Author Archives: Ducks Mahal

Potato Salad

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This is a dish I serve with smoked ribs.

I had an idea. The idea came one night at the local prime rib joint. There is nothing better to me than prime rib with a baked potato with sour cream and chives, and of course a gin martini. So, what I did is put a southern twist on it. I combined potatoes with sour cream and chives and then said, I need bacon bits and then said, if only it had herbs. So guess what, sour cream with herbs and a little mayonnaise is called Ranch dressing.

Proportional Serves 2:

Ingredients:

  • 5   new red potatoes (peeled and diced, boiled 7 to 8 minutes or until al dente, “to the tooth”)  (Note: Once the potatoes are drained they keep cooking and might need a cold water rinse to cool)
  • 5   chives (aka scallions or green onions) chopped
  • 5   6″ slices of thick bacon fried, chopped
  • 2 TBSP bacon oil
  • ½ cup Ranch dressing
  • Salt and Pepper

Mix all in a bowl and salt and pepper to taste.  Add more Ranch dressing if necessary. Refrigerate over night.

 

Italian Rice (Risotto)

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When making Osso Bucco I serve it over polenta or Risotto Rice.  This recipe is simple.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 cup risotto rice
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 2 cups chicken or veal stock
  • 1 TBSP butter
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

In a 2 quart saucepan with a lid, sauté the onions and rice in olive oil (8 minutes).  Add wine and 1 cup of stock, bring to a slight boil and then simmer and place a lid on the saucepan.   Keep an eye on it and when the liquid is almost absorbed add the last cup of stock.  Keep stirring until cooked al dente.  Add the butter and the Parmesan cheese and stir, then serve.

Mixed Green Salad

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We eat a lot of salads here.  This is one of our favorites.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of Romaine lettuce or your favorite lettuce, chopped
  • 1 celery stalk chopped
  • 2 scallions chopped (aka green onions)
  • Smoked Gouda cheese, cut into cubes
  • 2 slices of salami, cut into cubes
  • 2 or more TBSPs of dried cranberries (Craisins)
  • Ranch dressing

(Additional)

  • Cubes of apples or pears
  • Cubes of orange or tangerines

Leave salad at room temperature before eating.

Artisan Bread

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I know many people, well, actually, not many, I really know a few people, well actually, I know fewer than that…maybe it would be safe to say, “I don’t know anyone who bakes their own bread.”

I’m guessing, the reason is it seems like a real pain.  It isn’t.  I have been baking my own bread for a very long time now – years.  Not sure how many years, but years.

I bake a loaf of bread each weekend and use it throughout the week.  I’ve got it down to about 10 minutes of actually doing stuff.  The bread does the rest of the work.  I do look forward to that bread smell.

I use it for panini sandwiches,  french toast, Focaccia bread and the outer layer bread crumbs when frying up a batch of schnitzel.

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups hot water from the tap
1 tsp. Rapidrise bread machine yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Utensils:

1 large bowl (Plastic is easiest to clean)
1 baking spatula
1 spray water bottle
1 large pot with a lid

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In the large bowl dump all ingredients.

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Mix with spatula and paddle the flour around for about 4 to 5 minutes.  The flour will soak up the water so I use the spray water bottle to moisten it a little until it looks like this.

 

100_5120I cover the dough with a cloth and place it in the oven to let it rise.  Obviously you do not want the oven on.  The oven is a great place to protect the dough from things falling into it. I leave it in the oven for about 2 hours.

100_5122After 2 hours it should look like so.

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I use the spatula to assist the dough onto a floured kneading board.

100_5124I sprinkle flour on the dough and knead for about 3 to 4 minutes.  The reason I knead it at all is to squeeze out as many air bubbles as I can.  Doing this makes a better sandwich bread.  But, I have made no knead bread before.   I form the dough into a ball and place it in the big pot and cover it.  Then I heat the oven to 425 ⁰F (218 ⁰C).

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I bake the bread for 30 minutes.  Then I remove the lid and bake it another 15 minutes to brown the crust. It should look like this.

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Then I wrap it in a towel and let it cool.  This is a very important step b/c it allows the bread to cool and the crust to soften a little.

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That’s it.

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Can it be that easy?

(Someone say yes).

 

Chicken Cacciatore

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Sacchétto di spezie
Tied up herbs. I have sage, thyme, oregano and bay leaf. It smells so good. Will throw this in the pot later.

Wine
Owing to her Bologna, Italy cooking style she used a lot of dry white wines. I prefer red. For this meal I’m using a DaVinci, 2017, Chianti. I paid a whopping $9 for it. The best deal ever.

Lots of fresh San Marzano tomatoes from the garden.

Tomato Concasse (Tomato gravy)
Fresh San Marzano tomatoes or Roma tomatoes
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 Garlic cloves
S&P to taste
1 TBSP Olive Oil

Tomato Concasse is the process of removing the skin from the tomato before chopping. I remove the seeds for aesthetics but the seeds are fine to eat and don’t change the flavor much if any.

Cut Xs on top and bottom of each tomato and boil for a minute. Rinse in cold water (shock) and peel off skin and place in a food processor and spin chunky. Gently fry the paste and garlic in a skillet. Strain the seeds out of the tomatoes with a colander, discard the seeds and add the tomatoes to the pot. Cook low and slow to cook away the liquid. Later will hydrate with wine.

Slice mushrooms and gently sauté in butter and a dash of olive oil.

Cut two slices into the chicken perpendicular to the bone. Cut all the way down against the bone.

Place flour in plastic bag, I will use a zip lock baggie, add salt and pepper and shake the chicken in the flour mixture.

Gently brown chicken in olive oil.

Gently browned chicken. Skin fried a little.

Sofrito

Typically sofrito is onion, carrots and celery. In this dish I used ½ chopped onions and ½ chopped green pepper (seeded) and sautéed them in the chicken drippings. Then added the tomatoes, ½ cup of red wine, ½ cup of chicken broth. Deglaze the pan, add the Sacchétto di spezie and cook low and slow for 30 minutes to reduce the liquid. Remove the Sacchétto di spezie. Notice how darker the gravy is getting. It almost has a slight coffee smell. Wonderful!

Add 2 cloves of pressed garlic and the sautéed mushroom and chicken. Preheat the oven 350° and cook 2 hours. Serve over thin pasta. (Always cook dried pasta exactly 12 minutes).
As of 9/22/19