Duck 2 Ways

I'm proud to report that I've achieved a B in my Developmental Bio class!  I did good enough on the final that it gave my class grade that extra boost that it needed!  And I will definitely get a more relaxed Christmas break off!

Almost have all my Christmas shopping done!  Just have to get my brother and sister-in-law's gifts together and shipped out and all will be good!  And one more "big" present for Andy and he's done too!  Hopefully he digs what I've rounded up for him!

We went to the Asian Market this past Sunday and we actually went to one we've never been to before... and it was pretty much fate.  The normal ones we would go to were actually closed (we woke up way early on Sunday and were ready to start our day!) and this one was the only one open.  We walked in, and it was big, the aisles were actually widely spaced!  (We're definitely used to close aisle space!)  And most things had English translations so it was great to actually know what we were looking at too!  Best part... I bought a whole duck for $12.99!  That's a bargain if you ask me, because I go to our local butcher and it's almost $40 for 4 small breasts!  So... my foodie project for the next couple of weeks is to make use of every part of this duck!  Head to toe... well, I couldn't bring myself to keep the head (it was smiling, and kind of creeped me out!).  So any suggestions on how I can use up some of the parts of the duck are well welcomed! (I've already made the breasts, the easiest part to cook with, and I know I want to make a duck stock too, but definitely in need for some ideas and/or recipe suggestions!)

And I also received a package from Marx Foods out of Seattle, WA.  Remember that little questionnaire I had up not too long ago about the Iron Foodie contest?  Well... obviously, I didn't get chosen as one of the lucky 25 to receive a mystery box and make a dish out of... but the nice folks over at Marx Foods sent out a sampler pack (with 5 items of our choosing, mostly spices and dried ingredients) to all the bloggers that didn't get chosen.  Pretty awesome of them, if you ask me!

So what did I get?  Well, I ended up with some samples of Espresso Salt, Longpeppercorns, Guajillo peppers, Organic Aji Amarillo Peppers, and some Black Trumpet Mushrooms.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me!  So the guys over at Marx Foods also challenged us to come up with something with our little samples!  And I love the challenge of coming up with something creative out of random ingredients, so I was all about it!  So this duck dish is what I came up with!  Hope you guys like it!

Ingredients:

Spicy Pomegranate Sauce

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup chicken stock
1 guajillo pepper
1 aji amarillo pepper
about 5 black trumpet mushrooms
1 tablespoon honey


Duck Breasts

2 duck breasts
1 tablespoon espresso salt
1 teaspoon ground longpepper

Apple Compote

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
1/2 cup sweet white wine
juice from 1 lemon
1 & 1/2 tablespoons honey
dash of dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients for spicy pomegranate sauce.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, or until slightly thickened.  At this point, you can either blend everything in a blender or just strain out the bulky ingredients.  I really wanted the flavors to really immerse into the liquid, so I let mine simmer for almost an hour and then strained it.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, combine the apples, wine, lemon juice, and honey.  Mix well.  Spread mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle the apples with the dried rosemary.  Season with a little bit of salt and pepper, if desired.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. 

Remove the foil and raise oven temperature to 375 F and cook apples for another 15 minutes.  Set aside.

Once apples are done, preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat a large oven proof skillet under medium high heat.  Score the fatty side of the duck breasts in a diagonal pattern and season both sides of breast with Espresso salt and ground longpepper.  Lay duck breasts in skillet, skin side down and cook for about 5-6 minutes.  Turn over and cook an additional minute.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake for about 3-5 minutes, for a nice medium.  Let duck breasts rest for about 3-5 minutes and slice thinly.

To plate, spoon a line of spicy pomegranate sauce in the center of the plate at a diagonal.  Alongside it, place a line of apple compote.  Then place 4-5 pieces of duck on either side of each sauce/compote. 

This was definitely delicious!  You had the sweet and savory tartness of the apple compote and the kicking spicy pomegranate sauce that both paired perfectly with the duck!  It was definitely one of those meals that left me wishing I had more duck breasts around!  Enjoy guys!

Project Food Blog: Challenge #3

Hot diggity!  I never thought I would even make it past Challenge #1, and here I am, at Challenge #3!  All thanks go out to you guys!  Without your votes, I wouldn't be here, and I GREATLY GREATLY appreciate the love!

Challenge #3 is as follows:

"You'll be asked to channel new and exotic flavors for a luxurious dinner party menu. Voters will pick which feast they'd like to RSVP to." 

One thing I love about cooking, is the end result of feeding people.  So naturally, I love to have people come over and eat!  And of course, my co-workers, jumped right on the bandwagon to come on over!

I blogged earlier this week that my favorite season was now upon us - the fall!  And so it's truly the fall season that inspired this menu.  I wanted to bring out something that my guests would enjoy, and would be new to them.  Turns out, 3 of my guests had NEVER had duck before, so that just made this main course all the more perfect!

 

The first course was just a group appetizer:  Carmelized Onion Dip w/ House Made Pita Chips.  I love the simplicity of this and it allowed for the guests to "share" and converse with eachother before the other courses rolled out.

Second course was a simple salad of Arugula, Baby Greens, and Watercress.  Topped with freshly sliced strawberries, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette.  It was a nice refreshing salad that brightened up the palette and had a great depth of flavor. 

Main course was the entree of Roasted Duck Breasts with a Pomegranate-Chile sauce.  Served with a brown rice pilaf that included golden raisins, dried apricots, and walnuts.  There was also a side of sauteed swiss chard.  The "Duck Virgins" said that they really enjoyed their first experience with duck and one of them even said that duck may be their new favorite!  Score!

 

The fourth and final course was the dessert:  Pumpkin Cheesecake w/ Caramel Bourbon Sauce & freshly made Whipped Cream.  This was a perfect night cap to end the dinner.  The cheesecake was thin and light, with an Oreo crust that matched perfectly with the pumpkin cheesecake layer.

At the end of the dinner, I asked everyone what their favorite course of the meal was, and it was a unanimous vote that the Duck definitely reigned supreme.  I'm glad, because personally, it was my favorite as well!

I want to thank my awesome sister, Frances, for decorating our back deck, also!  She did such a great job and really made it look elegant and classy!  My guests were awesome and at the end of the day, all you need are great friends and great food to have an amazing time!

 If you guys dug the menu and found yourself drooling the whole time, please please please, don't hesitate to vote for my entry in Challenge #3 of Project Food Blog (you can either click the link or check out the right sidebar to vote!)!  And thank you thank you SOOOO much for getting me this far!  You guys are awesome!