Duck Confit - Easy Fat Dinner

So if your from the states you might not know too much about Duck Confit. No thats not right, how bout if you grew up in an Atlanta suburb you might never have come across it.

So what is duck confit?
Essentially a fat based meat preserve.
Duck confit consists of cooking duck down in its own fat and then letting it mature while submerged by fat which acts as a preservative. Or thats how I seem to say it.

Duck Bearnaise


serves a bunch of people along with some salad or something.

1 tub of duck/goose/pheasant confit (should have 3/4 of a bird in it)
3 shallots - diced
3-4 nice potatoes (maris piper is my favorite type) washed, chopped, submerged in water
1 large parsnip - chopped like the potatoes
a bunch of oyster mushrooms - chopped (OPTIONAL)
1 glass of dry white wine
1 clove garlic - diced
4 tbsp chopped parsley

So what you will be doing is essentially seperating the pieces of duck from the fat they come in, using the fat to cook down the veggies, and then adding the duck pieces to the veggies.

First - seperate the pieces of duck from the fat that they came in. Wipe the duck pieces clean with some paper towel and then break them up into little pieces of meat and bone (you will find the duck tender enough for this and if its not tender enough for breaking up then its probably not a good confit).

Second - place 2 tablespoons of confit fat into a large pan over a medium heat. When fat liquifies add in shallots, potatoes and parsnip. (If using mushrooms use a bit more fat and add them in 2 minutes after the potatoes/parsnip). Cook until potatoes and parsnip brown up a bit and shallot is translucent. Now stir in the garlic and cook until it is soft (about a minute). Then add the glass of wine and lower heat just a bit. Continue to cook until steam coming from pan is no longer alchohol-ish (until the alcohol evaporates).

Third - Add duck pieces/shreds into pan and stir. All you want to do is heat the duck so turn the heat down if you hear lots of sizzling. Let duck heat up and then add in parsley. Stir and serve with some salad and grainy bread. I prefer an arugula and lambleaf salad with a spicy grain mustard dressing - it really cuts the hearty duck dish.

Good with either white or red wine. French preferably.

By the way this post was accidentally put up earlier as a rough draft. sorry

PIECE ZONE 2.5

Forgot to add this one to the last zone.

Rosemary and Potato (with Fontina and Asiago cheese) Pizza

I'll explain this one a bit since it has a special place in my heart's stomach.

Make a regular italian dough like J Oliver's (dont hate).

Then all you need is :
Fresh rosemary - about 5-6 sprigs 
1 Potato (enough to cover pizza dough) - sliced into extra thin rounds
A bit of both Fontina and Asiago fresco cheese, cubed
Olive Oil
Salt and Black Pepper

Then all you do is:
Preheat oven to a high heat (450 - 500f or 250 - 275c). 
Spread/roll dough out and place on greased pizza trey or a pizza stone (if you got one use it!). Cover dough with oil and black pepper. Lay a few rosemary sprigs down and then lay down half the potato slices. Then sprinkle cheese over, lay out the the rest of the potatoes and top with remaining cheese and rosemary. Drizzle olive oil over top and place into oven to bake for about 10 - 13 mins or until potatoes are soft and cheese is bubbling and browning a bit.

Then eat that delicious thing.

So yeah.... any requests for the next recipes?

Strata-sphere ................................................................. . . . . .

Ever come home from work with a bundle of left over croissants and some really nice eggs and think "what should I do with all this"?
Maybe I should feel fortunate to have this small problem occasionally. By now I know exactly what to do. I do that Strata.
A Strata is a baked dish originally conceived to deal with leftover stale bread. Stale is the key here as the staleness determines how well the beaten eggs will bind with the bread to create the desired light, pillowy and fluffy texture characteristic of a perfect Strata.
The dish is a combination of stale bread (Im special so I use croissants), fried or lightly blanched veggies, and beaten eggs. Oh! And it has cheese in it. I almost forgot cheese.

C P's Strata 

Ingredients:
About 4 halved, stale croissants
3-5 eggs (depending on your tastes and how much bread you are using)
3 tablespoons Parsely, chopped
Salt and Black Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil (Extra Virgin ALWAYS)
1 Onion or 2 larger shallots, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 stalk celery diced
1 clove garlic diced
Main Vegetable - about 10 stalks asparagus chopped into diagonal slices -or- half head cauliflower diced -or- 3 handfuls of good mushrooms chopped
Small glass dry white wine
About 200 grams Comte or Gruyere cheese diced finely or grated

First grease your baking vessel (you want a deep-ish pot or baking dish, pyrex works well). Then cut your stale bread/croissants in a way that they will arrange nicely around the bottom of your baking vessel. Set aside.

Beat eggs together with parsley, black pepper (and if desired a bit of grated parmesan). Set aside.

Preheat oven to about 350f or 200c.

Place oil in pan and set over medium heat. Add in onion, carrot, celery and fry until softened about 5-6 minutes. Then add in the garlic and your main vegetable. Fry until main veggie is just barely soft and then add in the wine. Allow mixture to simmer until the steam coming off the pan no longer stings the nostrils upon sniffing. Salt to taste and then take pan off heat.

Now for the layering.
Pour half of the beaten eggs over the bread/croissants.
Pour half of the fried mixture.
Pour the rest of the eggs in.
Put half of the cheese on.
Pour the rest of the fried mixture on and top with the remaining cheese and fresh grated pepper.

Place in the oven and bake until cheese on top has slightly browned and a fork can be poked into the strata and come out clean. You want a fluffy, slightly airy and light texture. Some like it a bit runny but I prefer moist and fluffy.

Savour with a nice arugula (rocket) salad with a mustard dressing and some ale or nice white wine.








And for the next recipe..... any requests from my friends fans(?) or fam?

Piece Zone 2

Traditional Margherita

 

and...

Comte, Red Onion and Tomato 

...

PURI MAS - Amsterdam Indonesian

Puri Mas - Amsterdam

Behold the indulgent "Rijsttafel" of Puri Mas, one of Europe's finest Indonesian eateries. 

Me and mine ordered for one and were both stuffed at the end. Our selection included fried and steamed rice, chicken satay, lamb in soy sauce, chicken curry, egg in onion sauce, dry green bean curry, unbelievable beef Rengdang, gado gado, and the traditional condiments being toasted coconut powder and potato sticks (plus ample amount of bright spice chilli sambal). 

from the Puri Mas website: 

"Puri Mas is famous for its Rijsttafel, a feast of mild to strongly spiced Indonesian dishes.
Rijsttafel means Rice Table, an array of many dishes in small portions that covers the whole table. Although it is a Dutch idea, its origins are clearly Indonesian and it was known at one time as Makan Besar.

Indonesian people traditionally take a meal from a central plate of steamed or fried rice with other dishes arranged around it. Usually including some fish or meat, a vegetable dish, and a spicy sauce known as sambel. The early Dutch planters, with their great appetites, added more and more dishes and so the Rijsttafel originated.
Rijsttafel was served on the plantations and at home parties. Later it was combined with hotel menus, and each dish served seperately by a waiter."

 

Its another reason to go to Amsterdam. 

  Puri Mas

Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 37-41 (first floor)

1017 NG  Amsterdam
Netherlands

www.purimas.nl

.

Piece Zone 1

 

Welcome to the Piece Zone. 

Left: Creme Fraiche and Carmelized Red Onion

Right: Comte and Oyster Mushroom (Perugian Style)

Close up on Creme and Onion 

What to do when you got Artichokes

So you got some artichokes?

Now what should you do with them? Or more precisely how do you take these vegetate mini fortresses and make them edible?

Easiest thing to do would just be steam them whole and them pick away at them with some lemon-butter dipping concoction. Ive done this before, its good but turns the eating into a game of picking and pulling at the artichoke's puzzling structure.

I suggest you get yourself a large bowl and fill it with juice of 2 lemons and some water, then cut your carciofi (artichokes) down to the tender inner leaves, scoop out the hairy choke, and peel the outer skin on the stem. That bowl of lemon water on hand is what you will IMMEDIATELY dunk your trimmed carciofi into as soon as you finish trimming it to prevent it from bruising and turning nasty brown color tone.

Say you now have about 4 - 5 artichoke hearts now soaking in lemon water.
Being the semi Italian that I am, I would do one of two things with these delicious veggies.

First off would be a Risotto.

We love this word in my flat. Risotto always means a delicious, hearty, easy meal perfect with wine or nice beer. Artichokes, like wild mushrooms and pumpkin, are perfect for risotto.

Risotto Ai Carciofi
 Ingredients needed:
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Onion, medium sized diced
Garlic - 2 cloves  diced
Dry White Wine - about 1/4 cup
Artichoke hearts - about 5
Arborio or Carnaroli Risotto Rice - about 250 g
Pint plus more very hot Chicken Stock
2 tbsp butter
Parmesan - about 1/2 cup or more
Parsley - about 3 tbsp chopped

Start by sauteing the onion in the oil over medium heat in a large pot for about 5 minutes until onion is nice and translucent. Add in garlic and artichoke hearts. Fry until garlic is soft, golden but not burned then add the white wine and continue to cook for about 3 minutes until the alcohol evaporates (you'll know this has happened when you can take a whiff of the pot without feeling a burn in your nostrils).

Now add in the risotto rice and stir until all the grains are covered in oil and have a slick appearance. Once the rice is oiled, turn heat to medium low and start to add the chicken stock a little bit at a time, stirring constantly. You want to add in bits of stock and stir until the rice absorbs it all, then add in a bit more stirring until it is absorbed. Continue to add the stock like this until it is all added. If everything works right, the rice will be soft to the bite (think al-dente pasta) and there is a thick sauce holding everything together. If the rice is a bit hard in the middle add a bit of boiling water and stir. The rice should have released loads of starch from agitation helping to create the smooth consistancy that good risotto must have.

Once all the stock is used and the rice is well cooked, turn off the heat and add the butter, parmesan and parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to incorporate then cover the pot and let sit about 2 minutes. 
Then serve it up.

OR

Artichoke Antipasta

Perfect way to preserve artichokes. Especially good if the artichokes are starting to go bad (just a bit) on the outside. You can easily substitute these in for fresh artichoke hearts in the above recipe.

Its simple:
Take your trimmed hearts and fry in olive oil in a pan (that has a lid) for a few minutes (medium heat). Turn the hearts over once in this time. Next add a 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup water, and a smashed clove of garlic and cook for 2 minutes to let some alcohol evaporate. Then cover with a tight fitting lid and allow hearts to braise for about 30 minutes. If you lose all the liquid add a bit more water. The hearts are done when you can pierce them effortlessly with a fork. Take them out and place them in a container.
Next salt and pepper the hearts, add some dry oregano (2 pinches), some chopped raw garlic (small clove) and cover with olive oil. Close the container and allow the artichokes to sit in the oil for 24 hours or so.

Then you can just leave them in the fridge and take them out whenever you need. I love them just as a side dish, in salad with rocket (arugula) or used in a pasta with pancetta, parsely, shallot, pine nut and Parmesan.

Easy.

You see? Artichokes just look tough, but really they have warm tender hearts.