DUCK VARIATIONS - Your Holiday Table

 

 

 

DUCK VARIATIONS

Your Holiday Table

 

By:

Ilona Saari

 

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening...  In the lane snow is glistening…

Well, maybe in northern climes from Maine to Oregon, but here in Ojai “sweater weather” is a highly variable concept. Instead, you might find Ojaians sunbathing in our backyards, sunning in Libbey Park or swimming in an outdoor pool while folks in other parts of the country are ice skating on frozen ponds or shoveling snow.  But Ojai, nevertheless, decks its halls – or in our case the “Arcade “- with boughs of holly, and steeps itself in the holiday spirit. (Heck, you ain’t seen anything until you see a palm tree lit up like a Christmas tree.)  And, just like Americans all across the country, Ojaians gather family and friends close.  Celebrating and breaking bread with those we love is especially important this holiday season whether you cook together, or cook and share a meal around a virtual table on Zoom.  Food can comfort us in times of joy and sorrow and unify us in times of stress. 

Because we were deprived from gathering in large groups for so long, I asked two well-regarded local chefs for ideas for a special home holiday meal.

For appetizers, who better than Chef Robin Goldstein, caterer, cooking instructor, cookbook writer extraordinaire?  Her Red Pepper and Walnut Spread (roasted red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate glaze flavored with cumin, coriander and smoked paprika) is from her first cookbook, “A Taste of Ojai – A Collection of Small Plates.” Based on the Middle Eastern spread, “muhammara,” this “sweet and piquant dip” is perfect for this time of year.

A winter holiday meal always glows with a palate pleasing hearty soup course.  There’s no better choice than Robin’s roasted carrot and onion soup with her recipe for a savory spicy granola to sprinkle on top. This marvelous soup recipe is from her cookbook, “A Taste of Ojai, Flavors of the Valley.”

All of Robin’s cookbooks can be found in our very own Pixie General Store, Carolina Gramm’s olive oil Ojai Tasting Room, Caravan Outpost, and Ojai Valley Inn & Spa’s Libbey Market, or on her website where you can also learn more about Robin’s culinary creativity.  Any one of her cookbooks would make a fabulous holiday gift.  privatechefrobin.com   

My next “kitchen” call, this time for a holiday entrée, was to world-class chef Claud Mann.  Many of us know Claud from TBS’ long running program, “Dinner & A Movie,” a television show he co-created and hosted. But Claud was more than just a pretty television face, he was also a chef with a healthful mission.  He began his gastronomical career as a chef at a San Francisco fine dining restaurant, but soon left to join “Project Open Hand,” which cooked and delivered healthful meals to homebound AIDS patients.  He’s also written recipes and essays for the NY and LA Times, as well as other newspapers around the country, not to mention for magazines such as “Cooking Light.”

After moving to Ojai, Claud became co-publisher of the James Beard Award winning “Edible Ojai & Ventura County Magazine;” worked closely with The Orfalea Foundation’s School Food Initiative in Santa Barbara County; and was a founding Board member of “Food For Thought - The Ojai Healthy Schools” here in Ojai… programs that work with public schools to help students learn how to eat more healthfully by bringing fresh ingredients and scratch cooking into the schools’ cafeterias.

Never resting on his “laurels,” while severely injured with a broken ankle, Claud wheeled a stool around his kitchen and taught himself the art of bread making.  He now supplies the fruits of that labor to some of our best local eating establishments, including Rotie, a restaurant he co-founded a few years ago.  He also donates loaves to those in need.

His recipe for a sumptuous holiday entrée?  Duck confit!

“Some people avoid duck because they believe it’s too fatty. Counterintuitively, by submerging salted and seasoned duck legs in rendered duck fat and then cooking at a very low heat, the final product is lean and fall-apart tender. Confit is a preparation (comparable to fermentation, smoking and pickling) all of which arose as methods of preservation prior to the advent of refrigeration. As the duck cooks, the intoxicating scents of ginger, clove, cinnamon, (and of course, roast duck) fill the kitchen.” CM

“Duck Confit is superbly versatile.  Use in a cassoulet, risotto, salads, potpie, pasta, tacos, or my favorite, on a bed of Puy lentils alongside a simple green salad with a glass of Pinot Noir or Grenache.”  CM

Duck Confit Salad

Duck Confit Casserole 

 

Check out Claud’s confit recipe below. The versatility of this dish leaves you with a wealth of choices for your holiday table.

Duck Confit

OK, it’s time for dessert, because holidays are legally bound to feature mouth-watering confections, right?  Never mind that a rich, sweet delight will end the meal with a five-pound weight gain… you can always keto after the New Year.

The first is the richest, chocolatiest cake I’ve ever had: Mark Miller’s Ibarra Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze from his Coyote Café cookbook.  You can find the recipe at my blog link: https://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-last-hurrah-2013-ibarra-chocolate.html

 If chocolate’s not your guilty pleasure, try food writer Molly Wizenberg’s twist on a Citrus-Almond Cake.  It’s not angel food, but definitely heaven-sent and heaven-scented.  You can find the recipe at the link below.  https://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2013/07/let-me-eat-cake-citrus-almond-cake.html

 As we wind down this very challenging year, I wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday season.  Bon Appetit!!! 

Ojai Holiday Duck Confit

 Ingredients:

·         4 tablespoons kosher salt

·         1 tablespoon granulated sugar

·         1 teaspoon culinary lavender (Available from Rivendell Aromatics at the Ojai Farmers’ Market, or on Rivendell’s website)

·         1 teaspoon coarse ground black peppercorns

·         4 tablespoons grated Ojai lemon or tangerine peel, or a mixture

·         About 4-cups duck fat (Westridge carries it at the meat counter, or you can order from dartagnan.com)

·         4 large duck leg quarters

·         I knob unpeeled fresh ginger, cut into coins

·         1 teaspoon whole cloves

·         1 or 2 Saigon cinnamon sticks, broken in pieces

·         6 bay leaves

·         12 sprigs fresh thyme

·         8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

*Note on Spices: If your herbs and spices have been in sitting around for more than 6-months, splurge and invest in some fresh ones. I like The Spice House, Burlap and Barrel, Diaspora and Penzy’s. (All available online. ~CM)

Procedure:

·         In a small mixing bowl, combine salt, sugar, lavender, peppercorns and citrus zest.

·         Using a paring knife, prick the duck skin all over to allow fat to render more easily. Try not to cut into the meat.

·         One-by-one, rub each leg well with the seasoning mixture. Transfer to a bowl; cover and refrigerate overnight.

·         Rinse off excess salt, and then arrange the legs skin-side down in a Dutch oven or baking dish just large enough to accommodate the duck in a single layer, with sides high enough for the fat to cover the meat without overflowing.

·         Preheat the oven to 200-225F, the lower the better. In a medium saucepan, combine the duck fat with the ginger, cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. Place over low heat until the fat is melted and the mixture becomes fragrant.

·         Arrange duck in a single layer in the dish; pour the warm, seasoned duck fat with all the spices over the top. (The duck should be completely submerged in the fat. If it is not, you may need to add more fat or use a smaller baking dish.)

·         Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake 4 hours, or until the meat falls easily from the bone.

·         Unless using immediately, allow the duck to remain in the fat until used, up to 10 days, refrigerated.

THE BOOK OF RUTH

 

THE BOOK OF RUTH

By Ilona Saari

I love to eat.  Cooking?  Not so much.  But I do love to read cookbooks.  Well, not really “read” as I barely scan the recipes, it’s the pictures of food that tantalize my tongue… how that food is plated, the dishes used – you know, “food porn.”  Of course, I then show these pictures to my husband, who does love to cook, and ask him to work his culinary mojo.

I first met six-times James Beard Award winner Ruth Reichl (virtually) when my husband brought home “The Gourmet Cookbook,” her massive tome with the heft and weight of a family bible. The comparison is apt, since it became his cooking bible.  There are no pictures, but I’ve salivated over every meal he’s made from that book and took my own pictures.  In the past, I had often thought of writing about food, but I was a political satirist and wrote comedic essays and scripts for TV.  Food writers seemed to take their craft quite seriously… that is until I discovered the Book of Ruth.

My second virtual introduction to Ruth took place when my book group chose her 2001 memoir, “Comfort Me with Apples.”  I fell in love with her conversational writing flare that recounted how she became a food critic.  Her travel adventures that focused on the world’s cuisines were funny and informative.  I was so inspired by her stories that I started this food blog.  Ruth showed me that writing about food can be fun, often “tongue-in-cheek,” even tongue-in-cheeky.  I saw how it was possible to pen a mini-memoir about a home cooked meal or a restaurant dinner that made readers relate.  So, when I read that Ruth was going to do a book signing at a luncheon at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa’s Farmhouse, I begged and pleaded with my publisher/editor (strategic tears in my eyes) that the Ojai Quarterly send me to cover the event.  OK, no tears (poetic license), but he agreed.  That was all that mattered.

The Farmhouse is a twenty-million dollar food event venue with a huge barn-like structure that houses a large “open to the room” working kitchen and space for many tables, plus lovely grounds that can host all sorts of parties, from weddings to masked balls (that is, if anyone still does masked balls). 

Inside the barn, folks were mingling while sipping fine wine and nibbling on pink deviled eggs, buckwheat blinis with salmon roe, and tomato gazpacho passed on trays by Farmhouse servers.

 

 Internationally known chef and author Nancy Silverton, an old acquaintance of mine from my LA days, is one of the Farmhouse’s culinary ambassadors, so I was excited to see her at the luncheon to introduce her old friend, Ruth, and to mingle with the guests. 

Nancy with my publisher/editor Bret Bradigan

 Nancy & Ruth

Ruth briefly talked about her time at Gourmet Magazine and why writing “Save Me The Plums” about that era of her life, was important to her… how the publisher, Conde Nast supported her vision and never micro-managed, giving her carte blanche to push the food magazine envelope… a freedom given an editor that few, if any, publisher allows today.  She rewarded that trust by straddling the fence, continuing to give old subscribers what they wanted while bringing a new approach to the magazine that would garner new subscribers.  It was also important to her that this new book clearly demonstrate that women can be mothers while having a challenging career.

 During the Q&A after her brief talk, Ruth was asked… “If given the choice, what would be your last meal?”

 

“A meal that never ends,” she replied with a smile.

 

 

 We then started our family-style meal.  Bowls and plates of hummus, a Moroccan salad, broccoli rabe bruschetta, and borscht salad almost magically appeared on the table, along with bottles of 2017 Dampt “Cote de Lechet” Chablis Premier Cru.

 

 

 

While I wandered through the barn taking pictures, serving plates with new dishes arrived, filled with Pollo alla Diavola (Devil’s Chicken an intensely seasoned burst of flavor), grilled sea bass with salsa verde, spicy Tuscan kale, and corn pudding.  Bottles of 2017 Domaine Marc Roy Gevrey-Chambertin Pinot Noir also arrived. But, by the time I returned to my table, the sea bass was gone. I made up for it by having two helpings of the Devil’s Chicken. 

 

 

Of course, no luncheon is complete without dessert and we had two choices, luscious strawberry shortcake or a totally tarty “tart lemon tart.”

 

It was time for the book signing.  I wanted to tell Ruth how much she has meant to me as a food writer.  How she influenced my approach to food writing.  How she makes me laugh (and hungry) when I read her books, but the book line was too long, so I just said that I was a fan and thanked her for coming to Ojai.

 

As the holiday season is upon us, I had planned to leave you with a favorite Ruth Reichl holiday recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook, but as I was reading “Save Me The Plums,” what could be more perfect than her Thanksgiving turkey chili, a dish she and her staff made as a thank you for rescue workers at Ground Zero?

 

 

Ruth Reichl’s Thanksgiving Turkey Chili recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

3 canned whole chipotle chilies in adobo

1 bottle dark beer

2 pounds tomatillos (husked, rinsed & quartered)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 large onions, chopped

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh oregano, finely minced

2 jalapenos, diced (if you don’t like heat

   remove the seeds)

3-1/2 pounds ground turkey

1-1/2 cups chicken broth

8 large cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole

Salt

1 bay leaf

2 cups cooked white beans

1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers

Cream sherry

Balsamic vinegar

Sour cream

 

 

Directions:

 

1.      Toast the cumin seeds in a dry skillet until they’re fragrant.  Allow to cool, then grind to powder.

2.      Puree the chipotle chilies with the adobo.

3.      Put the beer into a medium-sized pot, add the tomatillos, bring to a boil, and turn the heat down to a simmer.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until the tomatillos are soft.  Strain the tomatillos (reserving liquid) and puree in a blender or food processor.  Pour back into the pot with the beer.

4.      Slick the bottom of a large casserole with a couple of tablespoons of oil, and sauté the onions until they’re translucent.  Add the cilantro, oregano, jalapenos and cumin and stir for a couple of minutes.  Break the turkey into the mixture and stir until it just starts to lose its raw color.  Add the pureed tomatillos and beer, the chipotle puree, the chicken broth, and the garlic, along with a couple of teaspoons of salt and the bay leaf, and simmer the mixture for about an hour and a half.

5.      With a large spoon, smash the now-soft cloves of garlic and stir them into the chili.  Add the white beans and diced chili peppers and taste for salt.  At this point I like to start playing with the flavors, adding a few splashes of cream sherry, a bit of balsamic vinegar, or perhaps some soy sauce or fish sauce.  Heat for another 10 minutes.

6.      Serve with sour cream.

Serves 8