Duck with a Plum Marmalade

We cut this recipe out of the newspaper years ago, and it is always a crowd pleaser.  Duck seems like such a decadent meat, probably due to the fatty skin, and a rich marmalade really complements it nicely.

Marmalade Ingredients: 1/2 cup diced red onion, 1 tsp minced garlic, 2 large plums diced, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, salt/pepper

Begin with the marmalade since it can be made a day ahead of time, or it can sit while you cook the duck.  Add your onion and garlic to a tbsp of olive oil to saute.

Once softened, add the plums.  Now we had trouble finding fresh plums in November, so we went with canned plums.  These work well since you're using them for a sauce as opposed to eating whole.  Don't go with dried plums.  We did find fresh pluots, which would also substitute nicely.  

After a few minutes when everything is nice and soft now, add the brown sugar then the broth, vinegar, and salt/pepper.  

One of our diners is allergic to balsamic so I cooked it with just the broth first, then once reduced, portioned some out for her and added the balsamic to the rest of the ingredients.  Cook for several minutes until the sauce is very thick...like a marmalade...that's when the flavor is strongest and the broth/vinegar are reduced enough.  

You can set aside the marmalade until ready to serve, or cook the duck concurrently, but if you cook the duck at the same time, make sure the duck doesn't finish before the sauce because either your duck will get cold, or you'll be forced to overcook it...neither one ideal.  

For the duck, season both sides with salt and pepper, heat some butter and olive oil in a skillet and add the duck breast, skin side down to begin searing.  

Cook for about 5 minutes on the skin side over medium/high heat.  There may be some splatter, so feel free to cover the pot with a splatter shield, but don't cover with a lid just yet.  Once you can see some of the meat above the skin cooking, flip the duck to heat the other side.  Cook at this point until your desired doneness.  I prefer my duck medium rare, so I char both the fat and the meat, then flip back over to the skin side and put a lid on the skillet for another 2 minutes or so to allow the heat to cook the insides.  

To serve, slice each breast and fan out the pieces on the plate.  If at this point you find your duck is undercooked, go ahead and place the slices back in the skillet over medium heat, but only heat on one side, so the remaining side stays pink, yet you maintain proper cooking.  Spoon the marmalade over the duck or to the side.  We served with rice and brussels sprouts and the marmalade tasted nice on the sides as well as the duck.  

Reduction Sauces - Steak and Potatoes

I purchased two filet mignons so I had two nights of steak and potato dinners.  The first I served with asparagus, the second with zucchini.  And for the sauce, two reduction sauces with garlic and mushrooms and then a garnish of french fried onions. 

The first reduction sauce was a port reduction.  I used a tawny port and added about a cup to a skillet of sauteed garlic and mushrooms and cooked until it was reduced.  The second reduction sauce was balsamic and I did the same thing.  

The asparagus I cooked in a skillet with a little water, salt, and pepper.  The zucchini I seasoned and cooked with a little olive oil.  For the filets, I heated a skillet over medium-high heat, salted/peppered the meat, and seared the steak for about 2 minutes on each side. 

Dish up the potatoes, green veggies, steak, pour the reduction sauce over the potatoes/meat, and garnish with the onions.  Steakhouse dinner at home and you didn't even need a grill. 

Balsamic Marinated Steak with Pesto Mashed Potatoes

I bought these weird thinly sliced steak strips that called themselves sandwich strips.  I figured I'd marinate them, grill them, put them between some bread, and do the whole sandwich thing.  Well, my bread went bad, but I was hungry, so I figured I'd treat these steaks how I normally would a skirt or a flank steak.

I went for a balsamic-based marinade, so into the ziploc bag went the balsamic vinegar, salt/pepper, rosemary, garlic, and a touch of olive oil.  Into the fridge it went while I sliced some red onion and scallion (onion overkill? probably. but they were all i had in terms of complimentary produce).

I then made some mashed potatoes, because nothing goes better w/ steak than potatoes.  I mashed with cream cheese and pesto sauce, rather than milk and cheese, for a little variation.

Finally, it was time to cook the steak.  It took about three minutes since it was so thin, and I didn't want to overcook.  Heat the skillet over medium-high heat.  Add your steak, red onions, and the juices.  Cook the steak about 1-2 minutes per side.  Turn over, repeat.

Plate your mashed potatoes, lay your steak atop them, and drizzle with some of the red onions and reduced balsamic vinegar marinade.  Garnish with some fresh scallions if you're feeling like your breath won't be pungent enough already.

LND: Entertaining Recipes - Puff Pastry Pizzas

 

Yes, I cropped the same picture from the last post.  I was too lazy to differentiate between the two appetizers last time, but I couldn't start a new blog post with the same header.  I originally had envisioned some mad photo shopping to be involved.  But this blog is about my cheffery, not my computer design skillz.  So focus on the stuff without shrimp in the above picture and be glad I didn't resort to arrows and borders a la MS Paint. 

So here's what you need to make this crowd-pleasing hors d'oeuvre (do you add the s at the end even when you want it to be singular? French is not a language I know.):

Puff Pastry (buy it in a box from your grocer's freezer section that contains two sheets of dough)

Onion

Garlic

Pesto (I buy the Trader Giotto's premade variety, but choose your fav)

Balsamic Vinegar

Brie Cheese

Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce (didn't see soy sauce coming with the S&P did you?)

1. Slice puff pastry sheets while still chilled, but not completely frozen because they will crack, but when too thawed they'll stick to things and lose their shape.  Good luck.  Cut into whatever size you want for your party and place on a greased or non-stick cookie sheet.  Spread a little bit of the pesto sauce on them.  

2. Slice your onion.  Saute with a tablespoon or so of garlic over medium/low heat in butter/oil/bacon grease, whatever you prefer! (I opted for EVOO this time).  Stir often so as to avoid burning.  Carmelization will occur in due time.  Patience, young grasshopper.  It can take up to 45 minutes if you're working with a bad stove, a lot of onions, and low heat.  

3.  Once carmelized, add the balsamic to the onions.  Start with 1/8 of a cup and add more to your taste.  You don't need too much for it to pack a punch.  Salt and pepper at this point and if you're so inclined, and add a dash of soy sauce to cut the bitterness of the balsamic.  

4. Now the fun parts (i.e. the time-consuming, potentially finger-burning, not so fun parts).  Put some of the carmelized onions atop the pesto-covered pastry sheets.  Then add a small slice of brie cheese atop the onions.  

5. Bake.  I'd follow the package directions if they recommend a particular temperature setting.  I used 375 degrees for 12-18 minutes, until the puff pastry puffed and was light golden brown.  Serve warm, but they're not bad at room temp either (so no worries if you don't consume them all within the first 5 minutes).  

*photo credits for the past 2 thanksgiving appetizer posts given to LND's father and his fancy DSLR camera that far outperforms my point and shoot.  But do not get comfortable with this level of photo-quality because this blog hasn't made it to the big leagues yet.  That, and I haven't resorted to moving back home where the nice camera lives, so for now you'll have to settle for quality photos only during the holidays. 

Tomato and Feta Sandwich

This is what happens when you spend a couple weekends out of town and are going out of town again soon so you don't want to go grocery shopping.  You end up needing to finish the last of the bread, the feta cheese that's been around for far too long (no mold i promise!), and tomatoes are the only thing in your produce drawer.  Wait, I'm the only one this happens to?  So we got a little creative with last night's dinner.  Open faced tomato and cheese sandwich!

Slice the tomatoes, coat with salt, pepper, and dried basil.  Coat a heated saute pan with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Add the tomato slices.  Cook about a minute on one side.  Flip over.  Put the feta cheese on top to heat while you cook for another minute.  Transfer tomatoes to a piece of toast and drizzle remaining balsamic/oil pan drippings over tomatoes/toast.  And there you have it.  A pretty lame dinner.

Sliders!

Bacon Teriyaki, Bernaise Balsamic, Bacon and Blue

I'm just a little bit excited about last night's dinner.  Craving a burger on the way home from work I realized, "I've got some ground beef in the freezer, I'll make my own!" and thus...sliders!  And here's the fun part about sliders, you can make a few with different flavors so you don't have to choose just one type of cheese, or one type of marinade for the beef (Yes, I do in fact marinade my beef).  So here's the lowdown:

For the burger patties: Ground beef (I used 80/20), diced mushrooms, diced garlic, marinade (add diced onions if you have any...I didn't)
My two marinades: Balsamic vinegar or Teriyaki/soy sauce/sesame oil/sesame seeds
Cheeses: Roquefort, Parmesan, Cheddar, Feta (not pictured)
Toppings: Bacon, Scallions
Sauces: Mayo, Bernaise
Bread: Tuscan Pane (from Trader Joe's) lightly toasted

I enjoy marinading my ground beef to add flavor in the burger when you bit into it.  I opted for two marinades last night: a balsamic and a teriyaki.  I also enjoy throwing diced mushrooms and/or onions in with my ground beef to cook within the burger itself.  Another dimension of added flavor and texture.

Ground beef, garlic, mushrooms, balsamic.  Don't be afraid to get your hands messy when you mix it all together.  

Once your beef is mixed to your liking, form small patties with your hands.  If you have trouble with the meat falling apart you can add some egg and milk, but your burgers will taste a bit like meatloaf, if you're cool with that.  Not wanting to use my grill pan, I again opted for the skillet cooked burgers.

It's important not to squish your burgers down as they cook, no matter what surface you're cooking them on, because that's how they lose all their good juices from the inside and you're left with a dry, unappealing burger.  You can squish once they're in the bun.  So cook these, turning over periodically until they're cooked through to your liking.  When almost done, you can add the cheese on top to melt before assembling your burgers.  I also like using bread instead of hamburger buns because I don't have to buy something special for these, and I actually love the taste/toasty texture.

So what were my final creations?  At the bottom of the first picture is your classic "bacon and blue" with the Roquefort cheese, bacon, scallion, and mayo.  This used the balsamic burger.  Going up clockwise we have a traditional bacon burger with cheddar cheese and mayo.  This utilized the teriyaki burger.  And my favorite of the night was the balsamic burger topped with parmesan, scallions, and bernaise sauce (bringing the steakhouse to the burger joint).  I had a ton of leftovers, so I must admit I nibbled later on a balsamic burger topped with feta, scallions, bacon, and bernaise sauce sans bread. 

Proof that you don't need a grill and don't need to settle on a single burger for dinner.