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Duck! Coming Attractions!

I probably see 100 recipes a month I want to try. It's funny how some stick in my mind and won't go away. When I saw Mark Bittman's "ducketta" -- a stuffed duck breast version of Italian porchetta, I just knew it would stick. I don't use duck nearly as often as I would like.

Watch this space! Tomorrow is ducketta night. As it happens, I stumbled on an old episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" in which he prepares duck, so I will be combining the techniques. Brown brines his duck and browns it in cast iron in a hot oven. I'll be adding those to Bittman's recipe. (I always try to do my browning in the oven when working with fatty products, because stovetop browning requires grueling cleanup.)

I also like Brown's idea of using all the rendered duck fat ("gold," he called it) to braise some greens. Or I might use it to oven roast some potatoes.

Then, on Sunday, foodie friend Butch (I would link to his blog but sheesh, last time the guy wrote anything there, Webvan was still around) is coming over and we will make some home brew beer and prepare some other not-yet-identified delectable-from-scratch.

Meanwhile, we have a new puppy. That has nothing to do with food, except that his name is Sage, but heck, who doesn't love puppies?

Dry-Brined Turkey: Success

Regular readers will recall I tried a new method for the Thanksgiving turkey: Dry brining, from an article published in the Los Angeles Times, recommended by the Zuni Cafe's Judy Rogers. "You just salt the turkey a few days in advance, give it a brisk massage every so often to redistribute the salt, and then roast it."

The brining seemed to work but I had some sloppy temperature control and the white meat came out dry. I vowed to try again and did so on Christmas Day.

Happy news: It worked very well!! It seemed to work as well as wet brining. The meat is flavorful, not at all salty, and moist throughout.

The brining penetrates the meat much better than I would have expected. The mechanism seems to be that it draws moisture from the bird, dissolving the salt, which then diffuses back into the meat.

The biggest advantage: It's easy. Salt it, place it in a plastic bag, refrigerate for three days. Wet brining involves a big pot of salt water to handle and wash. Then you need to rinse and dry the bird, requiring more handling and more cleanup.

The only disadvantage is that you have to plan four days ahead.

I otherwise followed the procedures on my annual turkey page, (which I will soon update to include dry brining). I made some modifications to the roasting procedure, which I will also incorporate in the turkey page:

• Started at 425°F for 45 minutes, breast down.
• Flip bird breast up, baste with butter, and lower to 325.
• Roast to internal temperature in the breast of 150-155. At this point, the leg was at 165.
• Remove from oven and tent with foil. Rest for 30-60 minutes while you complete the side dishes and the gravy.
• If the skin is not browned well enough, turn on the broiler and let it heat at least 10 minutes. Return the bird to the oven to brown. This can be done at any time during the resting time.

I otherwise followed the procedures on my annual turkey page, (which I will soon update to include dry brining). I made some modifications to the roasting procedure, which I will also incorporate in the turkey page:

• Started at 425°F for 45 minutes, breast down.
• Flip bird breast up, baste with butter, and lower to 325.
• Roast to internal temperature in the breast of 150-155. At this point, the leg was at 165.
• Remove from oven and tent with foil. Rest for 30-60 minutes while you complete the side dishes and the gravy.
• If the skin is not browned well enough, turn on the broiler and let it heat at least 10 minutes. Return the bird to the oven to brown. This can be done at any time during the resting time.

Holiday Dinner

Christmas Eve and the third night of Chanukah coincide this year so I decided to mix traditions and add a Chanukah tradition to the holiday dinner. Behold! Rack of lamb and a giant potato pancake:

Kathy and her Mom about to dig in:

Recipes and details on the two main dishes follow:

Rack of Lamb with Pistachio and Raisin Port Sauce
Potato Nik (Potato Latkes)

Rack of Lamb with Pistachio and Raisin Port Sauce

I love making rack of lamb. It's elegant and impressive, but really quite easy, especially now that racks are easy to buy fully trimmed.

This time, I added a sauce with pistachios, raisins, and port. Home run!

Recipe: Rack of Lamb with Pistachio and Raisin Port Sauce
Serving Size: 6
Yield: 2 racks (14-16 chops)

2 Racks of lamb, see notes
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 sprigs Fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Sauce
1/4 cup pistachios, shelled
2 tablespoons raisins
1/4 cup port
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Set the oven to 425. Place an iron skillet or other heavy, oven-proof pan in the oven to heat for 15 minutes.

Trim the ribs of excess fat and silverskin, if this was not done for you (see notes). Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Strip leaves off rosemary sprigs and chop fine. Mix mustard, rosemary, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place all sauce ingredients in  small sauce pan and bring to boil, then cover and turn off.

Brown the ribs. You can do this on the stove top but what a mess! That's why the heated pan is in the oven. Place both ribs in the pan so the broadest surface is against the pan bottom. Put the pieces near the edge of the pan so they will rest with the broad surface flat against the pan bottom. Press the meat against the pan to make good contact.

Let it brown for about 10 minutes and turn the pieces to brown the other meaty edge, about five minutes.

Remove from the oven and switch oven to broil. Spoon the mustard mixture over the two browned sides. Let sit for tem minutes, then place under the broiler to brown, about 5 minutes. Measure internal temperature with a meat thermometer. Remove when it reaches 120. You may need to turn the broiler off or move the meat further away, to prevent burning.

Loosely tent with foil and allow meat to rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile, heat up the sauce again.

After the meat has rested, cut ribs into pairs, cutting between the rib bones. Place on platter.

Stir the meat juices into the sauce. If it's thin, boil it for a while to thicken. If too thick, add a little water. Pour sauce onto platter around ribs.

Notes:

Buy your racks of lamb frenched and trimmed. That's not hard to find anymore. Costco's vacuum packed lamb racks are excellent. "Frenched" means the bones are trimmed clean, making "handles." "Trimmed" means the excess fat is cut away (you want a thin layer on the outside of the rack). It's also a good idea to get the silverskin, a very tough membrane on the inside curve of the ribs) removed.

You can perform these steps yourself. To trim the fat, trim the outer layer first. You will find a layer of meat under the fat, and more fat underneath that. Trim it all way, leaving 1/8-1/4-inch of fat. You don't have to make it especially pretty as it will be well browned, hiding any scars. Remove the meat from the trimmed pieces, wrap and freeze. These pieces are tender, boneless, and flavorful, great for other purposes.

To trim the silverskin, work a knife under an edge and peel it away, cutting as needed to free it. Grip the loose end with a paper towel to make it easy to grip. You don't need to do a perfect job, just remove most of it.

Potato Nik (Potato Latkes)

Mark Bittman, the New York Times food writer, talks about making potato latkes (potato pancakes) as one huge pancake, which his grandmother called potato nik. Latkes are a Chanukah tradition so tonight, Christmas Eve and the third night of Chanukah, we made Potatoes St. Nik part of the meal.

I upped the onions but otherwise kept close to the original.

Potato Nik (Potato Latkes)
Recipe By: Mark Bittman
Serving Size: 4

2 lbs. baking potatoes, Idaho or russet
2 medium onions, peeled
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs or matzo meal
Vegetable oil (not extra-virgin olive)

1. Heat pan, add a tablespoon of oil. Mince onion and brown slightly. Turn off heat.

2. Grate potatoes by hand or with grating disk of a food processor; drain in colander or strainer. Combine potatoes and onions in a large bowl with eggs, salt, pepper and bread crumbs or matzo meal.

3. Put about 1/8 inch oil in a large, deep skillet, either nonstick or seasoned cast iron; turn heat to medium-high. Be sure to heat the pan well. When oil is hot (it will shimmer) put all the batter in pan, and smooth the top. Cook, shaking pan occasionally; adjust heat so mixture sizzles but does not burn. Continue until bottom is nicely browned, at least 15 minutes.

4. To turn, slide cake out onto a large plate, cover with another large plate and invert. Add a little more oil to pan if necessary, and reheat pan. Slide pancake back in, cooked side up. Cook 15 minutes or so longer, until nicely browned. Serve hot or warm.

Notes:
Get the pan very hot before you add the batter. It's a lot of batter and the heat will drop quickly. Lower the heat as it begins to brown, to prevent burning.

When it's time to flip, remove to a plate and reheat the pan, then return to pan to brown the second side.

I doubled the onion and added an instruction to saute the onion.

Ra Pa Pa Pum

I have a tradition of declaring Ra Pa Pa Pum day.

It's defined as the first day each year I hear that song -- you know the one. Last year, it was at Starbuck's in November. This year, I was thinking it wouldn't happen but tonight, we were watching 30 Rock and there was a commercial for some new movie. I didn't even notice the song right away, but Kathy pointed it out!

This year, Ra Pa Pa Pum day is Dec 21.

Worst Instructions

And this is not made in China. It's a Swiss product:

Click the image to see it large enough to read, not that reading it will help.

This is for a frying pan. The handle for the lid, which includes at steam venting ring, comes in pieces and this tells how to assemble it. In addition to the English, you have to love the steps which are labeled 1 through 5 and 5 through 1. The 5-1 numbers actually label the illustration. Make sense now? No?? I think that means you're normal.

15 Minutes to Dinner

Friday night, dinner took 15 minutes and came almost entirely from the freezer. And no, not from a box.

I added cold water to the bag of frozen shrimp, left it to thaw ten minutes. The peas and corn went into the serving bowl with water, to thaw.

Meanwhile, I washed some cherry tomatoes and heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Drained the shrimp and sprinkled liberally (or is it progressively) with some spice blends. I think I used some Southwestern and some Indian spice mix.

The shrimp went into the pan just long enough to pink, then flip and pink. Add the peas and corn and cook until hot. Place in serving bowl with some more olive oil, for flavor, and stir in tomatoes.

Done!

Splodato

You know how they tell you to pierce a potato with a fork before you microwave it, lest it explode? Turns out that's pretty good advice.

Sorbet, Bittman Style

I just love Mark Bittman, the food guy for the NY Times. Check out this post on how to do a simple sorbet from frozen fruit with no food processor.

There is a video.

I would add a tablespoon or two of vodka and a tablespoon of corn syrup, for texture. He uses some dairy, so those ingredients are probably not necessary.

And this is a good chance to revisit my lemon sorbet which (pardon the ego) is perfect.

Oh, and did you see Bill Gross's burnt-orange ice cream in Wednesday's Mercury-News? I want to make that one.