel. Let the dough rest in a warm place until nearly doubled in volume 1 1/2 - 2 hours. 

That was a very successful nap.

6. Form the loaf: After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 4-5 times to lightly shape the dough. Some traditions roll out the dough and fold it over to signify the swaddling clothes of the baby Jesus. I just lightly shape the dough into an oval and put it on my parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

7. Rest #2: While the oven preheats, let the loaf rest, about 45 minutes. 

8. Bake: Bake in the 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

9. Brush the loaf with melted butter, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Return to the oven for 3 minutes, and then dust with powdered sugar again and move to a wire rack to cool. (we never got to this step, everyone wanted to dig in 😆)

*We especially like Stollen toasted for breakfast on Christmas morning. Enjoy!

Stuffed Collard Rolls

 

Growing collards is super easy, but sometimes we get tired of just eating them cooked as a side. This recipe is also great when you dont have a huge bunch of greens to cook. It works with one leaf per roll, so you can use up a smaller harvest.

Stuffed Collard Rolls

Ingredients:

Collard Leaves

Farrow (cooked)

1 egg

sundried tomatoes

zucchini (chopped)

onion (chopped)

bell pepper (chopped)

Feta cheese

Pesto

1 tablespoon garlic

Tomato Sauce

Directions:

1. Cook your farrow & prepare your collards. You need to remove the thick stem from the leaves. The best way to do this is fold the leaf in half with the stem at the fold seam.  Run your knife along the inside edge of the stem.

2. Blanch the greens: In a large shallow pan bring about 1/2 inch of water to a boil. Add one leaf at a time to the boiling water, turn the leaf after about 30 seconds,  place immediately in a prepared ice water bath, then pat dry with a towel. Repeat with all collard leaves. 

3. Prepare the filling: I am pretty loose with the filling ingredients. This is a great way to use up smaller quantities of grilled veggies, leftover sauce etc... This recipe used leftover homemade roasted tomato sauce  and pesto Joseph had made. So for the filling...chop up all veggies to a fine dice. mix veggies, farrow, egg, pesto and feta cheese. Season with salt & pepper and mix well. 

4. Prepare your pan: you can bake these in a casserole pan in the oven or, like we did, you can wrap them in a foil pack and throw them on the grill. Pan or pack, get it ready and spread half your sauce in the bottom of your pan.

5. Roll it up: take one of your prepared leaves, put a scoop of your filling near the base of where you trimmed the stem, fold the leaf sides in on either side, fold up the end closest to you and then roll it up to the other end. Place the roll in your baking dish on the sauce. Repeat with all your leaves. If you have extra filling, you can add it in between your rolls. Cover the rolls with the rest of the sauce and cover the pan or close up the wrapping of your foil pack. 

6. Cook: if you are grilling, the rolls take 10-15 minutes per side. For baking in the oven, bake at 400 for 30 - 40 minutes.

I had a great helper with this recipe. Tim did all the blanching and most of the rolling.

Stella was more impressed with the chicken sausages fresh off the grill 

Guinness Beer Bread

 This March has been so strange. I upped my training days at the gym to four nights a week. Unless I cook early, or use the crockpot, most of the cooking now is done by Keith and the boys. They are supporting my health journey like troopers and exploring their own new recipes along the way. 

Last week for St. Patrick's day, Keith made a Guinness stew with venison from Joe's deer he shot and butchered at Christmas. 

Joe wanted to bake some bread to go with the stew. We found a recipe for Guinnes Beer Bread, it looked simple, and since we had Guinnes in the house from making the stew,  he tried it. It was amazing!! It has a beautiful texture and a nice brown color. It uses oats and brown sugar so it has a a good amount of fiber and just a touch sweet. Highly recomended. It went great with the stew and was enjoyed again for breakfast.

Guinness Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup quick cooking oats (+ 1 tablespoon for topping)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz Guinness

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup oats and salt. 

3. Slowly add the Guinness to the mix while stirring until just combined. 

4. Grease a loaf pan, pour batter into the pan, and sprinkle additional tablespoon of oats on top.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean from the middle of the loaf. 

6. Allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes in the loaf pan, then turn out and cool completely on a rack. 

German Pancake

 

I went to make breakfast yesterday and discovered that I had run out of pancake mix. Last time I looked we had multiple boxes, but yesterday...no mix. So I went to my Pinterest breakfast board in search of some pancake inspiration. I found that I had saved this interesting recipe for German pancake. It didn't look too hard, so I figured I would give it a try. It was a huge hit, and I will totally make it again, and again.

What is a German pancake??

If you have ever had a popover or Yorkshire pudding...it's like that. The batter is egg heavy, and because you bake the pancake in a preheated pan with melted butter, the edges crips up delightfully crunchy, while the middle stays creamy. 

The beauty of this recipe is that it is baked in a 9x13 and serves an entire family. It beats standing infront of the stove for 25 minutes flipping pancakes for everyone. I just pop the pan in, go read a book for 25 minutes (or wash some dishes) and breakfast is done. 

We ate our pancake with berries and syrup, but you could serve it with jam or chocolate sauce, bananas and peanut butter...whatever you like. It is not a sweet pancake, so it also has savory possibilities. It would totally work as a base for an egg scramble or openface breakfast sandwich. (we will have to try that one!) It would probably also be awesome with ice cream!

German Pancake

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter

6 eggs

1 cup flour

pinch salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you like)

1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While the oven preheats, place your 9x13 baking dish in the oven. I used an enameled cast iron pan, but you can also use a glass or metal pan.

2. When the oven has come to temperature place the 5 tablespoons of butter into the warming baking dish. Leave the butter in the dish to melt while you make your batter.

3. Place all remaining ingredients into a blender. Blend ingredients on high for one minute until light and fluffy.

4. Pour the batter mixture into the melted butter in the preheated pan in the oven. Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the edges are fluffy, golden and crispy.

5. Dust with powdered sugar if you like. Cut the pancake and serve with toppings of your choice. Best served warm.