MommaLehr: December 2012

Duck, Duck, Duck, STEW!

The Hubster made this amazing stew :)

I believe we bought a D'Artangan organic/free range duck.
You'll need the basics; parsley, thyme, sage, garlic, onion, leek, carrot, celery. Use these to make a batch of mirepoix and a bouquet garni.
You can use any type of sausage, spicy with fennel, Bob Evans breakfast, mild Italian. Whatever floats your boat.
Grab some port wine (we used Fonseca porto BIN 27 from Portugal) sugar and dried cherries.
About 4 cups of chicken stock (just enough to cover the meat in the pot)
1. Debone your duck, stuff the legs with your sausage of choice, tie it up and salt n pepper.
2. Take about a quarter pound of dried cherries, 2 cups of port wine and a little bit of sugar (maybe 2-3 TBSP) and let sit until step 4.
3. Sautee up some mirepoix, and in a separate pan sear up that butchered duck.

4. With a bouquet garni, chicken stock and macerated cherries, add it all in a dutch oven and let it roll.

The longer it simmers, the more the breast meats fall apart. I'd say 1.5 hours at the least.

Fresh crunchy bread, spaetzle or mashed taters as your carb.

Adventures in leftovers...

Delicious Leftovers!

In an attempt to break the monotony of roast chicken leftovers, I concocted a casserole parmigiana cheezy marinara macaroni type thing.

Step One: Prep work. I smashed a garlic clove, buttered my casserole dish and stuck it in a 350* oven for 5 minutes. I think it added a little Gahlicky zihng.

Step two:
More prep, shred chicken and mozzerella.
Cook up your noodles, break out the ricotta.
We had to defrost the home made sauce.
(You could open a jar)