Duck Breasts with Citrus Port Cherry Sauce-- Ooh-la-la!

Whenever I go to a "nice" restaurant, and I see "duck" on the menu, I get really excited.  The price, however, can make me think twice about ordering it.  But if the chef prepared the duck with a cherry sauce, then it's a done deal.   I love it.

Recently, when we were in San Francisco's Chinatown. I got a little freaked out at the how their whole duck was displayed.  Suffice it to say, that I don't want my dinner to to be served in a state where I can see the entire bird-- neck, beak and all.   That's enough to make me convert to being a vegetarian. Sort of. It was so unsettling, that I played it safe and ordered sesame chicken. 'Nuff said.   My favorite part of poultry is the breast meat. 

It seems that my son has inherited my love of duck.  He's been asking me to make duck at home, but I've stalled out for the longest time.  You see, I've never made duck before.  There's a perfectly good reason why-- I was too chicken to make duck.  Pardon the pun.

It's not like one can easily find fresh "duck" in the fresh aisle of your grocery market.  The frozen duck breasts I've found have a salt solution, or have been pre-seasoned. I don't want that.  Luckily, Whole Foods carries fresh duck around the holidays.  It was time to seize the opportunity and to make the duck dinner my son had been requesting.

I think my fear of cooking duck is that I don't want to ruin a pricey piece of meat.  I did a little research, to give me wisdom and confidence,  and then told my son that his wish was finally my command.

If you've never made duck breast, it's important to score breast skin with a very sharp knife.

Just be sure that you don't cut through to the meat.  Done.

One of my favorite cooking methods is "searing".  I love a crusty exterior, and all those lovely brown bits makes such a beautiful pan sauce.   I knew I wanted to make a cherry pan sauce.  Then again, I think orange goes really well with duck. So, why not do both?

Instead of using fresh cherries (which are out of season), I used a jar of sour cherry preserves, an orange and Ruby Port Wine.

The duck breasts are free of any moisture, has been at room temperature for about 30 minutes, and the pan is screaming hot.  There isn't any oil for a very good reason-- the duck is going to render a lot of fat!  Here we go! It's sizzling....

The breasts are seared, skin side down, for about 10 minutes...

This is how I like the skin-- crispy and golden.  See all the fat?

Turn the duck breasts over and cook for about 3 more minutes. Remove them, cover loosely with foil and pour out the rendered duck fat. Don't throw it out! I saved mine in a glass jar, because duck fat and potatoes = yum!  Now, for the pan sauce...

I started with chopped shallots, sauteed until translucent. Next, the port and orange juice is added, while scraping off all the flavorful brown stuff.

Last, I added the zest of the orange...

Now, comes the preserves, and then the sauce is reduced at a boil, until it reduces and starts to thicken.

I don't always do this, but since this is a special dinner, I turn off the heat and add a couple pats of unsalted butter. Whisk it in, and the sauce takes on a silky texture with a rich flavor.

Since this dinner was in the "fancy" category, I decided to make Gruyere Au Gratin Potatoes. 

I like my duck to be medium-rare (130F).  As I sliced into the duck breast, I said a little prayer that I didn't overcook the duck.  Amen.  The meat turned out super moist and juicy-- and the color was perfect.

Taking photos proved to be a challenge.  When you have two hungry men (and a cook), anxious to dig in, I had to work really fast to get my shot and get on to dinner!

My son works at a restaurant. He had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (double-shift lunch and dinner).  This was mom's way of making up for the holiday dinners, with his family, that he missed out on.   So, he got served first...

Sides dishes were roasted asparagus and Yukon Gold Potatoes Au Gratin.

My son, skillfully uncorked a bottle of La Crema Pinot Noir.

TASTING NOTES:  First, I have to ask myself what took me so long to make duck! It's not hard to do, at all. In fact, this dinner took less than an hour to put together, and that includes photographing each step.  I adapted this recipe from Food Network (here) and I'm glad that I did not bake the breasts (per the original recipe).  Had I done so, I think the duck would have been overcooked.  It was perfect.  The sauce was delicious.  According to my son, he said this dinner was worthy to be served at his restaurant (which is a "nice" one in Carmel).  To a mom, that is the ultimate compliment.   I only wish I had bought more than two duck breasts (I was being cheap careful.)   I could see my son eyeing my serving. SIGH.  (Yes, I gave him more.)

As for the potatoes-- my two men loved them.  I'll share that next.

A printable recipe card is at the end of this post. 

Cornish Game Hen with Pomegranate Molasses - Fancy Schmancy!

For New Year's Eve, Craig and I prefer to stay at home.  I try to make something a bit on the fancy side, where we can safely drink a bottle of champagne or wine.  I'm not ashamed to admit that we're usually asleep by 10:00pm, after watching the East Coast pre-recorded Times Square stroke of midnight. Yeah, we're living "La Vida Loca".

I've been on vacation since December 23rd, which gave me a chance to watch some pre-recorded shows of Anne Burrell's Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.  I love her quirky blonde hair, and her zany way of teaching.   In one episode, Anne made Cornish Game Hens with Pomegranate Molasses.  I taught myself how to make Pomegranate Molasses, last year (and it's super easy, by the way).

I've never made Cornish Game Hens, and I'm not sure why.  I saw them at Whole Foods, and that made choosing my New Year's Eve menu pretty simple.

I asked the butcher to remove the spine so that the hens would be butterflied. I'm not gonna lie-- this kinda creeped me out.

I felt a little bit better, once I tied the legs together.  I hate to burst anyone else's bubble, but I didn't stop to think about what a Cornish Game Hen really is, until now.  It's a chicken, that's no more than five weeks old.  Here I thought it was some fancy miniature poultry.  Oh well, these were ready to be pan seared and roasted.

First, I poured some of my homemade molasses into a pan, with some smashed garlic, on medium heat.

In a screaming hot pan, with olive oil, I seared the seasoned chicken (salt & pepper), skin side down,  for a good 6-7 minutes. (Of course the skin needs to be patted dry, and free of any kind of moisture.)

I cooked the other side for about 3 minutes, and then placed them on a baking tray.  I brushed the pomegranate molasses onto each bird, and returned them back to the pan into the oven, at 350F, for about 20 minutes.

I was sorely tempted to make Anne's Israeli Couscous with dried apricots and pomegranate arils.   However, my husband isn't crazy about couscous, but he loves Brussels Sprouts.  I remembered a recipe I had made, last year, for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate Molasses and Vanilla Pecan Butter. I wanted to tie in the Pomegranates, so this seemed the perfect choice. I decided not to make the Vanilla Pecan Butter, though. Instead, I added the zest of lime, lemon and orange-- and it smelled so bright and lovely.

Once the Brussels Sprouts were roasted, I drizzled them with the remaining pomegranate molasses and added some pomegranate arils that I easily de-seeded...

... using my underwater method (sure alleviates a juicy mess).

Happy New Year, for the Love of my Life.  I presented to him the Cornish Game Hen and his favorite vegetable.

VERDICT:  The dinner looked fancy, with a candle lit table and soft music.  I have no idea why, but seeing that little bird on my plate was unsettling. I could envision it with the feathers, and I felt like I was killing someone's baby.  This is a very strange feeling, considering I am a carnivore-- and occasional "flexitarian".  I couldn't eat the little legs!  Flavor-wise, the bird was moist and flavorful. Craig ate the whole bird, without any problem.  The Brussels Sprouts turned out to be my favorite part of the meal.  I'm the one who's a bit underwhelmed by this veggie, but the citrus zest and molasses was perfect.  I loved the crunch of the tart pomegranate arils.   As far as the work involved, it was no more difficult than a typical work night dinner.

Would I make a Cornish Game Hen again?  Probably not.  But, they do make a fancy presentation, but they're a bit pricey. I'm posting Anne's recipe at the end of this post, and the recipe for the Brussels Sprouts.

 Six years of marriage, and I still feel like we're on our honeymoon.

My husband will probably feel embarrassed, but I wanted to share a couple of photos from today.(Sorry, Sweetie, but I love this photo of you.)

 The Famous Lone Cypress Tree, Pebble Beach

It's our sixth wedding anniversary, and we spent the afternoon having lunch at Spanish Bay, in Pebble Beach (California).  It was a warm and gorgeous day, so I couldn't resist taking a few photos of one of the most famous places on the planet.

If you've never visited here, I hope you do.  If you have, then you know how blessed I feel to call this home.

Craig caught me tweeting photos on Instagram. (I cut my hair even shorter!)

Tomorrow, we are headed to San Francisco, for a few days of sightseeing and good eats!

Happy New Year!

Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

After all of my whining stress about this Christmas Season, I am most thankful that my family gathered together for a traditional German Christmas Eve Dinner.   What made this particular holiday so different, is that we adults mutually agreed that we would not exchange purchased Christmas gifts.  Know what? I was perfectly fine with that.  My gift to my family was slaving standing in my kitchen for several hours, making Austrian Goulash, Bavarian Semmel Knoedel (can you say that?) red cabbage, cherve' and an assortment of sausages.

I wanted to make a dessert that would look festive, and wouldn't be too difficult to make. After all, I had about four hours to create the entire menu.  I spotted this recipe in the most recent issue of Cuisine At Home Magazine.  I've never made a Red Velvet Cake, before, and I loved the idea of a White Chocolate Frosting.   This particular recipe uses buttermilk and vegetable oil, in lieu of butter.   I was banking that this combination would be essential components to a really moist cake.

I got a little nervous, because it took a lot of red food coloring so that the cake wouldn't be pink!  I had to dig in to my gel food coloring (for frosting), as I didn't have one full ounce of liquid food color.  That was a real challenge to get it to break the gel paste into the buttermilk.  At last, I mixed the buttermilk with vanilla and the food coloring, first,  since the recipe said it would help to avoid a huge mess. Ha! (More on that later.)

I confess.  I usually skip sifting cake dry ingredients. In this case, I sifted both unbleached flour and cake flour together.  This recipe listed 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, plus some espresso powder and salt.  Sift, sift, sift... done.  Last, but not least, I wisked all of the dry ingredients together.

 

To white sugar, I added three eggs, and beat it until white and fluffy -- about 5 minutes. Next, I slowly drizzled the vegetable oil until it was fully incorporated.  Alternating the dry ingredients...

...and the red buttermilk mixture.  I then added some white vinegar at the end.  I divided the batter into 2 8x8 square baking pans.  These were baked at 375 for about 35 minutes.

TIP: Whenever I bake cakes, I set two timers-- one for the time recommended, and a second one for about 10 minutes sooner.  I test each cake a little early from the recommended time, so that I don't risk over baking the cake. The cake in the metal pan baked much faster than the glass one.   Of course, you can bake the cakes in a round pan, but I wanted my photo to look like the one in the magazine (background of picture below).  About that mess...

Red dye is a mess!  You can see the magazine photo in the background.  Stunning, isn't it? Speaking of red dye-- if you don't like red dye, then don't use it.  I did a little bit of research on Red Velvet Cake.   Camps are divided on what a true definition of Red Velvet Cake is.  (If you're curious, you can click here for the story.)  I'm not afraid of a little food quality red dye, on occasion. Heck, I like maraschino cherries! Don't judge.  

I was relieved to see that my cakes didn't look pink. Let the cakes sit for about 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack.  While the cakes completely cooled, I made the frosting.

Cream cheese frosting is what I most often see with Red Velvet Cake. However, that's not a traditional frosting. Did you know that?  It's true!  A Cooked Vanilla Frosting is a more traditional frosting. I've made this before, with my favorite chocolate cake.   On medium heat, cook whole milk and flour together until it's thick.  Whatever you do, don't boil it and don't walk away! It thickens up super fast, and then you've got a mess.  Mine got a little lumpy (because I decided to clean up, and got distracted).  I ended up putting the milk/flour mixture through a fine sieve.

Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, to prevent a "skin" from forming over it. Put it in the fridge to cool.

I once took a Wilton cake decorating class. While I'm not a super-pro, I have learned a few tricks to make things a little easier.  I use a serrated knife to level off the one cake that rose higher than the other.   I bought a Cake Lifter, and I have to tell you that this prevents me from breaking my cakes whenever I transfer them.   

I struggled, a bit, with cutting off the edges of the square cake.  The edges turned out a little crispy an dark.  Not pretty.  It took some cursing patience, but I got the edges cut off so that it would reveal the pretty red color of the cake. 

TIP: When I cut a cake in half, I place it on a turning cake stand. I place a serrated knife in the middle, and slowly rotate the cake until the lines connect.  I keep rotating, while cutting in deeper.  Finally, my cake is cut in half and it's even. Otherwise, you can insert toothpicks to give you margins to cut.

I used 4 ounces of Ghirardelli White Chocolate, which is pretty thin.  I used the microwave, at about 30 seconds, to melt the chocolate; then I set it aside to cool.  In my stand mixer, I used two sticks of softened, unsalted butter and white sugar.

The melted chocolate and cooled flour/milk mixture is on standby.  Cream the white sugar and butter, until it's really fluffy-- about 7 minutes.  Add the chilled milk mixture and white chocolate, and beat on high speed until light and fluffy-- about five more minutes.

It's pretty amazing how the frosting whips into a whipped cream texture.  I tasted the frosting, and I felt it really needed vanilla, so I added about 1 teaspoon. Perfect.

NOTE: No, you don't have to add white chocolate.  I happen to love white chocolate, so that's what intrigued me most about this recipe.  I think I would have doubled the amount of white chocolate, though, as I thought it was barely detectable.

Using a vegetable peeler, I shaved the long (and very thin) side of the Ghiradelli bar.  A thick block of white chocolate would have made pretty and longer curls.   I also crumbled some of the cake trimmings, for decoration.

Piping an edge of frosting is the easiest way to fill all four layers.  Cuisine At Home suggested piping the entire surface-- however, I realized I'd run out of frosting really fast.

So, I "plopped" some frosting in the middle and spread it with an offset spatula.  I wasn't worried about crumbs, either. 

I was going to cut some wooden dowels (like I use for grilling shrimp etc.) but I decided to skip that process.  Here's the challenge-- this frosting is very soft!  The cake can easily turn into the leaning Tower of Pisa!  I sprinkled some cake crumbs on top, for decoration and then the white chocolate. Then, I immediately chilled the cake.   The frosting sets pretty quickly.

 More mess to cleanup. Sigh.  I put the cake into the refrigerator and got busy making dinner.

The cake definitely was a show-stopper at the dessert table.

The crumb of the cake definitely had a velvet texture, which is really how the cake got it's name.

The frosting did ooze over the edges a bit.  Next time, I think I'd leave a bit more of a cake edge, since this frosting down soften very quickly.

So, the moment of truth--  

TASTING NOTES:   The cake was very moist, and  I was happy with the fine crumb texture.  The color definitely was a beautiful red, and I thought it was visually appealing.   

Work Involved:  I thought this cake was a bit labor intensive, and certainly used a lot of dishes. Flavor:  My niece, I didn't realize before, adores Red Velvet Cake. She was so excited that I had made this, and I was so pleased that she was delighted.  

Let's start with me.  I was a bit underwhelmed with the flavor.  You see, I've never been a big fan of  Red Velvet Cake.  I think it's because I love adore white cake, and I like a rich dark chocolate cake as second choice-- as long as it has white frosting to tame the chocolate flavor.  Red Velvet Cake is a cross between a white cake and a tease of chocolate. At least that's my opinion.  I loved the frosting, which isn't cloyingly sweet.  In fact, I much prefer that over a cream cheese frosting (boo, hiss).  Out of five stars, I declared this cake to be a 3.5.  My niece, however, said this cake deserved 6 stars out of 5!  My son loved it, too. Was it worth it?  Anytime someone I love is happy with a recipe, then it was worth the effort. 

So, don't listen to my personal lackluster review.  Remember, I love white cake the best. If you love Red Velvet Cake, then I think you'd like this version.  It's got the moisture factor, and isn't super sweet.  Make a Cream Cheese Frosting, if you prefer. 

I sent my niece home with the majority of the cake.  I'm glad it made her very happy.  As always, a printable recipe card is at the end of this post.  I'm on a two-week vacation, and I can finally catch up with my back-log of recipes that I'd like to share with you.  Amen!

Next year, I'm going to to jump start my Christmas baking and homemade edible gifts a lot sooner. I'll box up my jars, and fancy ribbons, recipes and edible decorations that I bought-- all with the best of intentions-- until next year.  No matter what, the Spirit of Christmas was in the house.  I am thankful.  But now-- life goes back to normal, and less temptation to indulge in sweets should lessen. At least, I hope so!