Merry Christmas!

Well. It's been a while, hasn't it? It's amazing that I never really know where the time goes. As far as I know, Thanksgiving just happened, and then Christmas came up like a freight train. You know. First you can't hear it at all, and then it's just this vague, slightly familiar sound in the distance. And then before you have a chance to really process what that sound might be, it's RIGHT THERE and you have to run to stay ahead of it just long enough to let it pass by safely. Only, in this case, safely means everyone is together and well fed and gifts are purchased and wrapped on time despite all the other commitments.

I'm not quite done, mind you. We just had Christmas. Tomorrow is the big shindig for 10 people.

Today, just my parents and the four of us feasted on duck legs confit with miso cauliflower and these amazing Parker House Rolls from eat the love. I made the dough yesterday and stopped at the point where the rolls were in the pan before they were proofed. Today they proofed and baked and I topped them with Hawaiian black sea salt and they were just terrific. Yesterday I also made eggnog crème brulée and had them ready so all I had to do today was the brulée part and the garnish. Made things so much easier, giving us time to open presents in the morning and make a Lego Gingerbread House centerpiece. (It's pretty cute.)

Tomorrow there will be beef tenderloin, baked stuffed shrimp, Persian rice, and individual berry trifles. So much cooking!

Wild Duck Confit

As I previously mentioned, I got a bunch of game meats from my brother-in-law, including the breasts of 5 ducks. I decided to try to confit them, even though the legs usually work better. Two days ago I marinated them in an onion/garlic/parsley marinade and then yesterday I cooked them slowly in a combination of duck and goose fat. Today, I looked for something to do with them and I saw online that duck confit could be added to mac and cheese. I've certainly added lobster to mac and cheese so, why not?

Usually when I make mac and cheese I make a simple white sauce and melt in 2 cups of
shredded cheese (I've been buying the Mac and Cheese blend from Cabot recently) plus 8 ounces of cream cheese. This is enough for one pound of macaroni. Then I took about half of the duck and shredded it and sautéed it with some diced onion. Once all that was mixed in with the mac and cheese and put into a casserole dish, I mixed some bread crumbs with the leftover duck fat in the pan and added pepper and parsley and sprinkled it on top of the casserole. This all was baked for about half an hour.

It was really great and, in my opinion, even better drizzled with a little white truffle oil. My husband found a little birdshot pellet in his portion, whoops!

Variations on Confit

The other day I made duck confit using 8 duck legs and a whole lot of duck fat. When the legs were done I stored them in a big jar with the fat sealing it all in. Today I put it all to good use!

For dinner we had spaghetti with confit and lemon, essentially this recipe. The youngerchild prefers plain pasta with meat on the side so received just that, with a seared duck thigh. We also had a quick salad of baby lettuces tossed with crisped duck confit shreds, croutons, and a vinaigrette made with duck fat and balsamic vinegar. It all was lovely.

There are two duck legs left for dinner on another day. So many uses out of one dish!

Venison Confit

Over Thanksgiving I received a gift of a couple of venison roasts from my brother-in-law, who works in northeast Ohio with a guy who hunts.  The roasts came from that coworker (thank you!) and my brother-in-law thought I would appreciate them.  I had decided that I would prepare one as a confit, using all the rendered duck fat I had left.  Today I set up the slow cooker with 7 cups of duck fat and a 3 pound roast.  I had to slice up the roast so that it would fit in the cooker and be submerged by the fat.  I let it cook all day and it was very good - moist and rich tasting.  As side dishes, I made a risotto with nettles and some of those suillus mushrooms, and sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic and cayenne pepper.

Happy New Year to all of us!