cazalea
[Seiko Moderator]
19529
Chez Mike has been busy this week
A friend called who had been out hunting over the weekend, and offered some duck, goose PLUS some fine California cabernet to wash it down with .... if I would cook. We said YES.
This is Sarah, who retrieved the birds. She's practicing in the swimming pool.
Duck, Widgeon
The rules require a wing be left on the breasts so a game warden can confirm the species of migratory waterfowl that you have taken.
Duck, Widgeon
The rules require a wing be left on the breasts so a game warden can confirm the species of migratory waterfowl that you have taken.
Goose.
So we started with Roasted Goose Breast with carmelized apples, wild rice and broccoli. I didn't have the time to marinate the breasts, so merely seasoned them heavily and roasted them on a cast-iron skillet in a hot oven.
It worked! We ate every scrap of the goose and left the ducks for another day.
A bit of pomegranate from the back yard gives a bit of punch and color to the meal. Sorry for all the brown, I should have worked harder on the appearance.
The next morning, after baking some more bread,
I was faced with a dilemma of an empty cupboard and need for lunch.
I was able to find a can of crabmeat in the back behind a can of tuna fish, so I halved a couple bell peppers, put in the crab, and built a salad around it. Warm bread too. My wife was very happy!
As I went to the market to refill the cupboards, I found some nice fennel which we haven't seen for a long time. Last night I sauteed the fennel with some sweet corn and the rest of the yellow pepper (above)
It always intensifies the flavor if you can use fresh herbs. In this case I had some garlic, the tops of the fennel, and parsley from the garden.
And a bunch of nice fresh shrimp.
It's best to push the veg aside and get the shrimp cooked evenly (2 minutes per side) rather than toss the shrimp on top and end up with uncooked shellfish.
Then I mixed everything together and
added the herbs.
(Here's the Seiko I'm wearing; a solar titanium model www.watchprosite.com )
This would be a fine time to add some Pernod if you have it (I didn't).
As I went to the market to refill the cupboards, I found some nice fennel which we haven't seen for a long time. Last night I sauteed the fennel with some sweet corn and the rest of the yellow pepper (above)
It always intensifies the flavor if you can use fresh herbs. In this case I had some garlic, the tops of the fennel, and parsley from the garden.
And a bunch of nice fresh shrimp.
It's best to push the veg aside and get the shrimp cooked evenly (2 minutes per side) rather than toss the shrimp on top and end up with uncooked shellfish.
Then I mixed everything together and
added the herbs.
(Here's the Seiko I'm wearing; a solar titanium model www.watchprosite.com )
This would be a fine time to add some Pernod if you have it (I didn't).
That would have given us a bit more sauce to scoop up with our bread. As it turned out, I actually brought the skillet out to the table so Mrs Cazalea could properly adorn her last bit with some drippings.
It was that good.
It was that good.
Cazalea
Chez Mike has been busy this week
A friend called who had been out hunting over the weekend, and offered some duck, goose PLUS some fine California cabernet to wash it down with .... if I would cook. We said YES. This is Sarah, who retrieved the birds. She's practicing in the swimming poo...
Excellent!
Very resourceful too. I agree about the Pernod but dry white vermouth will sometimes do in a pinch. Great write up, thanks! Kent
Damn Mike, great job. I can only imagine what that tastes like.
And I am completely serious about that - I am 6 days into fighting off Covid and I lost all taste and smell 2 days ago. It is so weird. I grabbed a bottle of whisky last night, removed the cork and inhaled as deep as I could. Nothing. Smothered a piece of...
SO weird.
My brother had C19 about 2 months ago. He said he lost his taste for about 3 weeks. I am looking forward to the morning when my coffee tastes like coffee!
...
The food looks amazing! I'm impressed by the bread as well. So when you shoot a waterfowl you only take 1 wing and the body + the other wing remains in the wild? How easy and fast is the de-feathering? Any hygienic stuff you need to keep in mind?
Sorry, I am only the cook, not the hunter
But what I have been told is: 1. Most of the bird remains at the ranch where these ducks came from. The legs and so forth are not very meaty but they are used for dog feed. 2. The stuff that I have been brought is only the breasts and sometimes the skin o...
