Braised Duck with Apples and Calvados (HCE)

• 1 whole duck, 4 to 5 pounds, excess fat removed and cut into 8 serving pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 2 pounds purple-topped turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound Granny Smith apples
• 1/4 cup Calvados
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Mise en place.  Calvados is a French apple brandy.

Browning duck.  This marks the first time I've ever worked with duck.

The thyme, bay leaf, garlic, Calvados, and some water are added to the duck and the pot is roasted for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Then the apples and turnips are added and the dish is basted every 10 minutes until the duck is done.

Even though Granny Smiths are the sturdiest apples (in terms of cooking), they disintegrated over the period of time that the dish was cooked.  I figure they should have spent less time in the oven than the turnips, but the dish was well-flavored.  I brought it to a holiday party and everyone who sampled the dish thought it was excellent.  Even though I couldn't spur each one of them to add a bit of the sauce to boost the effect.

I tried to save the duck fat but failed.  Rather than grabbing a mason jar, I chose to use a random recycled Goya jar.  I heard a pop as I poured the fat in and apparently that was the sound of the bottom the shirring off.  Oh well.  I will know better next time.

White Chili with Chicken and White Root Vegetables (FM)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 leeks, trimmed, well rinsed, and chopped, or 2 onions, chopped
• 4 parsnips, chopped
• 1 celery root, chopped
• 1 large or 2 medium turnips, chopped
• 2 all-purpose potatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon dried [I assumed incorrectly that I had dried sage, but I didn't]
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 dried mild chile (like ancho), or 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
• 2 cups any dried white beans, rinse, picked over, and soaked if you like
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions, for garnish

Insane amount of white root vegetables and their peelings.  I've never worked with celery root before, but it smells phenomenal.  I wonder if people ever eat it raw.

I had to store them in 4 whole pieces of tupperware until the next day.  The potatoes darkened overnight, but they were old.

Mise en place.

Browning the chicken.

Sauteeing the leeks until softened.

After dumping everything in (except for the lime juice, scallions, and cilantro), I had to switch pots.

I cooked this silly dish for probably about 4 hours.  I was waiting for the vegetables to show signs of "almost disintegrating, but I never got there and stashed it in the fridge overnight to try again.  Thankfully, I had the bright idea of just checking to see if the vegetables were tender and so they were.
A good well-spiced dish with chicken that basically shredded itself after loooong hours of stewing.  At 6-8 servings, it's a rather unwieldy dish for the single chef.  Yeah, I imagine the dish will take me at least a week to eat at this point.

Thrillingly enough the cilantro came with roots which are not exactly all that easy to find, but Zak Pelaccio using them extensively in EYH so I rinsed/scraped/rinse what I had and threw them in the freezer until I accumulate enough to use in a dish.

Barley Soup with Roasted Seasonal Vegetables (HCEV)

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup pearled barley
• 6 cups vegetable stock (I'm no vegetarian, don't have room in the freezer to justify making stock, and wanted something richer than water: So boxed chicken stock.)
• About 2 pounds root vegetables--turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots, celery root, waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold or fingerling, alone or in combination--peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage (I went with fresh since I'm making something soon that will require fresh sage leaves.)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Bought a turnip and a bag of parsnips. Figured I could snag a few carrots at home for brightness. This is the pile of peelings I wound up with after accumulating enough vegetables to equal 2 pounds of them and allow an ounce for trimming ends.


Peeled vegetables.


Roasted at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes


Oops I forgot to take a picture of me sauteing the onions, garlic and smidge of bacon.
Again, folks, I'm no vegetarian though I often have vegetarian days. Plus, I got to use this HOMEMADE bacon somehow.


Bittman said that after 5 minutes of constant stirring that the mixture would begin to stick. I wasn't timing this step and stopped when I thought the barley was toasted plenty.


Adding the chicken broth. SORRY!!!


I was supposed to cook this until the barley was very tender, but I was hungry and stopped cooking after I reached edible.


There was very little liquid left especially after adding the vegetables. I'd probably consider this dish much more of a barley pilaf than soup here. The sage figured well in the dish. I'm not sure the dish is quite worthy of making again, but it certainly was nice.
I cooked one of the variations of a soup whose main recipe involved cooking the vegetables directly in the broth. Even though it's been sweltering recently, if I have the time I am ABSOLUTELY taking advantage of the maillard reaction (See previous entry with this tag).

When do I cook when I'm pressed for time anyway? Easier just to go to the Chinese restaurant down the street all my roommates hate for some reason.