>Confit de Canard (sur une salade)

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I haven’t made duck conft in quite a while but it was on the menu of a somewhat large luncheon I served a few days ago so I made it in a large scale (96 duck legs). The recipe’s title, confit de canard, translates from the French simply as preserved duck…and that’s what it originally was. It’s preparation is quite simple but may seem complicated at first because of the amount of time it takes…2-4 days, depending on how long you let the duck cure before you cook it. But the amount of actual time you spend preparing it is minimal…like most truly good foods, this one almost prepares itself, you simply guide it along.

Anyhow, the recipe goes like this: salt the duck, add herbs (usually fresh thyme, and layer it in a pan with onions and garlic between a few sheets of clean cloth (to absorb juices). After a couple (or a few) days, remove the duck and brush off the onions and herbs. Then (and this may sound odd to the uninitiated), poach it in rendered fat for hours…until the meat falls from the bone. And the best fat to use is it’s own, but in the event you don’t have rendered dick fat you can also use chicken fat (shmaltz), or in a pinch, vegetable oil. I used a combination of duck fat, chicken fat, and a small amount of bacon fat for extra flavor.

By this description you probably are picturing salty and greasy duck legs…au contraire. If prepared correctly this will be the most succulent, moist, and flavorful duck you’ve ever had…and–to use an appropriate comparison–it will be as soft as butter.

This is called preserved duck because this recipe (like many truly delicious ones that have stood the test of time) began out of necessity before the advent of the electric refrigerator. The duck, after it was poached in its own fat, was left to cool. The fat would solidify, sealing it from the elements. It was, I’ve read, kept in the cellar for months. Not only is this no longer necessary but with the way today’s animals are raised I don’t recommend it. But I definitely recommend you try this recipe if you enjoy duck…it’ll be delicious, and you’ll be able to impress your friend with your French cooking skills.

To lighten it up a bit I served the meat removed from the bone, warmed, and atop a salad (with potato, hard cooked egg, and a variety of shredded vegetables). Paired with an orange vinaigrette it is a contemporary play on the classic Canard à l’Orange.

I don’t have a typed recipe for this because this is the type of thing I just sort of do, but if you like to see a recipe this one and this one look pretty good (and both are for the home cook).


Employee Meal 5.26.11 (Moules Marinière)

This is really a variation on the traditional recipe for this dish in that the one pictured also contains chives, a bit of crushed hot pepper, minced onion, and tons of garlic. I also added a few pats of whole butter just before removing the pan from the heat (monté au beurre). This is so easy to make and takes something like 5 minutes…and the outcome is bursting with flavor. Like the old Lays potato chips slogan says…”bet ya can’t eat just one!” (I ate about twenty.) Here’s the classic recipe.

Moules Marinière
Makes 4 servings.
3 pounds mussels, washed, rinsed, and de-bearded
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 handful flat-leaf parsley, washed and chopped
Place all of the ingredients except the parsley in a low-sided pot or a very large skillet. Cover the pan and place it over a fast flame. Cook the mussels, shaking the pan occasionally, until they open, then cook for an additional minute. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the parsley across the mussels.

>Employee Meal 5.26.11 (Moules Marinière)

>

This is really a variation on the traditional recipe for this dish in that the one pictured also contains chives, a bit of crushed hot pepper, minced onion, and tons of garlic. I also added a few pats of whole butter just before removing the pan from the heat (monté au beurre). This is so easy to make and takes something like 5 minutes…and the outcome is bursting with flavor. Like the old Lays potato chips slogan says…”bet ya can’t eat just one!” (I ate about twenty.) Here’s the classic recipe.

Moules Marinière
Makes 4 servings.
3 pounds mussels, washed, rinsed, and de-bearded
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 handful flat-leaf parsley, washed and chopped
Place all of the ingredients except the parsley in a low-sided pot or a very large skillet. Cover the pan and place it over a fast flame. Cook the mussels, shaking the pan occasionally, until they open, then cook for an additional minute. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the parsley across the mussels.

Five Quotes and a Song from Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is a favorite singer-songwriter of mine so it’s only appropriate that I post about him as he reaches the milestone of 70 years on this earth. The internet, of course, abounds with videos of him (some great, some not-so-great, and some where he seems almost like a parody of himself), but the below video is–I think–incredible…it’s easy to see his genius even at such a young age.

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is. 

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.


This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway. 

Yesterday’s just a memory, tomorrow is never what it’s supposed to be.

 

Found the video here.

>Five Quotes and a Song from Bob Dylan

>

Bob Dylan is a favorite singer-songwriter of mine so it’s only appropriate that I post about him as he reaches the milestone of 70 years on this earth. The internet, of course, abounds with videos of him (some great, some not-so-great, and some where he seems almost like a parody of himself), but the below video is–I think–incredible…it’s easy to see his genius even at such a young age.

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is. 

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.


This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway. 

Yesterday’s just a memory, tomorrow is never what it’s supposed to be.

 

Found the video here.

The Birds Didn’t Get It All…

For the past few days I’ve felt like “old farmer Joe” as I shooed birds away from my experimental little wheat field (er…wheat patch). Each morning as I’d get up there would be a crowd of birds bobbing and pecking away at the wheat kernels; I thought for sure they’d get it all…but they didn’t. When I went out this morning–coffee cup in hand–to shoo them away I was surprised to see these little green sprouts pushing up through the soil. Nice.

Click here to read the original and correlating post.

>The Birds Didn’t Get It All…

>

For the past few days I’ve felt like “old farmer Joe” as I shooed birds away from my experimental little wheat field (er…wheat patch). Each morning as I’d get up there would be a crowd of birds bobbing and pecking away at the wheat kernels; I thought for sure they’d get it all…but they didn’t. When I went out this morning–coffee cup in hand–to shoo them away I was surprised to see these little green sprouts pushing up through the soil. Nice.

Click here to read the original and correlating post.

The Bubble Man of Allen Street

As a life long Buffalonian I have always promoted our city as both beautiful (on many levels) bt also unique, and sometimes a bit quirky…this is a good example. I’m of course talking about the Bubble Man, the man who fills the street with bubbles from his third story apartment 365 days a year. I realize that many of you have never been to Buffalo, but if you do I encourage you to visit the corner of Allen and Elmwood, because when you do the busy urban intersection may be aloft with bubbles. This is my favorite intersection in the city and also the heart of my favorite neighborhood, Allentown, the neighborhood where I work and live. I cross this intersection every morning on my way to work and as I wait for the light on my bike the bubbles in the air really offer a nice beginning to my day…it sort of feels like our own real-life Sesame Street. The bubble man fills the street with bubbles year round, rain-or-shine; even on the coldest days of winter. So this post is simply a thank you…Thank you Bubble man for making our days a little brighter. To read more about the bubble man in Buffalo Rising, click here or here. You can also view a Facebook page about him here.

>The Bubble Man of Allen Street

>

As a life long Buffalonian I have always promoted our city as both beautiful (on many levels) bt also unique, and sometimes a bit quirky…this is a good example. I’m of course talking about the Bubble Man, the man who fills the street with bubbles from his third story apartment 365 days a year. I realize that many of you have never been to Buffalo, but if you do I encourage you to visit the corner of Allen and Elmwood, because when you do the busy urban intersection may be aloft with bubbles. This is my favorite intersection in the city and also the heart of my favorite neighborhood, Allentown, the neighborhood where I work and live. I cross this intersection every morning on my way to work and as I wait for the light on my bike the bubbles in the air really offer a nice beginning to my day…it sort of feels like our own real-life Sesame Street. The bubble man fills the street with bubbles year round, rain-or-shine; even on the coldest days of winter. So this post is simply a thank you…Thank you Bubble man for making our days a little brighter. To read more about the bubble man in Buffalo Rising, click here or here. You can also view a Facebook page about him here.

"High Seventies" (and truly inspiring)

Here’s another inspiring short clip from Streetfilms. This one profiles Lucette Gilbert, a French woman living in New York who (in her own words) is in her very high seventies…and she still commutes by bike to work. Not only is it inspiring what she has to say about biking but more so in her movements…look at how agile she is as she pushes off and then pedals along. I don’t know too many people nearing eighty that look and move that spryly. As I rapidly approach my fiftieth birthday, and sometimes wonder if I am not as crazy as people say I am (I can see it in their looks) because I still ride a bike more than a motorized vehicle, this short clip really offers hope and encouragement. Bicycles are good on so many levels and this is just another example.

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>"High Seventies" (and truly inspiring)

>Here’s another inspiring short clip from Streetfilms. This one profiles Lucette Gilbert, a French woman living in New York who (in her own words) is in her very high seventies…and she still commutes by bike to work. Not only is it inspiring what she has to say about biking but more so in her movements…look at how agile she is as she pushes off and then pedals along. I don’t know too many people nearing eighty that look and move that spryly. As I rapidly approach my fiftieth birthday, and sometimes wonder if I am not as crazy as people say I am (I can see it in their looks) because I still ride a bike more than a motorized vehicle, this short clip really offers hope and encouragement. Bicycles are good on so many levels and this is just another example.

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First Steps

It is still early in the season but usually by this time I have much of my Victory Garden planted by now (I like to get an early start). But because of a crazy schedule and way too much rain and cold this spring I’ve put it on hold. But this evening I finally was able to start putting things in the ground and a few pots (12 tomato plants). It feels good; reassuring…it offers hope. This coming Monday I have the day off work so I plan on planting most of it. If you’ve never planted your own food I encourage you to. Don’t think you need a special “green thumb;” I certainly don’t. Nor do you need a lot of land…my garden is teeny teeny and I can grow a lot of food. Basically, put seeds or plants in the ground and water them. The outcome will be one of the most rewarding things you may have ever done…I also think there is something truly primal about digging in the dirt and growing your own food. To see other posts regarding previous gardens (including a chart of last year’s garden…so you can see how much food can be grown in a small space), click here.

>First Steps

>

It is still early in the season but usually by this time I have much of my Victory Garden planted by now (I like to get an early start). But because of a crazy schedule and way too much rain and cold this spring I’ve put it on hold. But this evening I finally was able to start putting things in the ground and a few pots (12 tomato plants). It feels good; reassuring…it offers hope. This coming Monday I have the day off work so I plan on planting most of it. If you’ve never planted your own food I encourage you to. Don’t think you need a special “green thumb;” I certainly don’t. Nor do you need a lot of land…my garden is teeny teeny and I can grow a lot of food. Basically, put seeds or plants in the ground and water them. The outcome will be one of the most rewarding things you may have ever done…I also think there is something truly primal about digging in the dirt and growing your own food. To see other posts regarding previous gardens (including a chart of last year’s garden…so you can see how much food can be grown in a small space), click here.

But Some Seed Fell on Fertil Soil

Every year I turn the tiny plot that surrounds my house into a vegetable garden…and every year it is another experiment; seeing what works and what doesn’t; what grows and what doesn’t. Usually I have most things in the ground by now but am running late because of the cold and relentless rain. This year’s experiment is to plant things even closer than I did last year (for high yield and low weeds) and to grow a little wheat (pictured above). I know I don’t have enough space to grow any usable amount of wheat, but in the same way that I grow a mere 2 dozen stalks of corn each year, I figure I’ll grow it as more of a novelty…and it”l look nice too. And I’d rather have wheat and corn growing in my front yard than have grass to cut and water. I hope these seeds fell on good soil.

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
Mark 4:3-8 (NIV) 

Click here to see posts on my garden experiment from previous years.