dinner in the pot

tonight: comfort with a twist. my mom used to make what we called dinner in the pot on cold crumby nights. a big pot layered with chicken breasts, carrots, potatoes, and sometimes cabbage on top. tonight i started with butter and diced onions, i browned two chicken breasts on one side then flipped and sprinkled on garlic salt and pepper. while that cooked i cut up three carrots into large chunks and halved three potatoes. i put about a cup and a half of sauv. blanc in with the chicken and sprinkled on some savory then i layered in the carrots and potatoes in and put the lid on. it simmered on low for about three hours and turned out delicious.

perspective

i was approaching that dangerous precipice with thing one, where the joking was over and i really was about to put him outside with a sign around his neck saying "free to any home". what i mean is this: i spanked him angry. i was steamed and fed up and i gave him his usual three swats but i felt that panic creeping in "oh man, i don't even know how hard i got him" and the tiny part of me that any honest parent confesses to said "i don't care, i've had it." we were supposed to be having some quiet time because i was reaching the end of my rope, and so was he. the weather was bad, we were just getting our footing back from a week of recovery from tonsillectomy, he was hyper, and i was tired. he wouldn't quit squirming and poking me and screwing around and in my head i could hear my husband accusing "he always trashes the bed, he twists the sheets all up and pulls the blankets crooked." i lost it, i sat up, jerked down his pants and let him have it. he wailed and cried and looked terrified of me and i thought "when did i lose my perspective?" i conceived him at a terrible time in my life. if i wasn't alcoholic, i was close and i was in a bad relationship. it was because of him that i got my life together. i used to lay in bed at night alone with him and cry while i was singing to him, i would clutch him close and promise to be better for him. i screwed up ALOT along the way but now he has a good home, i get to stay home with him, and we have a wonderful man in our lives to be a papa. suddenly *poof* i take him for granted, i can't wait for my mom to take him off my hands once a week for the night so i can have a break, i send him to his room just to get some space. once i calmed down i asked him if he wanted to cuddle me and, by the miracle of childhood, he did. i looked down at him and remembered all those lonely nights and said "thank you".

duck a la cottage

maybe in my next life i'll be able to follow a recipe. to Julia i can only say, i tried, i tried. due to the overwhelming vote turn out (all three votes were for a la orange) i set out to make duck a la orange per Julia Child. what i found was this: i am not cut out to be a french chef. i meticulously read and re read all the directions and before i ever set foot in the kitchen was sick to death of all the fiddling and heating then cooling then re heating. i'm sure it would have been delectable if i had followed the directions, but i didn't. and you know what? it was delectable anyway. besides the fact that my duck weighed in at 6.4 pounds and Julia's cooking table only goes to 5.5 pounds. apparently i committed the base sin of purchasing a duck too large to address in an effort to feed everyone i had invited. so, i read the label on the duck for cooking times and directions but found i didn't like the ring of them either.... what to do? i recalled a goose recipe that i had tried with some success on Christmas (with what turned out to be a capon, incidentally) and decided to go with that for stuffing and take an average on cooking times. so, the duck got rinsed and salted inside and out early in the day and left to think about it in the sink. the neck and giblets went into a small pot with some butter, salt, and pepper to brown with some onion and carrot slices to make stock. per Julia i added herbs but later decided i didn't really need to, if you want to throw in a bay leaf and some parsley and thyme just be sure to take the bay out after a bit then strain everything else out after a few hours. after a while i peppered the duck too, just on the out side. two oranges got pricked all over with a fork then quartered and a ginger root got sliced length wise then into the duck went ginger and orange mixed about so that there was both ginger and orange aplenty in contact with the inside of the duck. here we revisit Julia, the duck went in on a rack at 425 for about twenty minutes, the heat was then reduced to 350 and the duck was turned on it's side for 30 minutes. it was then turned breast side down and left, due to it's size, for 45 minutes, then on to the other side for another 30 minutes, then back breast side up to finish, all together it was in the over for about two hours and 45 minutes with the heat on then rested for about fifteen minutes before it was served. i put some zucchini sticks in the pan under the duck to roast about halfway through the process and they cooked beautifully in the duck fat.

as to sauces, Julia calls for a mix of liqueur, zest, stock and butter (fiddle fiddle fiddle). for our table i put some of the drippings from the roasting pan in my skillet, got it hot and threw in the zest of about half a large orange which i had peeled off with a vegetable peeler then julienned. when this has sizzled for a minute i added the entire contents of a cute little sample bottle of grand marnier and lit it, once the flames died down i added two ladles of stock and reduced to make a sauce. in homage to Julia i did add cold butter whisked into the sauce after i removed it from the heat. i also prepared a dried fig port wine sauce as follows : one clove of garlic and an equal portion of red onion (a mix known as poor man's shallot) finely diced and caramelized lightly in butter, three dried adriatic figs chopped added post light caramelization, perhaps two thirds of a cup of port wine (wonderful zinfandel from terra del oro for us) in but not lit when things are getting moderately caramelized and reduced to syrup, then add stock and reduce to a sauce consistency you like. this also got cold butter whisked into it before it hit the table.

we enjoyed our feast with a nice jammy zinfandel from renwood winery compliments of uncle andrew and some creamy mashed potatoes. i hope at least one person who reads this gives duck a try, it's worth it.

thing one

my first born (aged 4) is lovingly referred to as thing one around here, he is crazy and hyper (again: 4) and has wonderful messy curly hair. the other day he and i were trying to play a video game, with almost equal skill, and thing two (baby aged 8 months) started fussing. i glanced at the clock and realized we were past due for some nursing so i said to thing one, who was still staring raptly at the tv screen, "i can't do this right now buba, i have to feed the baby. do you want to do it?" he turned to me with a puzzled frown and said, lifting his shirt, "but i can't i just have little nipples." and was only more confused when i laughed hysterically for the next five minutes.

pork loin roast

Today: pork roast. i know what you are thinking "Don't do it! It's going to be dry!" to this i say: pish. pork roast is a touchy thing but it can be done. before we begin let me tell you this: i use salt with meat. alot. if you're about to tell me something about my blood pressure (which is fine when the kids are asleep) i'll save you some time, don't. meat likes salt and i am not about to insult the pig that provided this perfectly handsome cut of meat to me by not cooking it properly. so, into my little, small, tiny, minuscule (husband are you reading this?), food processor goes roughly one and a half or two table spoons of kosher salt, four cloves of garlic and an equal portion of red onion, black pepper, thyme and rosemary to taste (about a teaspoon of each). give it a few little buzzes to wake it up then add about 1/3 cup craisins and some olive oil, grind it up adding oil gradually until you have a fairly loose paste. pre heat the oven to 350 and score the fat side of the roast then rub the paste all over the roast (top bottom and sides, i mean it don't just dump it on top, get in there and rub it in good) pop the roast fat side up and uncovered into the middle of the oven and leave it alone for about one hour, at hour two turn the temp down to 275, at about the three hour mark go ahead and cover it with foil then at hour four turn the oven off but let the roast stay in there to cool slowly, and please for pete's sake don't cut into it for at least 30 minutes. for sides i mixed sweet potatoes and plain o' russets to mash and heated frozen sweet white corn. for the record, i don't salt the corn. there, does that make you feel better? also the pan drippings make really good gravey, especially if you add about 1/4 cup of plain apple sauce to it. sadly there will be no pictures of the finished meal, due to my dead camera and my starving menfolk.

spaghetti tonight

It's spaghetti tonight at the cottage, the weather is pleasantly rainy and cold, we just got home from a road trip, and comfort food seems in order. Yes, i use a jar of pre-made sauce, and i'm not ashamed of that. I've found a good, inexpensive brand that we like and i keep it on hand. I brown some ground beef, about a pound usually, and add onion, garlic, celery, and carrots. Most days when i make spaghetti i also splash in some wine, tonight it'll be chianti. In the cottage 'spaghetti' really means 'linguini' because for some reason my husband and i compromised on it ages ago during a pasta asile spat at the store and ever since i have gotten linguini and called it spaghetti. I find the trick to adding any kind of alchohol to anything is to put it in early enough in the game to let it cook for a while with the lid off, otherwise you end up with a sour taste instead of the lovely richness that a good wine or nice beer can lend. as a plus it makes your house smell WONDERFULL as mine does now.

Quiche a la fridge

today the order of business is picnic food. coincidentally i have just been given a cute little quiche pan by a servant's girlfriend, robin. robin is being baptised today and we are having a little picnic following the event, adding all the coincidences together (robin's gift+robin's picnic= robin's quiche) i decided to bring quiche for everyone else to eat, not eating eggs has it's little drawbacks. i use an oil crust recipe from better homes and gardens but i always have to add a little extra water, for interest i also add some dried tarragon. i prick the crust with a fork and pre cook it at 425 for about 10 minutes. for the filling this time my 'fridge happened to contain some asparagus and red bell pepper, 1/2 the bell pepper, 4 slender stalks of asparagus, 1/2 one medium onion, one clove garlic, salt and pepper. pre saute the veggies and in a bowl beat 4 eggs with 1 & 1/2 cups whole milk. grate about 3/4 cup cheese, i used sharp cheddar this time. so, the piping hot crust comes out of the oven and the temp goes down to 350, first go in the veggies, then the cheese, then the eggs. back into the oven for 40 minutes, then cool completely before serving. thing one prefers to have a bit of ketchup with his (because he's 4) but it doesn't really need any sauce.