Duck Confit

Recipe 3 of 103

Duck Confit was a revelation for me while in culinary school.  First how easy it was to make and second how good it was fresh out of the duck fat. It’s rich, tender, crunchy, salty and delicious. Confit is something cooked in its own fat, duck legs cooked in duck fat, pork butt cooked pork fat aka carnitas – you get the idea right? Making it, is fairly easy and inexspensive. Duck leg/thighs are about $6 a pound (1 pound would be 2 leg/thighs) currently at whole paycheck, they are organic and air chilled, try to buy the best you can. They will have duck fat at most of their bigger stores too – if you didn’t already get some or buy on line. Like I said in the last post it will change your life. April’s recipe is encouraged in the book to go with her cassoulet. You cannot have cassoulet with out duck confit. Since I just did cassoulet for my birthday last month, I’m going to wait until much later in the year to show you guys her cassoulet. Which means I will be making duck confit again….yippee! Her duck confit is different from mine, I like her cooking method a lot. She serves the leg/thighs intact with super crispy skin, I prefer to pull the meat and crisp it up shredded.

Here is what you will needconfitstuff

2 duck leg/thighs with plenty of fatty skin

3 cups rendered duck fat:)

12 black peppercorns

12 juniper berries

4 dried pequin chilies

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 sprig of thyme, leaves only

4 cloves of garlic peeled

1/2 cup kosher salt

Place the peppercorns, juniper berries, chilies and cinnamon in a mortar. crushCrush them with the pestle to a corse consistency.crush2Add the thyme leaves and the garlic and crush into a pastecrush3Add the salt and mix well. Put the duck on a plate and sprinkle with the spice/salt mixture, covering all sides and pat into legs gently.marinateCover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours up to 48 hours. I buy duck leg/thighs in bulk so I made a ton.marinate2These have been marinating for 48 hours. April does hers for 24 hours, I pushed it to 48, mostly because I couldn’t cook them the next day so they carried on for one more day in the fridge, not a big deal. Next rinse off all of the spice mixture and pat each leg dry.

Assemble them all in a single layer in the pan.ready4fatAdd the rendered duck fat so it just covers the duck legs.simmerApril is very casual about this next part, which I really enjoyed. In school we had to check the temp on the fat every 15 minutes to make sure the fat stayed at 200 F, we cooked it for 3 to 4 hours. April says keep it at a low simmer so you see a bubble here and there and cook for 2 1/2 hours or until the meat comes away from the bone with a twist of a fork. Her method does allow for the leg and thigh to stay a bit more intact, which is better for service as a whole piece. The meat is just as tender as the longer method I was taught in school. Both methods work great, choose the one that fits your final outcome for service. Your house will smell amazing, like Thanksgiving Day, seriously it does. When your legs are done, remove from the fat and drain on a cooling rack if you’re going to shred them. If you’re keeping them intact let them cool completely in the fat, store them this way for up to several weeks. To serve the legs whole and crispy, heat a small amount of duck fat in a saute pan and fry the legs skin side down until the skin is super crispy.duck2I shredded mine. I freeze it in 2 portion servings, wrapped in foil then plastic. Thats why I make a ton at a time:) It’s always there for me, I love it. shredLooks like carnitas, right? So good!!!! To crisp up the shredded duck confit, same as the intact legs, small amount of duck fat in saute pan.crispyI made a couple of salads, I love duck confit in a salad.spinachSpinach, Dried Cherries, Stilton Cheese and Crispy Duck Confit with a Vanilla Bean & Roasted Shallot Dressing.eggonitThe most over used culinary trend right now. Put an EGG on it! I call this the Breakfast Salad. Sliced romaine tossed with caramelized tangy onion dressing, slices of duck fat fried potatoes, pancetta chunks, poached egg and you guessed it…duck confit!

Thanks for reading, I promise I will shut up about duck for a while.

Cheers!


Duck Fat Potatoes

Recipe 2 of 103

Duck fat is like pure gold…really….trust me. Potatoes cooked in duck fat are golden and crispy with soft creamy centers..to die for.
crunch2Nutritionally duck fat is similar to olive oil , it is low in saturated fat, with a good combination of poly and monounsaturated fats. Duck fat has a high smoke point and can be re used over and over again. Dare I say it…better than butter?!?! Buy some, you will not regret it. I hoard it and use it often, you will too.

What you will need to enjoy the awesomeness of potatoes fried in duck fat.

2 1/2 pounds large russet baking potatoes  (2 large halved lengthwise or 4 small, peeled and rinsed)

Kosher salt

2 cups rendered duck fat, gently warmed until liquid

Maldon or another flaky sea salt

Peel and rinse potatoes. Place potatoes in a pot filled with cold water so they’re covered by an inch or two of water. Add kosher salt so the water tastes a bit less salty than the ocean.Potatoboil Bring to a boil over high heat, than lower heat to keep a vigorous simmer. Cook the potatoes until you can insert a butter knife without to much resistance. April says “don’t get too poke-happy or they’ll get waterlogged” do what she says. This should take about 15 minutes. Drain in colander and let rest so the steam can escape.coolpotatoPreheat oven to 450 F. While the potatoes release their steam, heat your duck fat gently in an oven proof pan, cast iron dutch oven or a saute pan with straight high edges will work nicely. Heat duck fat on high heat, let the fat simmer for about 5 minutes. Test with a piece of potato to make sure fat is hot enough, the potato should sizzle and crackle and continue to bubble. If the fat isn’t hot enough the potatoes will stick.fry1Carefully add all the potatoes to the fat, let them brown on all sides this should take about 10-15 minutes.fry2 When each one has a light golden crust on all sides, carefully place pan in oven and roast  for 10-15 minutes, turning them over once in that time. They should come out looking like this.fry3Remove from hot fat with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels, immediately sprinkle with sea salt and let cool a bit. Serve at once or just stand over the plate and eat them all like we did with a garlic aioli and chopped green onions.donepotatoWe being Jenny and I and yes we macked out, they were heavenly. Photo credit to Jenny from Absolutely Photography, sad part is I did the photo editing….its been so long since my photoshop days, apologies to my Jennay. Cool your duck fat to warm and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Place in clean container, keeps in fridge for a week or freeze for up to 6 months. Don’t freeze this batch just yet….Duck Confit is next and it will change your life.


Fennel-Lemon Marmalade

Recipe 1 of 103

James brought these home for me…Meyer Lemons…lots of them. mlemonsI thought to myself…what to do with all these beautiful fragrant luscious lemons. At the time I was reading a girl and her pig, I received the book and the lemons on the same day. These two simple happenings brought me to this project.

Fennel Lemon Marmalade

What you will need.

7 to 8 large thick skinned lemons – wash well

5 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons fennel pollen (find on line or at whole paycheck aka whole foods)

Assemble your clean lemons in a large pot of water, enough water to cover them while they bob around. Cover the lemons with a plate to keep the submerged. I used my deviled egg plate, worked perfectly. boilemon2

Boil for about an hour, you want them soft but not bursting. Check water as the hour goes to see if it needs replenishing. With a blunt knife, check to see if you can easily pierce them, if so they’re good to go. Reserve 1 1/4 cup of the water. Take them out and let them cool until you can handle them comfortably. Cut them in half, they should look like this. Sorry this photo is blurry.pulp2Scoop out all the flesh into a bowl. pulpCut the rinds into flat pieces and scrape off the white pith.pith2This is the point where I realized the thick skinned lemons would be much easier to work with. The meyer lemon skin is so thin and dainty, it really was like doing surgery, trying not to rip the rind to shreds. More on the final result with meyer lemons later. This step takes awhile be patient – make sure to remove the pith…… pith = bitter. Here is an after shotpith3Julienne the rinds thinly like thisjuliennePlace your expertly sliced rinds in a pale pink Le Creuset ( jk, I know not everyone is lucky enough to own this beautiful piece of cookware, I still squeal with girly glee every time I use it, thanks Jennay ) or a 4 qt sauce pot with reserved water from the boiling of the lemons. Grab a chinois/strainer, you will need a medium mesh chinois/strainer, do not use a fine mesh, you won’t get enough of the pulp through. strainPush the pulp against the side of the chinois to get as much pulp through as possible. You want very little left in the strainer, like this.strain2The sauce pot should have the lemon rinds, reserved lemon water from boiling 1 1/4 cups and all the pulp you could muscle through your chinois. Stir in 5 1/2 cups of sugar (if using   meyer lemons do 5 cups of sugar) over a high heat, when the mixture begins to simmer, set your heat for a low simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, the mixture will darken as it cooks. Starting out like thiscolor1its getting close to donecolor2

to test if the mixture is done, spoon a small amount on to a plate, let it cool. If its sticky and gel like its done, if its loose and runny keep cooking a bit longer.testwhen you nail the consistency, stir in the fennel pollen and let cool. At this point you could process them in jars and they’d keep for up to a year. If you’re going that route I would double the recipe.color3

This recipe will yield about 5 cups. It will keep in the fridge for a month. Slather all over toast and or scones. Add it to your next cheese plate instead of fig jam. The longer it sits the more bloomy it becomes and you can really taste the fennel pollen. I used it as a layer in some shortcakes with fresh strawberries on top. OMG it was so good. I have gifted a few friends with this lovely marmalade, hopefully they’ll comment and share their thoughts on it. This was my first adventure into Marmalade, there are several different methods on making it, I found April’s easy and the outcome was divine. I’ve made it with both meyer lemons and regular thick skinned lemons. The flavor is much sweeter and mild with meyer lemons, both were great tasting, if you want more of a tart twang use the regular lemons.

Try it and let me what you think.


A Girl and her Pig & Me

2013? already, time flies! I have been a bad blogger or should I say non blogger. You know the drill, life gets busy blah blah blah. Last year I was stuck in regards to my blog, so I just let it be for a while, waiting for something to inspire me, to ignite my yearn to learn and push myself. Here it is.ImageThis lovely book was a birthday gift. I’ve been following April Bloomfield’s career, loving her path to this book and the well deserved accolades that followed its launch. I imagine myself in my 20’s, moving to New York to beg for a job at one of her restaurants. Since my 20’s were forever ago and I already did that leave home thing, I’m going to blog her entire cookbook. I know… I know… sounds familiar? Tons of people have blogged entire cookbooks and then movies were made…not what I’m after. I want to do this for a few reasons. The structure of the project will push me to blog more often. There are several recipes in this book that will require me to cook items I’ve never worked with or tasted. Mostly I want to cook with April and learn from her.

Here are the stats for this project.

Total recipes 103 = 2 per week…..ideally 🙂 finish date my birthday this year 12/28

I hope to have guests join me in the fun, fellow chefs, foodie photogs, hungry people, brave eaters, and this goes without saying…….any and all dishwashers are always welcome.

Bring on the Lambs Head!


Nouvelle-Orléans – NOLA – The Big Easy – N’awlins

My Mom and I just returned from a Culinary and Cocktail tour of this amazing city with so many names. Here is a visual tour with plenty of my personal commentary.After flying all day, we arrived in hot & humid lovely New Orleans. Our first stop was the Cocktail Museum inside the Southern Food & Beverage Museum for a class in the history of Cocktails. We arrived rushed, hot and thirsty…….we were promptly handed a Brandy Milk Punch……aww perfect. A great class with Chris McMillian taught us about 3 signature cocktails as seen in above photo. Great kick off for the tour.Next adventure…a slow ride around the Quarter at sun down, while being brought yet another cocktail to sip in the warm evening air…..LOVED this. The carriage dropped us off at the Palm Court for dinner and jazz. Day 2 starts off with a Cajun cooking class, with Harriet, she’s AMAZING! Born and raised in Louisiana, she told the best stories about food, her family and showed us how to make a mean Gumbo. Full belly’s and smarter……..several of us strolled across the street to the Napoleon House for a Pimm’s Cup………..not the best Pimm’s I’ve had, they use sweet and sour instead of 7up or ginger ale…no like, but Napoleon’s was very cool.Our first progressive dinner, walk , and journey started with a 12 block walk to Luke’s. We arrived to a private dining room to the above…a boat full of oysters & French 75’s, what a first course!Stop #2 GW Fins…..the best food of the trip….the Nola Fizz was so refreshing – seafood was great and the lobster dumplings were light and delicate, truly amazing. Biscuits were to die for, so much so that I asked for the recipe. Next a walk down Bourbon Street to hear some jazz at Fritzel’s, great spot, great music, cold beer. FUNNext stop Antoine’s for dessert and coffee…….not just your normal coffee and dessert though, we were treated to Baked Alaska & Café Brûlot Diabolique. Charles, our waiter, a third generation waiter at the oldest restaurant in the country. He was an excellent tour guide, showman and southern gentlemen. Here are a few pictures from our private tour.The Japanese Room & Large Annex RoomThe Wine Cellar  165 feet long  25,000 bottles in inventory.The Rex RoomMardi Gras Krewe memorabiliaI found King Cake babies!! When I was in Culinary school, we made little babies out of tin foil because we didn’t have the real ones like these pictured above, so I was geeked out to find these lil’ guys. One is baked into the King Cake and who ever gets the baby in their piece will have good luck. Check out this cool tumblr starring a King Cake BabyDay 3 – Lunch on the Steamboat Natchez, nice cruise down the beautiful brown Mississippi.After the river tour we were met at the dock by an old friend….Harold Gee, he towed 2 bikes on his bike for us to ride. He took us on a tour of his neighborhood. Rough roads in New Orleans makes for very bumpy bike riding, but it was great to get out of the Quarter. We rode through the Marigny to the Bywater and had cold beers at Vaughn’s- Ribs at the Joint- Big thanks to Harold for taking us into his village, it was very cool.Last dinner in town at Muriel’s Jackson Square – the menu, the food and 2 drunk girls in the French Quarter. I’m going to miss this town…..wait, I already do.9AM Jackson Square….PlayersSt Louis Cathedral from Jackson SquareInside St Louis Cathedral$.25 Martini came with the prix fixe lunch. Last lunch in town- Antoine’s again because Mom missed the first tour, she crashed early, hadn’t quite got her drinking legs on.

It seems shocking that we ate so much, drank so much and walked so much (18 miles)  in so few days. It went by far too quickly. This tour was flawless, I will admit that I was a little reluctant to go on any kind of planned tour, but this one was perfect. The access to special places, the history, the timing, the fun, the care taken to make our journey so easy and comfortable, all I can say is…. well done & THANK YOU to Chris & Mary!! I will go on any trip y’all plan. Chris and Mary are the owners of a great restaurant in San Diego called the Wine Vault & Bistro, go eat there and for sure take a trip with them.


Guest Blog #3 Beer and Food

Cameron sent me this blog a couple of weeks ago so its my bad I didn’t get it posted fast enough. He timed this subject for a specific week in the world of beer…..

It’s Christmas this week! Oh sorry I guess it’s just American Craft Beer Week, pretty much all the same to me. I thought we could focus on the tastes of beer and paring with food for this post. Now put down that Bud Light and let’s focus on some nice craft beers!

Tasting beer is very similar to wine. It should always be poured into a glass, start with the smell, and look at the color, is it hazy? Clear? Then we can begin to taste. There are so many variables here, does it start sweet like caramel and end bitter like lemon or pine? You are probably holding a double IPA  Do you taste coffee? dark chocolate? then you are probably tasting a stout or a porter. Analyzing your beer will really help you enjoy the experience.

Now for some pairings – its grilling season so let’s start with something lighter. A great pairing for chicken, pork, veggies straight off the grill would be anything lighter, and maybe slightly fruity. I would suggest a pilsner, saison, or a light Belgian beer like a tripel or a Belgian blond. For spicer foods you can step it up to a maltier and hoppier pale ale or maybe an IPA. For that burger there really is no better pairing then a good American style pale ale. Now onto dessert – chocolate anyone? Pair that with a stout, preferably a milk stout or a coffee/cappuccino stout. These are perfect ways to round out your meal!

There are literally thousands of ways to pair beer with food. Once you really start to understand the tasting experience, it gets a lot easier to pair food and beer!

A few quick (and delicious) examples of those types of beers listed above:

Pilsner: Oskar Blues – Mamas Little Yella Pils

Saison: Anchorage Love Buzz Saison

Belgian Blond: Epic – Brainless Belgian Style Golden Ale

Belgian Tripel: La Fin Du Monde

Pale Ale: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale; Oscar Blues Dales Pale Ale

IPA: Russian River – Pliny the Elder

Firestone Walker – Union Jack

Bear Republic- Racer 5

Stout: Left Hand – Milk Stout; Lagunitas – Cappuccino Stout; Firestone Walker – Velvet Merlin

Cheers!


Guest Blogger #2 Home brewing with Cameron

For your blog reading enjoyment may I introduce my friend Cameron…. He makes Beer and he was so kind to share his mad skills with us. Take it away Cameron……

Mmmm beer. Thought I’d input a little beer knowledge into this food blog, thanks Sarah for the forum. Thought I’d do a couple different posts. This first one will be about homebrewing.

These are hops – seriously I know what the leaves look like.

Ah, the smell of malt and hops, the foamy head on your lips, the quenching refreshment of that first sip. How about a little introduction to the basics of beer. Their are four main ingredients in beer: water, malt, hops, and yeast. Water, I won’t bore you with the chemistry of water and how brewers treat it to make it perfect for their beers, just know 90% of beer is water so you want to start with some tasty water! Malt, the background of most beers, this is usually malted barley, barley that has been germinated to just the correct state and then dried. Malt is what gives you the sugars that the yeast eat to make alcohol, little more about that later. The malt can also contain other grains, wheat beer anyone? Yeast, this is the worker, the yeast take the oxygen and the sugars and make alcohol and carbon dioxide, without it we would just have bitter sugary water. Oh and last but not least, my favorite, hops, they balance the sweetness of the beer and give off the wonderful piney, florally, citrusy aromas!

OK, OK, enough of the boring stuff, let’s brew! Here is a (quick) lowdown of the brewing process. First we take hot water and crushed grains and mix them to extract the sugars. Then we wash and drain the grains and get a sweet wort. We take the sweet wert and boil, during the boil we add hops, this extracts the bitterness and taste from the hops and infuses these luscious flavors into the beer. After this we take the boiling water and cool it down and add yeast. That’s it, finito! Well almost I guess, we still need to let the yeast work, but after about 7-30 days, (while maybe adding another set of hops for aroma, for us hop heads) we have beer. We need to put it in something to drink from, either a keg or bottles and after its carbonated it’s Happy Hour!

Big thanks to Cameron for sharing his knowledge and passion for BEER! make some….. it’s so good.


Guest Blogger #1 Texas Egg Rolls by Doreen

There is a cool story about these tasty Texas Egg Rolls. Doreen used to be a rep I worked with in my previous career, part of her job was to wine and dine us…..hehehehe. We had a favorite place for lunch and we’d always order Texas Egg Rolls, it was our thing. She loved them so much she set out to make them herself. Doreen is now the professional  Texas Egg Roll maker for all the parties we go to, if Doreen is there…. she’ll walk in the door with these yummy morsels and they don’t last long. I was thrilled she decided to share this recipe with us here on Spry on Food.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, room temp

1 cup shredded Mexican style (Cheddar/Jack) cheese

3 small jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced

8 egg roll wrappers

1 jar hot pepper jelly

1 egg

oil for frying

Directions

Combine the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and diced jalapenos with a mixer.  Chill the cheese mixture for at least 30 minutes.  You can also make ahead and chill up to 24 hours.

Divide the cheese mixture into 8 even pieces.  With your hands, roll each piece into a log shape and set on plate.  When you have rolled all 8 you’re ready to roll in the wrappers.

Beat the egg in a small bowl.  This will be used to  glue the egg roll wrapper closed.

Lay a wrapper on the counter with 1 corner pointing toward you.  Place the cheese log near that corner.  Wrap the corner around the cheese and roll the whole thing up until the cheese log is level with the 2 sided corner.

At this point fold both side corners to the center.  Continue to roll up until almost to the final corner.  Use your finger to paint on some of the beaten egg on that corner.  Finish rolling to seal the corner to the roll.

In a deep fryer or dutch oven heat your oil to 375 degrees.  While your oil is getting hot, put your hot pepper jelly in small sauce pan over low heat to warm.  Keep an eye on the jelly.  You’re not trying to cook it, just soften it, so it’s more of a liquid form.

When the oil reaches 375, gently slip a few of the egg rolls in the oil.  Fry for about 2-3 minutes or until the wrapper is golden brown.  When they are done, lift them out with a slotted spoon or spatula and place them on a paper towel lined plate or platter.

Repeat with remaining egg rolls.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Cut in half or serve whole with the hot pepper jelly.

Recipe & Photos by Doreen

Big thanks to Doreen for not only being the first to respond to me plea for guest bloggers but for bringing us this special snack. Make these! You will LOVE them I promise.


Gluten Free Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

Here is a re do on a classic kid dessert that I never really could get my head around. The classic Rice Krispie treat was always so sweet it would hurt your teeth to eat it…that’s not cool. Again in my search for gluten-free recipes I found this recipe….right next to the flax coconut pancakes in Food and Wine magazine of all places. This was an article by Elisabeth Prueitt, pastry chef at Tartine and Bar Tartine in San Francisco. Instead of margarine or butter, how about coconut oil…YES!
Recipe makes 24 squares

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 10 oz bag of marshmallows – use vegan marshmallows if that’s your thing

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter – use a really good one

7 ounces of brown rice crispy cereal (6 cups), which is naturally gluten-free.

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan with coconut oil. In a large sauce pot, melt 3 tablespoons of coconut oil. Add marshmallows and cook over low heat until melted, stirring constantly. Add peanut butter and stir until incorporated.Remove the pot from the heat and add the rice crispy cereal and stir to mix thoroughly.Quickly scrape the mixture into the greased pan and pat the mixture down with slightly wet hands to form the mix.Cool and cut into squares….a treat you can feel good about eating and giving to your kids and they taste GREAT! These will keep for a week in the fridge, best served at room temp. 


Gluten Free Flax-Coconut Pancakes

Pancakes haven’t always been my favorite breakfast and I love almost all things breakfast. Pancakes are fluffy and sweet but thats about it, no real nutritional value to keep you going to lunch. I found this recipe in Food and Wine magazine while searching for gluten free ideas, don’t get me wrong I have nothing against gluten, I love me some wheat…..but I was intrigued by this recipe..so we put these on one of our weekly menus and I gotta say I was blown away by how good they were, so I’m sharing them with you.

First off let’s talk alternative flours. This recipe call for 3 flours, 2 starches & flax meal. These are not your everyday grocery items, but easy to find and not too pricey. The gluten free food thing is huge right now, some people really thrive on not having wheat in their diet and some just do it because their neighbor is doing it. If you think you have a wheat allergy get it confirmed by your doctor, if you do, chances are avoiding wheat will change your life for the better. If you think you’ll get skinny by not eating wheat…..you will not.Bob’s Red Mill is a popular brand that you should be able to find in your local grocery store. You will for sure find all of these at your local health food store. Another option for the rice flours is to make them yourself, if you have a Vita Mix or a Blendtec blender or any other super bad *ss blender, take regular rice and blend until the rice becomes a fine powder…done! now you have rice flour…so cool. You can do the same with the flax seeds. Consult the recipe book or manual that came with your blender for details on settings and all that. All these flours combined, mimic the all purpose flour that would be used in regular pancake recipes.

Recipe makes 12 – 4″ pancakes

  • 1/3 cup brown rice flour
  • 1/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1/4 sugar
  • 3 tablespoons potato starch
  • 3 tablespoons tapioca starch
  • 3 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups milk, room temp
  • 1/4 coconut oil, melted, plus more for the griddle
  • Fresh fruit and real maple syrup, for serving.

I love these pancakes so much I mixed all the flours together in the measurements above in separate bags so I always have this dry mix ready to go.In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients. In a smaller separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just moistened, if the batter is too thick add small amounts of milk until it is just right. Preheat a griddle or a pan, grease with coconut oil and start making pancakes.Serve hot with REAL maple syrup and any fresh fruit you have on hand. These also keep well in the fridge for a few days and toast up nicely for a quick breakfast on the go. The flax meal & coconut flour add fiber, omega 3’s and minerals. YUM!! Enjoy!