New Year Catch-Up

Happy New Year!

Since I was working on the 31st and the 1st, I didn't do the cooking. My husband roasted 3 ducks on New Year's Eve, which were more than enough for 6 of us to enjoy. We had almost a whole duck left over, which I used the other day to make a terrific duck pad thai.

But with those ducks came duck livers and I had enough to make a triple batch of paté (recipe from Duck, Duck, Goose). Actually, it was an all-fowl paté as I'd been freezing livers from ducks, geese, chickens and a turkey. I had just about 22 oz. once everything was thawed, then I sautéed them with shallots, sage, capers and cognac and blended them with butter and cream. I used my new little ramekins to make 8 small pots of paté plus some for that evening. Each ramekin was sealed with a layer of duck fat and eventually stored in the freezer for later. It came out a little runnier than expected so I hope that while they're in the freezer they will dry out a little and fix the consistency. One of my Christmas gifts was reusable food wrap and I'm trying to use less plastic wrap in general. Sealing the pots in fat should provide coverage for the paté but I'll probably have to check on them soon to make sure it's sufficient.

Yesterday school started up again and the youngerchild was responsible for bringing snack to advisory. There's a whole schedule. I've sent in cookies before but decided to make mini muffins this time. I used this muffin base recipe and added wild blueberries (from the freezer stash) and a few white chocolate chips and ended up with 4 dozen little muffins. They're excellent, and bite sized, and they were popular with the advisory group.

There's been a lot of take-out, too. We have a fridge full of leftovers which is helpful when I'm working so I can either take something for myself or leave something for everyone else so they don't have to cook. Last night I finished the duck pad thai and they finished the pizza. I think there may still be some Indian food.....

Duck Liver Pate and Other Flavors

The pate held its form better than I thought it would!

Every once in a while, dinner consists of pate, cheeses, and sometimes charcuterie, with bread and fruit.  Today I made a duck liver pate using this recipe.  In the freezer were all the duck livers (and one chicken liver) from all those ducks we roasted back in March.  I had enough to multiply the recipe by 9 - so that meant 27 oz. of liver, 1.5 cups of shallots, 9 cloves of garlic, and so forth.  I used the Cuisinart to puree it all after it was cooked, and put it all into a loaf pan.  I ended up with a large brick of pate, cut it into 4 equal pieces, wrapped three of them in waxed paper and saran and froze them.  If they're terrible when they are thawed, then I haven't really lost anything.

Spruce puree on duck liver pate. Mmm.

The pate (that wasn't frozen) was terrific and paired well with the spruce puree.  Tonight's cheese selection was an 8 month Manchego served with guava paste (instead of quince), Robiola Due Latte, and a small fresh brie accompanied by local honey.  The honey was a gift from someone I met at the hospital (if you're reading this, know that it went perfectly with the fresh brie, thank you!).

Also, I made another batch of yogurt last night (so the tally so far is 3 batches from one starter culture) but it was a whole gallon of milk to start with so it'll be a while before I make more, I think.  Unless we suddenly eat a whole lot of yogurt.  I will, however, marinate some chicken in the yogurt tomorrow as the 10 year old loves this recipe and has been asking for it.  Anything to improve that one's protein intake!  Speaking of chicken, the other day I made this recipe for chicken satay and it was AMAZING.  We also marinated some beef in the same marinade, also amazing.  The peanut sauce was perfect.  Another win in the ongoing battle to improve the breadth of the 10 year old's diet.