Eatentions

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Meat and Poultry

Duck Confit

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Duck marinated and cooked in its own fat in a low oven for 14 hours, falling off the bone and dense with flavor, doesn’t this just sound so unappetizing? I mean really and then served over homemade cavatelli or pappardelle pasta accompanied by a scrumptious glass of brunello? Or perhaps mixed with sautéed wild mushrooms over caramelized shallot potato au gratin and a glass of burgundy……ahhh the endless possibilities of torture.

It was in the Normandy area of France where I was introduced to this legendary fowl. Never before was I drawn toward this delicacy, I don’t really know why. Maybe it was because I really never had it growing up or perhaps it has come into fashion more in recent years or maybe I just didn’t want too. I don’t know but what I do know and will never forget is the story of our first encounter.

We had just arrived from the U.S in Paris, 14 hours of flight time and little sleep only to hop into our rented car and head west toward our destination. Thank GOD the adrenaline of the beginning of vacation overrides any sense of exhaustion otherwise we would have collapsed in Charles de Gaulle airport walkway and woke up 3 days later into our blissful getaway…

Getting out of the city and onto the back roads is always our favorite pathway, especially in Europe. It is such an amazing experience and the scenery is mesmerizing.

It was a winding road through a small village and I, the co-pilot, was navigating the way attempting to find a short cut to our magical destination, a 14th century priory converted to a bed and breakfast by a retired Parisian couple. I couldn’t wait arrive!!

As I studied the photo of the property dotted with stone buildings built by artisan masons and the vast area filled with flower gardens and lily ponds, I fantasized about the mornings where we would feast on warm croissants with homemade butter and strawberry jam accompanied with a café au lait when suddenly I was jolted out of my dream-like state by my wonderful other half who had spotted a white rectangle object along side the road and decided as we are passing at 50 MPH to hang a U-turn and investigate.

Before I could ask “what the….?” we had jumped out of the car to discover the front of the rectangle box was actually a mobile butcher shop. We gasped like children in a penny candy store and oohed and awed at the fresh selections. There was rabbit, pheasant, duck, and local cheeses…..As we scanned down the row pointing, giggling, and drooling, you would have thought we were shopping at Hermes on the Champs Elysees, we both suddenly stopped, held our breath, and shouted a victory scream! There is was…..8 choices of FRESH PATE, handmade by the maestro himself! OMG, how do we choose? We decided no one in their right mind should EVER have to choose so, we didn’t and bought all 8! If we can’t eat it all, we could always bathe in it or use it as lotion. I mean, how bad can that be, smelling like fresh duck pate all day? I can think of worse things.

So you can take your imagination from here and fill in the blanks with guessing how many boulangerie’s were woven into the vacation for the purchase of the scrupmtous fresh baguettes as well as the sampling of several bottles of wine in order to discover the perfect combination, After all, we owed it to the legendary 8.

Ever since that roadside wonder, I have been obsessed with duck prepared in a number of ways. This is one of my all time favorites and a go to when I just need to return to that rectangle box.

Duck Confit
 
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What’s NOT TO LOVE about duck confit? Here is an EASY recipe to make this delicacy at home. Honestly, the hardest thing about this recipe is the time it takes to marinate and then cook. Just plan accordingly and I promise, you won’t be disappointed!
Author:
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: French
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 4 duck leg portions with thighs attached, (about 2 pounds) excess fat trimmed and reserved
  • 1 tablespoon plus ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 10 garlic cloves
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1½ teaspoon black peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • 4 cups olive oil
  • 1 lb shitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 shallots, thinly sliced
  • 6 garlic cloved, diced
  • 5 sliced of pancetta, diced thin
  • 1 bag of spinach
  • Chicken Broth
  • Duck Fat
Instructions
  1. For the Duck Confit (Prep day ahead)
  2. Lay the leg portions on a platter, skin side down. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the kosher salt and the black pepper. Place the garlic cloves, bay leaves, and sprigs of thyme on each of 2 leg portions. Lay the remaining 2 leg portions, flesh to flesh, on top. Put the reserved fat from the ducks in the bottom of a glass or plastic container. Top with the sandwiched leg portions. Sprinkle with the remaining ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.
  3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
  4. Remove the duck from the refrigerator. Remove the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and duck fat and reserve. Rinse the duck with cool water, rubbing off some of the salt and pepper. Pat dry with paper towels.
  5. Put the reserved garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and duck fat in the bottom of an enameled cast iron pot. Sprinkle evenly with the peppercorns and table salt. Lay the duck on top, skin side down. Add the olive oil. Cover and bake for 12 to 14 hours, or until the meat pulls away from the bone.
  6. Remove the duck from the fat. Strain the fat and reserve. To store the duck confit, place the duck leg portions in a container, cover with the reserved cooking fat, and store in the refrigerator. Alternately, pick the meat from the bones and place it in a stoneware container. Cover the meat with a thin layer of some of the strained fat. The duck confit can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
  7. The excess oil can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and used like butter for cooking. The tinge of duck taste in the oil is wonderful.
  8. To Make the Sauce:
  9. Heat 3 T of the duck fat in a skillet on stovetop. Add shallot and cook until caramelized. Add pancetta, cook for 3-4 min and add garlic, cook 1 min. Add 3 T more duck fat and add mushrooms. Cook until softened and add ½ cup chicken broth. Toss in Spinach and wilt. Add ½ cup chicken and 3 T more duck fat. Salt and pepper to taste. Note - Depending on what you are making this for, may want to add more liquid, chicken broth or duck fat, your choice!

 

Beef and Lamb Meatballs with Fava Beans and Lemon!

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BEEF AND LAMB MEATBALLS WITH FAVA BEANS AND LEMON

This dish just makes me happy. I’m going to start this post with that statement because I can. It is just the BEST of all worlds when you bring in every element.

I found this brilliant gem in Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Jerusalem. This book is stacked full of simply delicious recipes and I find myself pouring through its contents on a regular basis.

What makes it fun is to read his memories of the dishes and go then back to the archives of my travel ventures and compare notes. While I haven’t been to Jerusalem, I have had the pleasure of eating many a delish meal heavily influenced by the Jewish traditions and ingredients.

So this trip down memory lane brings me to Spain, if you can believe that. Yeah, I know, it’s a bit FAR and I’m not even in the same arena but hang with me, there’s a story.

If you have ever had the chance to go to the Andalucía area of Spain, the food simply rocks, really. We ate our way through the cities, villages, train stations, wherever. Nowhere was disappointing.

On one of our gluttonous jaunts, we stumbled across a Moroccan restaurant in Rhonda, Spain. We found it off the beaten path from the old town center. The outside tables were across a small street in a park so of course we chose to sit there. Plus it was fun to watch the waiters carry food and drink out while dogging the cars zipping through the square. It was impressive and I wondered how they interviewed for their staff? “Looking for waiters who are talented in stunt work”.

The menu itself was an inch thick and I immediately thought, HOW can they be this good at ALL of this? Well, we were here and if nothing else, the entertainment was worth it and I can always drink wine.

I decided we would need 3 days to study the menu so we asked the stunt man, I mean waiter for his recommendations. As he started page by page, we quickly realized we just needed to entrust this multi-talented man with the task of satisfying our pallets.

He was very calculated as he chose the dishes he felt would please our curiosity and us; he didn’t disappoint. Three hours later, we were filled with the most exquisite combinations of spices, herbs, nuts, and fruits emulsified into sauces and dressed over appetizers, salads, and then fish and lamb. The flavors were so complex and their layers lingered through the entire experience of the dishes.

One of the highlight dishes we had were lamb meatballs laced with almonds, herbs, and various spices and then placed in a delicate sauce of lamb stock, beans, and onion. I dreamt of the restaurant and this dish for days and returned twice in hopes of conquering the menu but always ended up with this favorite.

This recipe takes me back to the park across the street from the little restaurant.

Beef and Lamb Meatballs with Fava Beans and Lemon!
 
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Pair up the fava bean with another springtime delicacy, lamb and finish it all with the brightness of lemon and you have the PERFECT dish! Mop this up with fresh pita bread OR serve it over basmati/orzo rice…perhaps do BOTH, which is my favorite! I also add a yogurt-tahini sauce to the top which mixes in a creaminess to the complex flavors.
Author:
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • For the meatballs
  • ½ lb minced beef
  • ½ lb minced lamb
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbsp each chopped flat-leaf parsley, mint, dill and coriander, plus ½ tbsp extra of each to finish
  • 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 tbsp baharat spice mix, recipe below
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp capers, chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 4½ tbsp olive oil
  • 1½ cups fava beans, fresh or frozen
  • 
4 whole thyme sprigs
  • 6 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 8 spring onions, cut at an angle into 2cm segments
  • 2½ tbsp lemon juice
  • 
2½ cups chicken stock
  • salt and black pepper
  • Baharat spice mix:
  • 4 tablespoons ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander
  • Fresh cinnamon stick
  • 2 tablespoons ground cloves
  • 3 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 4 teaspoons fresh nutmeg, grated
  • 4 tablespoons paprika
Instructions
  1. Put all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl. Add three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper, mix with your hands and form into balls about the size of ping-pong balls. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in an extra-large frying pan for which you have a lid. Sear half the meatballs over a medium heat, turning them until they are brown all over – this will take about five minutes. Remove from the pan, add another half-tablespoon of oil to the pan and cook the other batch of meatballs. Once browned all over, remove these from the pan, too, then wipe it clean with paper towel.
  2. While the meatballs are cooking, throw the fava beans into a pot with plenty of salted boiling water and blanch for two minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water, then remove and discard the skins from half the fava beans.
  3. Heat the remaining oil in the meatball pan, add the thyme, garlic and spring onion, and sauté over a medium heat for three minutes. Add the unshelled fava beans, 1/1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, ⅓ cup of the stock, a ¼ teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper. The beans should be almost covered by liquid. Pop on the lid and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.
  4. Return the meatballs to the pan, add the remaining stock, cover again and simmer gently for 25 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. If it is still very runny, remove the lid and reduce a little. Once the meatballs stop cooking, they will soak up a lot of the juices, so make sure there is still plenty of sauce at this point. You can leave the meatballs now, off the heat, until you're ready to serve.
  5. Just before serving, reheat the meatballs and add a more broth, if needed, to get enough sauce. Gently stir in the remaining herbs, lemon juice and the shelled fava beans and serve immediately.

Pork Belly Tacos!

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I had pork belly for the first time in Las Vegas. We were walking to our destination Nobu, the infamous Japanese restaurant inside the Hard Rock Hotel with a waiting list a mile long. We had been chomping, no pun intended, to feast in this trendy hot spot for months. Finally, the day arrived.

We entered the restaurant and it was buzzing with foodies from around the globe. Sake of any kind flowing by the bottle, wagyu beef sold by the ounce, exotic sushi items filled the tables, and we drooled with envy and excitement. This was going to be a complete gastronomic experience like never before.

Sitting down in the cozy booth, the waitress came by with a complimentary piece of sashimi from the chef and a glass of premium sake. I knew I was staying for the night, probably spending it. Might want to warn the service team.

The menu experience was like studying a fine artist. It was filled with gorgeous dishes with complex flavor profiles and cooking methods native to the Japanese cuisine.

The waitress could see if she left us to our own choices, it could be dangerous as each time she passed, we were still focused on the first page. She calmly offered to suggest putting together a tasting menu to allow us a chance to discover the vastness of the variety of dishes. We were giddy with delight and agreed to be happily surprised.

First up were a few cold dishes like monkfish pate with caviar and whitefish with ponzu sauce. We savored the dishes with oohs and ahhs all the while challenging our pallets to dissect with flavors. The waitress glanced occasionally with a giggle, I’m sure we made her evening.

Next up was a hot dish, tonkotsu ramen. I said to her, “the what ramen?”; sounded totally Greek to me. She repeated but then quickly realized I wasn’t fluent in Japanese and explained the accompaniments in the dish. “Its’ a rich, creamy pork broth with simmered egg and pork belly”. Stop right there…..I turned to Enrique and whispered, is this like menudo, the Mexican tripe soup made of the stomach? Obviously, I wasn’t as savvy to know that they are TWO DIFFERENT PARTS but hey, I had to ask.

The waitress obviously heard my ignorance. She held back the giggle and kindly explained the difference. Basically all I heard was, “pork belly is where bacon comes from…” and the story stopped in my head and I was SOLD! Bacon ramen noodles, oh yeah!

Of course when it came, the pork wasn’t in the style of bacon but all it took was one bite of this deliciousness and I didn’t care I ate another thing, it was amazing.

When we returned home, I learned how long it look to make each of the individual ingredients BEFORE incorporating them into the final preparation of this decadent dish, sometimes it is hours and can go up to several days. I knew if I was going to indulge in my new found love of the pork belly, I would have to come up with some recipes I could actually make the same day I was wanting to consume them.

Staying in line with my initial ignorance if pork belly was used in menudo, I decided to try another Mexican, no-fail dish, the taco.

A bit of a far cry from the original Japanese dish, this recipe is a combination of searing and braising allowing for the crispy texture and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness which could leave the diner confused…. Is it shredded pork? Is it chicharones? No, it’s the pork belly. Roll in a fresh corn or flour tortilla and garnishings of your choice and I promise you will adore these, maybe as much as the ramen.

Pork Belly Tacos!
 
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Belly Up…….To The Taco Bar! Is it shredded pork? Is it chicharones? It’s BOTH, giving fabulous crunch and a moistened texture to the tacos. How? Its made with the incredibly delicious PORK BELLY! Seriously, these are probably the BEST tacos I have had in a LONG time! Talk about scrumptious and delish! This recipe has a combination of searing and braising allowing for the crispy texture and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, which enhances the two BEST aspects of the cut! Enjoy!
Author:
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 pork belly, about 1 pound each
  • 4 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1 handful fresh oregano
  • 4 tablespoons Kosher salt (1 tablespoon for every pound of meat)
  • 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 8 corn tortillas
  • Garnishes:
  • radishes, chopped
  • napa cabbage, shredded
  • cilantro
  • queso fresco
  • cherry tomatoes
  • avocados
  • tomatillo salsa, recipe to follow
  • Tomatillo salsa:
  • 10-12 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 jalapeño
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Place the pork, fat-side up, in a roasting pan fitted with a rack insert, and using a sharp knife, score the surface of the meat with small slits. Mash the garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper into a paste on a cutting board with the flat side of a knife; place the adobo in a bowl and stir in the oil and vinegar. Rub the garlic paste all over the pork, being sure to get into the incisions so the salt can penetrate the meat and pull out the moisture - this will help form a crust on the outside when cooked. Cover the pork with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
  2. Allow the meat to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.
  3. To make tomatillo salsa, heat oven to 350 and put tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeño on a baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes or until soft and browned. Put in a food processor and blend until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste, set aside.
  4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On stove top, heat 2 T of olive oil in a dutch oven. Put in pork belly, fat side down, and brown for 7-10 min per side. (If you have 2 pieces of pork belly, do separately. Add chicken stock or pork stock about half way up the meat. Cover and place in oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour, turn over and add more stock if necessary and cook for another 1hour. Uncover and cook for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and place on cutting board, let rest 10 minutes and shred.
  5. Grill corn tortillas on stovetop or grill for 30 seconds per side.
  6. To assemble, put corn tortilla on plate, top with pork belly, desired garnishings, and tomatillo salsa