THE SOUTHERN INFLUENCE

Our guest chef is back, HOORAY! Cooked us a wonderful meal of very slow roasted pork shoulder, served with spicy sweet potatoes with onion and red peppers, fabulous collard greens and a dish of black beans with slow roasted corn.  Could have been ordinary but believe me it was not.   Recipes might follow if I can get them out of him!  As usual this meant a very pleasant afternoon in the kitchen, being sous chef and observer.  Whilst shopping  he noticed plantains were on special, what better way to finish his southern/Haiwian meal?  Throws it out to me, plantain fritters?  Found perfect sounding recipe on Epicurious, of course, sweet plantian fritters.   Have to say it was a challenge after the filling meal, even though we waited an hour or so to serve them, but they were irresistible and delicious!

MY FAVOURITE SATURDAY - COOKING, DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Just 6 of us for dinner tonight but was planning on spending some time at Joseph's regatta on Saturday, so had to plan something that was not too time consuming on the day.  Decided on SLOW-COOKED DUCK LEGS, have done these before but not for a  while. I had cut the recipe out of the NY Times many years ago, but cannot find it on the site so here it is:

• Combine 1 tsp each of ground allspice, dried thyme, ground cumin with
• 1/4 tsp each of ground ginger, ground cloved and grated nutmeg with
• 1 tsp crushed juniper berries

mix well and sprinkle over both sides of

• 8 duck legs

rub well into the flesh, place in dish large enough to hold them in one layer then sprinkle with

• 4 TSPS kosher salt

cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge for 24 hours.
Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Remove legs from dish and carefully wipe with Bounty to remove all salt.
Place skin side up in a 3 inch deep baking dish, in single layer.  Add:

• 1 Bayleaf
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled but whole

Cover tightly with foil and cook for 2.5 - 3 hours.
Remove from pan, can be made ahead to this point.
Pre heat broiler, place legs on rack in roasting pan and broil about 10 inches away from element for about 5 minutes, til skin crisps and they are heated through.  Couple of notes: I had fresh thyme so used that, sprinkled on the leaves just before baking; I did not have juniper berries so simply left them out, interested to see how it could be even better with them! I always use the full 3 hours but you have to be careful as you take them out of the pan as the meat is literally falling off the bone. I use a spatula and put them straight onto the rack that they will go under the broiler on.



I served this with a green pepper Risotto, taken from a wonderful book I was given years ago:
Risotto by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman

I chose this particular risotto because it is not too rich, has no cream in it. The pairing worked well, and I enjoy having the girls in the kitchen stirring risotto, just before we sit down to eat. Our meal was completed by a delicious salad, provided by Charlotte, of mache, endive, roasted beets and pecans, dressed with a blood orange vinaigrette, perfect accompaniment to rich and fatty duck!

Finished the evening with some delicious cheese and the Lemon Curd Pavlova that I made many times before.  I did the meringue and lemon curd the previous evening, then put it together just before serving.  Alan had done the shopping and picked up raspberries instead of blueberries by mistake, but it turned out to be a happy accident, it was a little different, looked and tasted great!  In fact I just had a leftover slice as I was writing this!

Sunday not roast!

My boys went skiing this weekend, took advantage of the late arrival of spring.  That meant that I could decide on Sunday dinner with no input! Been thinking about the Thai Green Curry with Seafood that I did some time ago and made it again tonight.   I know I have not often done this, repeated myself on this blog but things have to evolve and this one is worth repeating, it was delicious.  I found baby bok choi and so did not finely chop, as per the recipe, but quartered them and it worked out well, and looked good.  Alan did not love it, but I'm sure he had his taste  buds primed for a roast dinner so no matter how good it was he was not going to be happy!  It was also probably a touch too spicey for him, but when you cook with fresh chilies it is so difficult to control the heat exactly.  I would have been ok with a bit less heat but thought it was excellent as it was.  I also cracked the first bottle of rose wine for the season, come on, it was a sunny day!