What's the best thing you've made lately?

The 2 best things I've made lately are braised gizzards and duck soup.

Hi Maria,

I would love to hear more about the duck soup. Not that braised gizzards are not cool or anything but I still have some duck in my freezer this year.

Hey Dave! I really had to LOL at the "not that gizzards aren't cool". Too funny.

I made this duck soup from a duck carcass I had leftover from cooking my very first duck. I made it in my slow cooker too, which was really easy. Here's the recipe:

1 Duck Carcass and any giblets except the liver.
1-2 carrots (or 5 baby carrots) for broth
1 celery stalk
1 small white or yellow onion sliced in half and peeled
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce (more to taste)
Handful of cilantro
1 carrot or 3 baby carrots peeled and sliced
a bunch of green onions sliced
5 or 6 fresh shitake mushrooms sliced thin
1/2 cup of napa cabbage sliced thin
salt and pepper

Take Duck carcass and giblets, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger and place in slow cooker or large saucepan. Cover with water. Cook on medium low in saucepan for about 2 hrs (do not boil) or about 4-5 hrs in slow cooker on low. Strain the broth. take any meat off the bones and save to serve in the soup. Add the broth back to the cooker and add the additional carrot, mushrooms, green onions, soy sauce, and cabbage. cook for another 15 min in saucepan or another 1 hr in slow cooker. taste and add more soy, salt, pepper, cilantro, and any duck meat.

The most interesting thing I've done in the kitchen recently was to make pasta neri.
We were on holiday and while the fish remained elusive DB managed to bring home several meals of calamari.
By the time he brought in the second lot it had occurred to me to capture the ink which I managed to do, and with flour and eggs at my disposal the rest is history as they say.
I can't say that we noticed it added any flavour to the pasta but it looked fantastic, simply dressed with oil, garlic and halved cherry tomatoes. Lovely shiny black pasta, stunning.
the calamari itself I simple cut in rings, tossed in seasoned flour and quickly pan fried, it was delicious.
Nothing beats superbly fresh seafood.
DB can catch as many calamari as he likes.

Some of the best red beans and rice in a long time. Really hit the spot last night after putting up the Christmas tree.

Drew

Definitely my Weber roasted 21 lb. Thanksgiving Turkey! Brined for 36 hours in a concoction of cranberry & orange juice and lots of spices it is a treat that is only possible when Thanksgiving day is over 50 degrees here in NYC. This year was one of those fortunate years and the Turkey was awesome!

I didn't have much to choose from tonight to make a dessert: only some unripe bananas and two Granny Smith apples. So I sliced up an apple, rinsed it in lemon water to prevent browning, arranged the slices on a plate, crumbled some blue cheese over, sprinkled over some black sesame seeds for visual contrast, and drizzled some amber agave syrup over everything. It needed a complementary color, though, so I put a tiny spoonful of raspberry preserves on top. In a word, yum.

Hey Dave! I really had to LOL at the "not that gizzards aren't cool". Too funny.

I made this duck soup from a duck carcass I had leftover from cooking my very first duck. I made it in my slow cooker too, which was really easy. Here's the recipe:

1 Duck Carcass and any giblets except the liver.
1-2 carrots (or 5 baby carrots) for broth
1 celery stalk
1 small white or yellow onion sliced in half and peeled
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce (more to taste)
Handful of cilantro
1 carrot or 3 baby carrots peeled and sliced
a bunch of green onions sliced
5 or 6 fresh shitake mushrooms sliced thin
1/2 cup of napa cabbage sliced thin
salt and pepper

Take Duck carcass and giblets, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger and place in slow cooker or large saucepan. Cover with water. Cook on medium low in saucepan for about 2 hrs (do not boil) or about 4-5 hrs in slow cooker on low. Strain the broth. take any meat off the bones and save to serve in the soup. Add the broth back to the cooker and add the additional carrot, mushrooms, green onions, soy sauce, and cabbage. cook for another 15 min in saucepan or another 1 hr in slow cooker. taste and add more soy, salt, pepper, cilantro, and any duck meat.

Sounds excellent! Thanks for taking the time to post the details, Maria.

Forgot to mention today's breakfast: eggs benedict with canadian bacon, sliced tomatoes and asparagus. Enough calories to last a couple of days.

Last night was masala dosas and sambar.

-Paul W.

oh this recipe from wine writer Tony Aspler is killer and dead simple
Stilton Walnut Pinwheels

* 1/3 cup (2¾ ounces) Stilton or other blue cheese, at room temperature.
* 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature (I used Mascarpone)
* 1 sheet purchased frozen puff pastry, thawed
* 2 cups (about 8 ounces) walnut halves, picked over
* Honey for drizzling

1. Mix together the cheese and cream cheese until blended.
2. On a lightly floured pastry cloth or board, unfold the pastry sheet according to package directions. Cut in half lengthwise.
3. Carefully spread half of the cheese mixture to cover one piece of pastry, but leaving a 1/4–inch border on one long edge. Beginning with the long coated edge, tightly roll the pastry, forming a long jelly roll-style log. Moisten the border with water and pinch the edge to form a secure seam. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour or until ready to bake. Repeat with the remaining piece of pastry and cheese mixture.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or leave ungreased and set aside.
5. Remove one log at a time from the freezer and unwrap on a cutting board. Thaw slightly. Measure and mark 1/4-inch increments and slice with a serrated knife. Arrange the pinwheels on the baking sheet, at least 1 inch apart. Gently press 1 walnut half into the center of each pinwheel. Bake until the pastry is golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and, using a teaspoon or squeeze bottle, drizzle with a crisscross thread of honey. Serve immediately.

Tony's wine recommendation:
10-Year-Old Tawny Port, LBV Port, Cream Sherry or Select Late Harvest Riesling

Last night was broiled lobster tail, rice and a spinach salad. Plus Bohemian Highway chardonnay.

Last night was masala dosas and sambar.

-Paul W.

Brilliant. I am in awe.

Last night, it was a delicious and simple cauliflower gratin that was our contribution to supper at a friend's house. Not much more to it than cauliflower, cream, comte, and a little mustard.

Last night I roasted a cross rib beef roast that was outstanding. The day before, I brushed it with balsamic vinegar, then made a paste of olive oil, fresh minced garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary, salt, pepper, and rubbed that all over the roast. I covered it and parked in the refer until yesterday when I took it out to bring to room temp.
It was roasted at 450° for 20 minutes, then 350° for another 70 minutes. It came out perfect, a little less than medium rare all the way through. The flavor was very yummy

Sauteed scallops last night.

My wife now has the crud I had, so last night it was meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The meat loaf was perfect, with a dark brown crust, tender interior, and tons of flavor.

Not very exciting, but...
Maryland-style crab cakes.

Yesterday was my birthday so we had a special dinner. My neighbor made the "oysters and pearls" from Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook. I had bought prime steaks from Costco and we grilled those. For the non-beef-eaters, I made Wolfgang Puck's recipe for Tuna Tataki. This is a classic Japanese dish, you cut the meat into rectangular "logs" and saute briefly on the four sides, then slice like bread and display the slices on a platter with the red centers showing. Generally if there are germs on the meat they are on the outside, so you get the texture of sushi-sashimi with a little less risk, and some extra flavor from the outside coating -- here it is sesame seeds and grated fresh ginger with some salt.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolf ... index.html

To go with the steaks -- I took a pound of chanterelles, a couple of shallots, etc. and made a delicious mushroom sauce.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/bone ... anterelles

For dessert we had the best Black Cake ever, made by my wife Louise with a lot of help from me in cutting up the various dried fruits and judiciously adding more Rum at certain points. From a recipe by the poet Emily Dickenson except she used brandy instead of rum.

http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=556

Frank

Not very exciting, but...
Maryland-style crab cakes.

Done well they're always exciting for us.....

Drew

Happy belated birthday Frank. Tuna Tataki is one of my favorites so I will have to give that recipe a try soon. Thanks for the link.

Beef shanks braised in red wine and beef consomme, mashed potatoes from baked potatoes, organic carrots and butternut squashed simply roasted with olive oil s&p, and a way flavorful gravy from the braising liquid pressed through a sieve then reduced and finished with a little butter. Intense flavors all around.

Sunday I rendered the fat from a duck. The rest of it is in the fridge marinating. Tonight I come home to wash off the seasonings, pour the rendered fat over it (with a little supplemental olive oil), to make duck confit. Pictures to follow.

[Jenise]

Beef shanks braised in red wine and beef consomme, mashed potatoes from baked potatoes, organic carrots and butternut squashed simply roasted with olive oil s&p, and a way flavorful gravy from the braising liquid pressed through a sieve then reduced and finished with a little butter. Intense flavors all around.

Hurray--someone else who makes mashed potatoes from baked potatoes--for the richest possible, most intense potato flavor possible it's the only way to go.

Happy birthday, Frank! (Btw, I'm a beefeater, but given the choice of that or Wolf's tataki, I'd have pretended otherwise. )

My best thing lately: Sunday night dinner. Went into it fairly unsure of what dinner would be, and perused the leftovers in the fridge. Found a generous bowl of shredded veal gleaned from the bones I cut off 10 whole veal racks last week and simmered for three days to make a nice demi glace. There was also about a cup of pan drippings from one of the veal roasts. That generated a trip to the sparsely stocked pantry whereupon there were no canned tomatoes, but there was a can of Muir Glen Tomato Bisque. After sweating some diced onion and garlic, all of that went into a pan with a generous pour of Cinzano Italian white vermouth and a huge fresh bay leaf from my bay leaf tree. After about an hour, that by-chance concoction reduced into possibly the best meat sauce for pasta I have ever made, possibly the more beguiling for the greater complexity imparted by the vermouth which I've never used in a meat sauce before, and definitely texturally enhanced by the glycerine texture of the sauce as came from the veal--just now having the leftovers for breakfast, my lips were almost sticking together each time they closed. Entirely by accident, it's one of the most elegant pasta dishes I've ever made or had.

Thanks for the good wishes, Dave and Janise.

I -did- make a lot of extra Tataki because I knew everyone would want to taste it. It is especially nice because of the dressing which is a kind of home made Ponzu sauce, with fresh lime juice, soy, olive oil, ginger, and shallots...