Fall Comfort Food

I love the fall. Turtlenecks and my favorite pumpkin colored coat and house slippers and butternut squash. The ones they sell at Chinos Family Farm are petite and delicious and this dish was simple, comforting and so incredibly good that my sister and I didn’t speak to one another for five minutes when we first sat down to eat. Since you are likely to encounter these lovelies at the green market in the coming weeks, thought you might want to give this dish a try.

Butternut Squash Rissotto
1/2 of a butternut squash (roast in oven for ~30 min to soften)
1 cup Arborio rice
1 shallot, sliced thin
Rosemary sprig(s)
Fresh nutmeg
Parmesano reggiano
Stock (homemade is obviously the best, but if in a rush, I prefer Swanson’s Natural Goodness Reduced Sodium)

Cook shallots in olive oil, add butternut squash. Salt and pepper. After about five minutes, add the rice and cook for ~2 minutes. Start adding stock. Add diced rosemary, grate some fresh nutmeg into the pot, and taste stock for salt/pepper. Stir, add stock, stir, etc. When rice is just done add a handful of grated parm/regg and stir into the risotto real well. Serve with generous amounts of cheese on top. If you’re feeling fancy add a small rosemary sprig on top of the rice before serving.

Kaoru: Ginger Braised Duck

Duck? I’d never made duck before, so when I read Julie’s posting, I was struck with anxiety.

Yet, when my nephew declared "this is the best [blog] dish so far," I knew I had hit a home run. Despite his proclivity for consuming carbs and fruit, he went to town with the duck using both of his hands. I have to admit, the duck was pretty scrumptious. It was sweet, juicy, flavorful and, as Mr. Martini (not to be confused with Mr. Latte) noted, "fall-off-the-bone tender."

The braising: The 4+ lb Muscovy duck was still frozen solid when I was ready to braise, so I returned to the store for help: Place entirely in container full of cold water, in sink. Let sit in water, with fresh water from the faucet trickling in to the container. Allow the water to overflow in to the sink. After an hour, the duck was perfectly thawed, just as I was advised.

The braising itself was a piece of cake. Like Julie, Mr. Martini and I closely monitored the “lazy bubbles”, but found it somewhat challenging. It actually doesn’t really matter that much. Just be careful when flipping the duck: mine ker-plunked a mini-tsunami wave over the side of the pot. Cleaning up duck muck is not fun. Once cooled, I placed the duck and cooking liquid in the fridge separately.

The broth: The next day, I took out the pot and noticed that the fat had formed a thick crust on top of the duck broth. I’m sure it’s lovely, but I couldn’t get myself to keep it. The broth itself however was one of of the most delicious by-products of cooking I have ever encountered. It will be an amazing addition to risotto, pasta sauce, or a dozen other dishes!

The roasting: This step way amazingly simple given that the duck had already been braised and cooked through. I roasted ~40 minutes. And, in place of sherry, I used sake to bring out more of an Asian flavor. Once finished, I let the bird rest, upon which Mr. Martini sliced it up very nicely for the table (thanks Mr. Martini!).

The meal: I served the duck with watercress and roux from the pan. The watercress provided a bitter contrast to the duck’s richness, and the roux allowed everyone to pour some additional flavor on top before eating. As sides, I also served sautéed bok choy and Japanese rice. The harmony of flavors from the various dishes was quite something and I could not have been more pleased with my first duck experience. Like my nephew, this dish might be my favorite one thus far.

I really love how our group has challenged me to prepare dishes with ingredients I had never used in all my years of cooking. Further, our group has taught me to be a bit more fearless in the kitchen. I never thought I'd say this: I truly can't wait to make duck again!

Julie: Ginger Braised Duck

Our downstairs has been perfumed with the heady smell of duck for almost a week now, and I have to say, it is wonderful. I loved how this duck became the basis for several meals over the course of the week-- we had the duck itself, I used some of the "broth" (which was more like a demi-glace for me) and the leftover meat for duck risotto, and then I used the rest of the "broth" for the pasta dish Amanda talks about in the introductory paragraph. All ended up really delicious, but definitely not light. I'm ready to eat only salad and vegetable soup for a couple days just to detox!

Day 1: braising the duck. I have to say I was intimidated as this was my first whole duck. But braising it was incredibly easy. The only challenge I had was temperature regulation. My low setting on the gas range was a little too high, not the lazy fizzing she recommends, and my extra low setting (where it goes intermittently on and off) was too low. So I think I need to either get one of those flame tamers, or as Jer recommended earlier, do it in the oven rather than the stovetop. The advantage of the stovetop was it was easy to get to it to check it and flip it, but I think next time, it will be the oven for me. After it braised, I put the bird on a roasting pan and just stuck that and the pot with all the liquids in the fridge.

Day 2: roasting the duck. Again, really easy. I followed her directions exactly. The only exception I made was that I saved the duck fat from the top of the broth (there was a lot of it!) as I thought for the pasta and rice dishes I was eyeing to make, the duck fat would make a nice substitute for the butter. (it did!) I roasted the birdy as she recommended, and it got beautiful. So delicious looking.


As it roasted, I was going to make the rice with duck broth she recommended, only to realize I was out of long grain rice. However, I noticed I had a box of arborio. So I improvised and make duck broth risotto, and I have to say, it came out utterly delicious. I sauteed some onions in a little of the duck fat, then added the rice to toast a bit, then slowly added about a cup and a half of the duck broth, some chicken broth, and a bit of red wine. It came out so savory and delicious-- probably too rich a side dish to the duck in normal circumstances, but I knew it would be delicious the next day with duck meat stirred in. I have to say the duck broth made a huge impact on the risotto-- on that note, while braising I put in a bit less water then Amanda recommends, instead covering the duck only 1/3 of the way, as Molly Steven's recommends in her "All About Braising". So my broth was concentrated and more like a demi-glace, gelatinous and thick. But I was quite happy about this, as the flavor was intensely concentrated and a cup went a long way!

The duck itself came out well, though I can't say the meat was quite a falling off the bone as she described, perhaps because I couldn't get the braise to stay at exactly the right temp. But the meat was moist and flavorful so I couldn't complain. The skin looked great, but I think something went amuck somewhere, as there was still quite a bit of fat attached to it... again, perhaps because of the braise not being quite right, or perhaps I pulled it out of the oven too soon. I am not a big "straight fat" eater, so I couldn't bring myself to eat the skin that had the fat attached, but the parts that didn't were delish. Seeing all the skin leftover I had the idea to try and salvage it. So I decided to try and cook it like bacon, and took the leftover skin and roasted it in the oven to render the fat. What remained was like "duck bacon" or pork rinds. I haven't used it yet, but maybe chopped up small in a salad, like duck bacon bits?

Day 3: leftovers of duck stirred into the risotto. Delish!

Day 4: I made the pasta sauce she recommended and served it over fettucine. Took a little duck fat and made a roux, sauteeing it with flour. Added the rest of the duck "broth", about a cup. Then added some cream, some lowfat milk (couldn't do a cup of straight cream, just sounded too rich) , some sliced mushrooms and some cooked turkey meat I had frozen from my last turkey soup batch. The sauce came together quickly and was creamy and so flavorful from the duck broth. The depth and complexity of the flavor was wonderful, but not too "ducky" which was good, considering we'd had duck twice already this week. It made a truly wonderful pasta sauce, and served with a green salad and some blanched broccoli, was a great meal.

So overall, this bird went a LONG way! I would happily repeat this recipe for company, as it was impressive, delicious and quite easy. As a regular staple though, it wouldn't be so good for our waistlines!