Seared Duck Breat with Grape Sauce and Risotto

We finally broke out the china, and with good reason.  I made duck and risotto! WOW, what a great, fancy date night meal!  I have been scouring the internet for interesting things to make that I have never tried and finally came across Anne Burrell's Seared Duck Breast with Grape Sauce and Alton Brown's Wild Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto.  They were amazing! Not extremely difficult but I was very nervous about the entire meal that I prepped EVERYTHING before hand so all I had to worry about was not burning the duck and continuously stirring the risotto (a must!).  Now, don't get me wrong, start to finish this meal took about an hour and a half.  No easy task for a weeknight, but it was Sunday and we had time, so why not have a nice date night?

To start the prepping I first got the duck out and scored the fat (don't cut the actual breast!) I let this sit out until I could prep everything else (it needs to come to room temperature).  I got the bacon and grapes ready and poured out the correct amounts of red wine vinegar with red wine and chicken broth.  (You are supposed to use port wine but we didn't have any).

Next I started the prep for the risotto.  I cut up the onion and mushrooms. I got the lemon and zester ready as well as about half a cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese.  We opted for the good stuff,  the peccerino romano.
I then heated up some butter in a 3 quart chef's pan and sauteed the onions for a few minutes and then the arborio rice for a few more minutes until translucent.

The tough part came next.  I added the duck breast skin side down to a cold saute pan with some EVOO in it.  I let it cook and the fat render for about 9-10 minutes and then flipped it over for another 3 minutes.  This cooked it to perfectly medium rare.  I then cover the duck breast in aluminum and let it rest until the rest of dinner was ready.

I was cooking the duck while simultaneously adding cup fulls at a time of the heated chicken broth and white wine mixture to the risotto. The most strenuous part was definitely having to mix the risotto.  They say you don't need to continuously stir, but stir often.  This means the same thing... you can't let it simmer or get too dry, you keep adding ladle fulls of the broth/wine mixture.  But after its all over, you've got a sore arm and a beautiful risotto.  Once all of the liquid is added you simply add the mushrooms, take off the heat, add lemon zest, the cheese and some fresh cracked pepper.

 All in all, this was a home run hit and Caleb absolutely LOVED it.  The risotto was creamy and delicious. It would have been better had I added the asparagus it called for or even substituting for green beans.

The duck was so delicious and moist and the sauce was to die for! We even have quite a bit of duck fat left over for a nice sauce or gravy for later in the week!
If you are looking for something fancy that isn't too difficult, I'd say give this a try. It was actually a lot easier than I expected. And oh so worth the hassle!

Things I Love

Back to the real world, and in order to not be so overwhelmed or too stressed about the future, I like to think of things that make me happy, things that I love.  In no particular order:

My Husband

My new Calphalon pots - except cleaning them

Looking up new Pintrest recipes for the first time in a few months.

Not worrying about how perfect my wedding will be, because it was.

Having a Stay at home husband this week to clean the house- vacuum, swiffer, mop, laundry, etc.

Having a husband in general.

Cooking

Hercules - He had Kennel Cough, but he is feeling MUCH better! He only coughs a little and is getting his energy back as well as the one pound he lost while Caleb and I were away.

My friends and family.

Wedding Stress

August 2008 - Oh Liv, how we've changed!

I have been inspired, by an extraordinary woman, to write about life.  Olivia is one of the most brave, strong, and loving person I have ever met.  If you have the time, read her blog, #cancersucks.  We went to dinner for one of our sorority sister's birthdays and she made the comment about my lack of blogging, whoops! She told me to write about my personal life more rather than cooking! Who'da thunk it? So here it goes.

The past four days have been so unbelievably and incredibly stressful.  Aside from worrying about things like where Caleb is going to work or what Optometry schools I will get in to, we have this HUGE party to plan... our wedding!  I have been planning this day for the past 13 months, but like every other girl, it really has been my entire life!  I have an array of motions running through my mind at all hours of the day.  I'm stressed, pumped, nervous, excited, and about 100 others!  Now, I'm not nervous about the marriage part.... it's more the perfectionist in me that wants everything to go smoothly.  I have planned everything down to the T that my hopes are that on August 4 I will have to do nothing but worry about looking pretty :).

So what is there to stress about when planning for the big day? Especially two weeks before? EVERYTHING.  I almost completely changed the menu on Monday, I did change the timeline of the reception on Tuesday, and I spent yesterday calling places in Chattanooga to book things like waxing, ring cleaning and sauntering together, picking up tuxes, getting my eyebrows done, getting a MASSAGE! There, I said it, I'm doing something for me to not think about the wedding for one hour next week! Not to mention that I have changed my mind about what to get Caleb about every day the past 395 days... and now I just have no clue.

Don't get me wrong, I'm surrounded by amazing people helping me, my parents (mostly helping me not to stress...) his parents, Caleb, Kristian... the list goes on.  But man oh man, who knew it was going to be this much work! It's like having another job all together!  I don't know if it's nerves or what, but I have not been eating much this week! I'm just never hungry! Now, if you know me... you know that I AM ALWAYS hungry! Caleb said that its just being in my head too much and my mind is thinking about too many other things to worry about eating.  Don't worry though, I'm not turning anorexic or anything, I'm just down from 6 meals/snacks a day to 4... But it is less than usual! But seriously, stop worrying, I'm eating a banana as we speak! Just because I'm not hungry, doesn't  mean I'm not eating :). 

Another thing to stress about? Not stressing too much that I cause zits! Talk about running around in circles, stressing about stress? Yep, that's me.  Over and out because I'm getting married in 9 days!!!

Griller's Dream

I have been inspired to blog once again!  Tonight I made one of the most amazing, grilled meals EVER... and when I say "I made it", what I really mean is I could not have done this meal without Caleb.  What an amazing sous chef, and future husband (12 days to go!).  After watching The Next Food Network Star, Caleb and I were yet again inspired to try a new and exciting meal... Two hours later, one of the best meals of our lives!  Nothing like a hard two hour meal to de-stress a girl after a long day of wedding planning... at work :)

Since I was not prepared, I do not have step by step pictures, and honestly, there were WAY too many steps to try that. But man oh man what a feast!

We enjoyed Bobby Flay's, Grilled Butterflied Trout; Melissa D'Arabian's Grilled Potato Salad; Grilled onions (green and white); and Gina Neely's Turnip Greens.  Whew, was that a mouth full! Oh boy was it!

Its hard to pick a favorite, but the potato salad was absolutely to die for!  I started by preparing the grilled potato salad.  First, cut up and boil the red potatoes for 8 minutes, then add the diced sweet potato.  While that is boiling for another 8 minutes, mix up 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tbs dijon, 2 tsp onion powder, 2 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp cayenne.  Now I am a baby and don't like things too spicy, but this cayenne was AMAZING! So after the potatoes are boiled and cooled you add them to this mixture and then grill them 1-2 minutes on each side.  Then you add them to the delicious green onion bacon vinaigrette, basically red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, and bacon grease YUM!

For the trout, we didn't even marinate it in anything, just grilled it and afterwards topped it with a delicious home-made parsley-lemon butter.  

Turnip greens, even easier: in a dutch oven, add olive oil and butter. Sautee your onions, garlic, turnip greens.  Add a mixture of dijon mustard, chicken stock and white wine.  Top with red pepper flakes and let simmer until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.  I add a few diced tomatoes at the end for extra flavor and color... not too mention Caleb loves it.

For the most obvious, the onions, just put them on the grill top, season with salt and pepper, and eat as if they were potato chips!  I'm telling you, as hard as this meal was, it was 100 times more mouth watering. 

It was so smokey and hot in the apartment we decided to enjoy this feast on the patio to get some fresh air. I'm telling you this was last meal of your life worthy...

If you are having a rough day, or a boring one and truly enjoy bringing mouth-watering happiness to your man, make these potatoes!  We were both wary about the sweet potato, in fact, we didn't even get them the first time to the grocery store, but after reading the reviews, it was difficult not to be tempted. 

And for the grand finale, Caleb made this delicious dessert.  He used his second favorite new toy, the Magic Bullet (his new espresso machine is his most favorite).  He blended blueberries, strawberries, heavy cream, and powdered sugar.  Not too much heavy cream, just enough to make it decadent.  He poured that into a nice bowl and plopped a nice scoop of vanilla bean ice cream into it.  Talk about amazing... He really knows the best way to my heart!  I could have had about 3 more bowls of this stuff, but alas, I must fit into the tiniest of dresses in just 12 days!

Don't worry, I blog about the wedding, the honeymoon in Jamaica and our lives to come full of good food and full stomachs. 

Pork Two Ways

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging.  I think it's safe to say that I got "blogged out" for the last month or so.  However, I have made some pretty awesome meals, but I must admit that cooking was so much fun when I began blogging and sharing the new recipes I was trying.  However, I got a little too into it and it lost its sparkle.  Now that cooking is fun again, and I've actually thrown a small dinner party, I feel it right to post something I made about 2 weeks ago.

About two weeks ago, Caleb, Hercules, and I traveled to good ole Nashville to visit family and go to a wedding.  What I came away with, well I like to call it a Lisa Barron Swag Bag.  It was filled with great goodies, my favorite of those being the current issue of Food Network Magazine. 

As you can see, it contained 50 new taco ideas! Well, with Caleb being born in Mexico, he is CONSTANTLY asking me to make Mexican.  Now you may not know this, but my Mexican repertoire consists of tacos, enchiladas, and burritos.  The first two being made out of a box and the latter being bought at Moe's.  ("Welcome to Moe's!!!").

 So trying out a new EASY taco... right up my alley.  So at the store, I bought a HUGE pork shoulder for $11.  Right before making the tacos, I cut it in half and threw one half into the crock pot!  I'm telling you this meal could not get any easier!  To the left you can see this is only half of the pork!  I use the other half in another recipe... Just hold your horses.




So according the the recipe of Pork Carnitas, this one being by Melissa D'Arabian, you throw in the pork with oranges, cumin, onion, garlic, jalapeno, oregano, salt and pepper.








After about three-four hours it's time to shred up your pork and throw it back into the crock pot to soak up even more yummy juices!

 Then,  as per the same Food Network Magazine, I made a pineapple salsa by Jeffrey Saad.  I chopped up fresh pineapple, cilantro, white onion, and an orange habenero chili... which I also happen to rub all over my nose.

Sidebar, rubbing butter and snorting milk does help!

So then I blended this whole mixture up.

 I also made a grilled pineapple chunky salsa with some grilled (on the George Foreman) pineapple, cilantro, white onion and lime juice.  To the left, you can see the one I ate, and to the right, the one Caleb ate with a spoon.  Not really, but it was too spicy so of course he loved it.

So then it was time to put our pork carnitas together! I just threw on some sour cream (Caleb did not of course) and added the pork mixture with some pineapple salsa on top! It was oh so easy and delicious! I don't know that I would call it authentic Mexican, but the taste was fabulous.

Now what did I do with the other half of the pork, you may be asking... I made barbeque! I'm not positive the recipe I used because I mostly just threw in a bunch of bbq sounding ingredients into the crock pot! :) I believe I got most of it from this one.  I basically threw in molasses, ketchup, whiskey, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire, an orange, onion, and probably some other things I can't think of at the moment.  I let that all bubble up with the huge pork shoulder for about 4 hours and then I served it up with a homemade slaw and some sweet potato fries!  It was oh so delicious! The slaw was so easy! I chopped up some fresh cabbage and threw it around with a small spoonful of mayo, some EVOO, and a splash of vinegar.  After seasoning with salt and pepper it was perfect enough to eat by itself or add it to the BBQ sandwich!

So that is how I utilized a huge pork shoulder to make pork two ways!

Enjoy! Till next month when I get the urge to blog again!

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

This recipe is oh so easy and twice as delicious.  I got it from Gina's Skinny Kitchen, which is a great blog for skinny recipes!  I've actually made it about three times already! But of course, they were pre-blog times.  I've served it with whipped potatoes (it has a pretty good gravy/sauce for that), spinach, broccoli, really any sides you want.  This time I served it up with the new all time favorite, sweet potato fries and some ole fashion corn on the cob!

 For the pork chops, I started by brinning them for about 4 hours. Then, I patted them VERY dry and seasoned with salt, pepper, and some fresh thyme.

 I also let the chops come down to room temp to get an even cook.  I seared them on both sides for about 3 minutes each (they are bone in and a little thicker than regular ones).  I cooked them in some oil and butter (color and flavor).

While they were cooking up I chopped up the onions, parsley, and thyme.

Then I threw the onions and herbs in and added about a cup of chicken stalk, a squeeze of Dijon mustard,  and some white wine to deglaze.  I let that cook down for about 10-20 minutes.... I read a little.... I stirred a a little... Then I added the chops back for about 3 minutes until I got all of the sides ready.

Then it was time to eat! Now tell me that doesn't sound like the easiest thing ever!! Now go get cooking!

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

I've said it before and I'll say it a million  more times... I love spaghetti, I love any kind of marinara sauce. I don't know what it is, but I could eat it for days! Which is why I make a huge dutch oven full of sauce.  This week I actually tried a variety of new things.  I made turkey meatball but followed a recipe by none other than Pioneer Woman.  Her Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe looks amazing!  I love how she cooks them first then puts them back in the sauce.  It made for a super simple yet flavor packed meatballs and sauce.  For my marinara I followed a recipe by Giada De Laurentis, kind of, I mostly followed what she put it in, especially after watching her on the Rachael Ray Show.

To start I threw all of the meatball ingredients into a bowl: Half a pound of turkey (PW uses beef and pork, but really you can use whatever ground meat you have), chopped parsley, chopped onion, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and then I added some chopped spinach (it was going bad and I didn't want to waste it).

Also, PW makes bread crumbs by toasting some old bread at 250 for 25 minutes... I tried and the bread never got crispy enough, so I used the bread I cooked for garlic bread and used store bought bread crumbs.

Then I mixed  it all together and threw them into a hot dutch oven with half oil and half butter.  I cooked them about 5 minutes each, while flipping through out.

 After they had all been seared (they were probably not all the way cooked on the inside), I transferred them to a plate and began on the sauce.

To the same dutch oven, I added chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms (I wanted to add celery, but alas, I was out), and fresh parsley and basil.
The idea for all of the vegetables came from Giada De Laurentis' marinara sauce.  I saw her make it on the Rachael Ray Show and it looked fabulous! Of course, on the show she did not cut up any of her vegetables and noted that it was optional to puree and add them back, after cooking.

 Then I deglaze with some chicken stock and some red wine, I throw in two cans of whole peeled tomatoes, season with salt, pepper, and sugar; and let it all bubble about for 30 minutes or so.

The next step was a little messy, but well worth it, I take out the large chunks of vegetables with a slotted spoon and throw them in the blender.  Then I throw them back in the pan and let everything simmer up with the meatballs back in it.

It was oh so very delicious, and we are eating it for leftovers! We had a TON!

Sidebar, Caleb and I were discussing the oddity of our food choices.  Now as 23-24 year olds, should we be cooking these kinds of things that 30-40 year old foodies, bloggers, and TV personalities are? You tell me...