Da, da!!

Yeah, yeah obvious title for the #abcmeals 'D' post, but oh well!  D turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  Of course there is always duck, and I did contemplate getting another batch of the delicious steamed duck buns from XO, but somehow restrained myself.  My key components ended up being dukkah, duck and dark chocolate.

The duck recipe below is really simple and you can find it or a variation on any number of websites.  I managed to complicate it by buying a whole duck and breaking it down.  I found at my local farmer's markets I could get a fresh, free-range, local duck (from only 30kms away) for only $15.  They have bigger ones for $20 too.  I've mentioned in other posts how much cheaper it is to buy a whole duck and break it down.  It's not that difficult, just think of it as a chicken and away you go.  I've got the marylands in the freezer for another day, when it gets colder and it's time for some duck ragu.  You'll get quite a bit of duck fat from the skin when it's cooking.  This can be strained, cooled and saved for another day when you have a hankering for crispy roasted duck fat potatoes.
 
Duck with Dukkah Couscous
300g pumpkin
2 duck breasts
200mL chicken or vegetable stock
100g couscous
1 pomegranate - seeds only
50g pistachios, toasted
1/4 cup coriander leaves, roughly torn
2 tbsp pistachio dukkah (or dukkah of your choice)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Greek or Natural yoghurt

1. Peel pumpkin and cut into small pieces.  Place on a lined roasting tray.  Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for about 20 minutes at 200C, until golden and tender.
2. Heat a frypan over medium-high heat.  Cook duck skin-side down for 4 - 5 minutes.  Then turn over and cook for further 4 - 5 minutes, or to your liking.  Transfer to a plate, cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile in a small saucepan bring the stock to the boil.  Add couscous.  Stir, cover and turn off heat.  In about 5 minutes lift the lid and check that the liquid has been absorbed.  Then fluff it up with a fork and cover until required.
4. Get the seeds out of the pomegranate, by cutting it in half, then firmly tapping it with the back of a spoon (over a bowl).  You may have to cut away some of the flesh to get all the seeds out.
5. Add pumpkin, pomegranate seeds, pistachios and coriander to cous cous and gently combine.
6. Slice duck into slices and place on top of coriander. 
7. Sprinkle dukkah on top of the duck and serve with lemon wedges and Greek or Natural yoghurt.

I'd had a bit of a disaster of a day (well week, really) and so the Dark Chocolate Pots for dessert didn't quite have enough time to set and were a little runny underneath - who doesn't love dark chocolate soup?!?!? I really should have made them the night before.  The one spare chocolate pot, that stayed in the fridge overnight, set beautifully and was just as delicious the next day.

Dark Chocolate Pots
180g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
80mL water
2 eggs, separated
75g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Tia Maria (or Kahlua or Baileys)
Thickened cream

1. Place chocolate, butter and water in a heatproof bowl, over a slowly simmering pot of water. Do not let the water touch the bowl.  Stir until melted, then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. Once chocolate is cooled, whip egg whites to soft peaks. 
3. In a separate bowl beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick.  Fold chocolate mixture and liqueur into egg yolk mixture.
4. Gently fold in one-third of the egg whites, then the remaining egg whites, until just combined.
5. Pour into 4 glasses and chill for 2 - 3 hours (or overnight) until set.
6. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh raspberries or ferro rocher or rafaello or shaved chocolate or whatever you like really!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @oitcfood #abcmeals #oitcfood

Where's the cream?

I’m on holidays at the moment, so I thought a 3 course meal was in order. As I was flipping through the current (April 2012) of the MasterChef magazine I came across these three dishes courtesy of Matt Moran. All in all these three courses worked well together. They were all light and flavoursome in their own special way. It was a good combination of flavours to welcome in the new cooler season of autumn. This is a long post – three courses to get through, you may want to get a coffee or a wine (depending on your time of day) before you start! Enjoy….

First course – Fennel, lemon and orzo soup with aioli toasts (Serves 6)
The soup couldn’t have been easier to make. Sweat off a finely sliced leek with two cloves of chopped garlic. Add finely sliced fennel from two baby bulbs. Cook over medium until fennel is beginning to soften. Meanwhile cook orzo (risoni) for 5 mins in boiling water, it will finish cooking when you add it to the soup. Add the risoni and 1L vegetable stock to the soup and allow to simmer about 10 mins, until fennel is softened. Finally add the juice of a lemon and it’s lemon rind. Season, with salt and pepper, as you go. At first I only added half the lemon juice, and then tasted the soup – it definitely needed the rest. Serve with reserved fennel tops, any left over lemon zest and aioli toast.

For the aioli toast – diagonally slice a fresh baguette and toast under the grill or on a grill pan. For the aioli either buy the best one you can find, or use 1/3 cup egg mayonnaise, add to it 1 crushed clove of garlic, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir it up to combine and taste. Don’t add too much lemon juice or it will turn into a sauce and be far too sour. You want enough lemon juice to ‘loosen’ the mayonnaise and to add that little tang to the aioli. Spread the aioli on the toasted bread, and serve with the soup.

This soup was light in colour, texture and flavour. There was the right amount of lemon, to match up with the crunchy aioli toast. A lovely way to start the meal – we had to be careful not to eat too much. There’s more than enough soup in this recipe to feed 6 using these quantities, or add more stock and risoni to feed more hungry mouths.

Second course – Roast duck with lentils, pumpkin and orange (Serves 2)
I have to say straight up that I’m not a massive fan of lentils, but I didn’t let it deter me. This dish also includes Brussels sprouts, which I then found out Andy had never eaten. I tried to describe the flavour, but it’s kind of hard to. In his favour, the sprouts are deconstructed for this dish, so it wasn’t like he was facing a whole bowl of boiled ones!

I started by rinsing then cooking 100g green lentils in boiling water till al dente (15 – 20 mins), then draining them and setting aside. Whilst they were cooking I diced 200g butternut pumpkin, and mixed it with the zest of an orange and a dash of olive oil. This then went on a lined tray into a 200C oven for 20 mins to roast. After scoring the skin of 2 duck breasts, I placed them skin-side down in a cold fry pan, and cooked them over medium heat for about 8 mins, until the skin was golden and crisp, and most of the fat was rendered. The duck breasts then went on a pre-heated oven tray into the oven (once the pumpkin had come out) for about 5 – 6 mins (cooked to medium). They then rested, covered till I was ready to slice and serve.

Meanwhile, leave only about 60mL (1/4 cup) of duck fat in the fry pan and add 1 thinly sliced red onion and 1 crushed garlic clove. Cook over low heat for 10 mins, until lightly caramelised. Trim bases of 125g Brussels sprouts and place in colander in sink. Pour over boiling water to lightly wilt, then refresh in cold water, and drain well. They will then be bright green and looking like mini lettuce cups! Add the juice of the orange you zested earlier and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to the onions, simmer and cook for 2 mins until nearly evaporated. Add 60 mL red wine and 60mL chicken consommé (or stock, don’t tell Matt Moran!) and ½ - 1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard to the onions. Simmer and cook for 8 mins or until syrupy and reduced. Add lentils, pumpkin and Brussels sprouts leaves, simmer for 1 minute to warm through. Slice duck and serve on top of the lentil mixture.

As I said above, whilst not being a lentil fan, this was indeed quite tasty. The deconstructed Brussels sprouts were an interesting flavour, and not at all like Brussels sprouts really. That being said there were too many lentils and not enough pumpkin for my liking. So, next time I’d halve the lentils and double the pumpkin and onion.

Third course – Apple and Polenta Tarts with Apple Caramel
These were easy, quick and delicious. Start with the caramel – 40g butter, 2 tablespoons cloudy apple juice and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, in a small pan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stir till sugar is dissolved. Peel and core 1 granny smith apple, and thinly slice it. Add the pieces to the caramel once it is simmering, toss to coat and leave for 2 mins, till apple starts to soften. Remove apple and set aside. Put the apple skins in the caramel and turn it off, till it’s time to serve.

Meanwhile, grease the base and sides of 4 x 8cm (3cm-deep) tart pans with removable bases. Line the base too. Beat 50g softened butter and 55g (¼ cup) caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 egg, and beat until combined. Add 55g (1/3 cup) polenta and beat until combined. Sift 75g (½ cup) plain flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt in a bowl, and then add to polenta mixture alternatively with 60mL (¼ cup) cloudy apple juice. Divide amongst pans (they will be half full). Place apple slices, overlapping, in a single line on top of each tart, and press slightly into batter. Bake 20 mins at 180C, until golden. Cool on a wire rack, then remove from pans.

And this is where the title might start to make sense…. Serve with a dollop of cream (or scoop of ice-cream) and drizzle with apple caramel (remove the skin from it before drizzling!). As I was serving this up I naturally went to the fridge to get the cream I had bought, and could not find it! I looked and looked, and finally remembered I’d been cleaning out the fridge earlier in the day and remembered throwing out what I thought was old cream, alas it turned out it was not. Anyway, I didn’t miss the cream on my plate as the apple caramel sauce was more than enough for me. I enjoyed this dessert – it was light, and had a slightly crunch to it because of the polenta. Next time (as well as cream/ice-cream), I was thinking it could maybe do with a hint of cinnamon or cloves or mixed spice. Something to ponder...

Happy New Year

To start off 2012, I cooked using two of my favourite ingredients - duck and chocolate. Tonight's menu was Roast Duck Breast with pickled red cabbage and figs (Matt Moran, Dinner at Matt's, p98), followed by a flourless chocolate cake with raspberries (Delicious Sweet, p56)

I chose the duck dish as I actually had all the ingredients (except Veal jus) in the cupboard or fridge. I know what you're thinking - who has duck breast and random duck bits hanging around??? What can I say, I love duck.

I have learnt from experience that the cheapest way to cook with duck is to buy a whole one and break it down, which will cost you in the range of $20. To buy just two duck breasts costs the same. So why not make an effort and then you have the wings, neck and ribs in the freezer for a rainy day when you just so happen to feel like making spiced duck jus! It's not as hard as it sounds!

The entire dish was quite simple to create. The pickled red cabbage is better if done the day before, and allowed to soak in the fridge overnight. Once you've made the spiced duck jus and reduced it, cook the duck breasts and allow them to rest for 10 or so minutes. Then slice, plate and serve.

The chocolate cake was straight forward as well. I love flourless chocolate cakes with their gooey centres and this one didn't disappoint. I served it simply with fresh raspberries and a dollop of cream. Very tasty.

My rating for tonight's dinner: 4/5 wooden spoons

Rose