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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Roast Duck with Celery Roots, Beets, and Asparagus

I recently heard about a new butcher shop in Alexandria, Virginia called Let's Meat on the Avenue.  They specialize in local pasture fed and naturally fed meat.  Obviously, I had to check it out.  It's a great little butcher shop, just what I've been looking for in the area.  The selection is good and you can get custom cuts and order specialty things that they don't always have.  While I went in looking for grass fed beef, I ended up getting a duck.  It wasn't local like most of the other meat (farm raised in Indiana), but I found I was in the mood for fowl.  If you are in northern Virginia or DC and appreciate meat with a traceable source that has put real thought and care into how they farm (as well as a butcher that understands that) this is the butcher shop for you!

Ingredients:
  • Duck
  • Brine
    • Apple cider
    • Kosher salt
    • Garlic
    • Rosemary
    • Sage
    • Thyme
    • Juniper berries (lightly crushed)
    • Pepper
    • Celery salt
    • Paprika
  • Rub
    • Kosher salt
    • Cane sugar
    • Paprika
    • Cloves
    • Black pepper
    • Red pepper
    • Garlic Salt
    • Celery Salt
    • Oregano
    • Basil
  • Celery Root
  • Beets
  • Asparagus
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive Oil
  • Apple Cider

Procedure:
    Like most of the meat I've prepared in the last year, this started out with a brine.  I took some apple cider, added the ingredients listed, simmered it for about 45 minutes, and let it cool.  I removed the giblets from the duck, cut off a little excess fat and skin, and rinsed it well.  The brine and the duck met each other in a ziplock bag and moved to the fridge, where they together pursued perfection of flavor and texture for the next 24 hours.
    The next evening, I cut up a celery root, three beets, and a bundle of asparagus.  These were covered in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed in a baking pan with a little cider and a fowl roasting rack.  A fowl roasting rack holds a bird in a V-shaped rack a bit above the bottom of a roasting pan.  This keeps the whole bird in the air and allows the vegetables placed underneath to receive a slow shower of flavorful drippings. If you've never used celery root, I highly recommend it.  It is a large white root vegetable that you can prepare the same ways you can prepare potatoes.  However, they have a nice subtle celery flavor that blows potatoes out of the water.  They are an easy way to take a meat and potatoes kind of meal and kick it up to a higher level.  I only discovered celery root recently and it is my new favorite thing.
    Once the pan was prepared, I mixed up a rub of equal parts cane sugar and kosher salt, plus the seasonings listed above.  I took the duck out of the brine, rinsed it lightly, smeared it with a little olive oil, and covered it with the rub, including the cavity.  Remember that rubs are called 'rubs' for a reason - don't just sprinkle meat with it, really rub it in.  This grinds it into the skin and fat and keeps the rub from running off with the drippings while you cook.  Instead, the flavor infuses the meat and makes the skin slightly crusty and extremely tasty.  Once rubbed, the duck got its cavity stuffed with the rest of my fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic.
    I placed the duck breast down in the fowl roasting rack above the vegetables.  I've started cooking birds breast down whenever I remember to.  This lets all of the fatty, flavorful drippings seep through the prime meat, making it juicier and more succulent than when baked on its back.  I roasted the duck on the bottom rack at 325 for about 2 hours.  I then flipped it on its back and roasted another 30 minutes breast up because the back was perfectly done and the breast needed a little more heat.  
    While this description is long, roasting like this is quick and easy.  You only have to roughly chop the vegetables and the meat preparation is very fast.  The only time consuming part is the actual roasting, but that's a fairly passive undertaking.  

Resulting Deliciousness:  
    This duck turned out exactly how I wanted it to.  The skin was just a little crusty and had a powerful flavor that complimented the meat.  The celery root, beats, and asparagus were delicious - they held their own and did not just taste like drippings, as could easily happen with things like potatoes and carrots.  I was really happy with the way this turned out.  
    Duck is a naturally fatty and flavorful meat, and if you cook it too fast or don't let it drip, you risk ending up with a greasy meal.  This was not greasy at all.  The fat that did not drip off to enhance the vegetables stayed with the skin and took on the flavors of the brine and the rub.  That flavor made the difference between feeling like you were eating a nice piece of meat with a nasty strip of fat, and feeling like you were eating a well balanced, flavorful, well prepared cut.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Corn Statch Crepes

  Whenever I'm home, I try to get my mom to make crepes.  Since we both have Celiac Disease, we can't eat normal crepes made with wheat flour.  Fortunately, my mom has an old recipe for corn starch crepes.  We made them even before we knew we had to eat gluten free because they are easy, cheap, and taste better than most other crepes - which is saying something since we've had them in Paris crepe shops.  Enjoy!


Ingredients:
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 Tbs corn oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup corn starch

Procedure:
    These are extremely easy.  Just beat the eggs, then mix in everything else.  Heat up a small to medium skillet and add a little oil.  Pour about 1/8 of a cup of batter into the pan and swirl it around to cover.  Flip after about 45 seconds, cook another 45 seconds, and your first crepe is ready.  You don't need to re-oil the pan between crepes, it's good for a while.  Put the crepe on a plate, add a little filling, roll it up, and eat it.

Resulting Deliciousness:
    These crepes come out nice and thin and soft, and are good with any type of filling so you can use them for anything from breakfast to desert.  Some of our favorites are bacon, jelly/jam/preserves, cream cheese, scrambled eggs, cheese, etc.   

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Gumbo

Making gumbo from the leftover turkey is a Thanksgiving tradition at our house.  It is a great way to shift the flavors away from the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and gravy everyone's been eating for two days, and it is way more satisfying than a turkey sandwich.  It starts with making stock from the turkey bones and just keeps getting better:
Ingredients:
  • Stock
    • Turkey bones, stripped of meat, seasoned, baked
      • Rosemary
      • Thyme
      • Black pepper
      • White pepper
      • Red pepper
      • Dried cilantro
      • Basil
      • Oregano
      • Sea salt
      • Garlic salt
    • Onion
    • Green pepper
    • Carrots
    • Celery
    • Rosemary
    • Thyme
    • Sage
    • Red pepper
    • Black pepper
    • Sea salt
    • Garlic Salt
    • Oregano
    • Basil
    • Paprika
    • Water
  • Turkey, pulled into bite sized or smaller pieces
  • Kielbasa
  • Celery
  • Red pepper
  • Onion
  • Dad's spice mix (see Chicken, The Phantom Menace)
  • White wine
  • Roux
    • GF Flour (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose mix) (~1/3 cup)
    • Vegetable Oil (~1/4 cup) (or clarified butter)
  • Black eyed peas
  • Black beans
  • Carrots
  • Sugar
  • Red pepper
  • Water

Procedure:
Stock:
    After cooking a whole bird, or other meat that leaves you with a bunch of tasty bones, I like to make stock.  Homemade stock is extremely easy to make and way, way better than any store bought broth or bullion.  The key to good stock is baking the bones.  Once we were done with Thanksgiving dinner, we got all of the meat off the bones (you can leave skin and a little fat).  Don't be shy to put down the knife and use your fingers - you can only carve nice slices off so much, and you're going to want small pieces for the gumbo later anyway.  Once the bones are clean, put them in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet with sides to catch liquids - you don't want fat to drip onto the stove and start a fire.  Sprinkle the bones generously with salt, pepper, and any herbs and spices you like - garlic salt, celery salt, paprika, and rosemary work well.  Bake the bones at 350-400 for 1-2 hours.  They should be very browned, bordering on blackened, bot not burnt or charred.
    After the bones are baked, cram them into the bottom of a large pot.  Don't be afraid to use some force, breaking bones is good - it exposes the marrow even further than baking.  Add some roughly chopped vegetables - celery and onion are a must, I usually use a bell pepper and carrots as well, use whatever you like or look online for some more suggestions.  Only chop them roughly because you'll be straining them out later.  Also add herbs, spices and salt.
    Cover the mix with water and get it simmering.  Simmer uncovered until it reduces by about half - I think I let mine go for about 4 hours, and ended up with a little under half a gallon of stock.  Let it cool a little, and skim fat off the top a few times.  Strain out all the solids and you're left with a dark, flavorful stock.  The stock is very potent, so you can usually cut it with equal amounts water.  
     
Gumbo:
    To start the gumbo, get the black eyed peas and black beans cooking if you're starting with dried (not necessary if they are canned).  When Season the onions, celery, and red pepper with some of the spice mix and caramelize them in a pan with no oil.  When there is a good amount of residue and they are getting cooked, add some wine or other liquid to deglaze the pan.  Add the sliced kielbasa and cook until browned lightly.  Add the stuff in the pan and the beans to a large pot, add stock and water, and start it simmering.  Add the carrots and the pulled turkey.  Next, it's time to make the roux.  This is a somewhat delicate operation.  In a pan, start mixing the flour and oil on medium to high heat.  Stir it constantly while it slowly browns.  The roux is done when it is just bordering on burnt.  As soon as it is ready, add it to the big pot and stir it in.  Let the gumbo simmer for about an hour, or until you're too hungry to wait.  Taste it and add sugar, salt, pepper, or whatever else you think it needs.  Serve the gumbo in bowls on top of rice.

Resulting Deliciousness:
    The stock turned out very rich, very tasty.  After sitting overnight in the refrigerator, it was almost jelly-like, so it was pretty high in fat.  We cut it with about an equal amount of water for the gumbo.  The gumbo was fantastic.  Even after simmering for an hour or more, you could still taste the flavor of the brine in some of the dark turkey meat.  The fatty stock did not make the gumbo greasy, which can easily happen if you don't skim enough fat off of the stock, or don't cut it with enough water.  The flavors of the gumbo were perfect, everything blended well, and the meal left you feeling very satisfied.  I think the key to the blending of the flavors is the few tablespoons of sugar added at the end. 

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Thanksgiving Desert: Pumpkin pie & Cranberry Apple Pie

The pies were great this year:



Ingredients:
  • Pumpkin Pie:
    • Whole Foods GF Pie Crust
    • Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling
    • Sugar
    • Cinnamon
    • Salt
    • Ginger
    • Cloves
    • Eggs
  • Cranberry Apple Pie:
    • Whole Foods GF Pie Crust
    • Top Crust -use your favorite or:
      • 1 cup Bob's Mill All Purpose GF Flour Mix
      • 1/2 tsp salt
      • 1/3 cup shortening
    • 1 1/2 cup sugar
    • 3 Tbs. quick tapioca
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 2 cups cranberries
    • 1 1/2 cup apples, peeled and sliced
    • 1 Tbs orange rind, grated
    • 3 Tbs orange juice
    • 2 Tbs butter, melted
  • Whipped Cream:
    • Heavy Whipping Cream
    • Sugar
    • Vanilla
  • Ice Cream

Procedure:
Pumpkin Pie:
    For the pumpkin pie, I took the lazy way out:  store-bought GF pie crust, and canned filling that tells you what to do.  Libby's Pumpkin Pie filling is GF, so  just follow the recipe on the can.  Easy as Pie.
    We usually do a GF almond flour crust, I'll post that at Christmas - it's a great bottom crust, but doesn't really work as a top crust.  

Apple Cranberry Pie:
    This recipe was given to my family by my mom's cousin, Donna.  Hopefully she's OK with it being posted online.  Anyway, for the filling, mix the sugar, tapioca, and salt and set aside.  Then, mix the cranberries, sliced apples, grated orange rind, orange juice, and butter.  Add the first mix to the second and mix.  Immediately pour into shell, cover with top crust, and bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes - the top shell should be brown and the apples should be cooked (feel with a knife).  If you don't put the filling into the shell and bake right away, the sugar will cause the fruit to juice and you'll end up with way too much liquid and a mushy pie (but it will still taste great).
    For the shell, use your favorite recipe or the one above.  We used Whole Foods GF shell and the top crust listed above.  We didn't use one of our better recipes, or xantham gum, so the top crust was crumbly and didn't end up looking very nice.  But, it did the job and tasted fine.

Whipped Cream:
    Pour heavy mixing cream in mixer, whip until it starts to firm up, add a splash of vanilla.  Add a little sugar to taste, about 2-4 tablespoons, while still mixing.  Don't over-mix, it will turn to butter.  It should just stand up on its own.  

Resulting Deliciousness:
    These pies turned out fantastic.  The pumpkin was just your normal pumpkin, solid, tasty, needs to be there on Thanksgiving.  However, the Apple Cranberry Pie is pretty much the best pie ever conceived by mankind, and it did not let us down this time.  In addition to the whipped cream, we served ice cream from Kilwin's with the pie.  Many Kilwin's ice creams have no gluten ingredients, you can see a list of ingredients and an allergen list at most stores.

Thanksgiving Dinner, 2008

This year was a small Thanksgiving for us, only about 8 people. But, we didn't use that as an excuse to make less food...



Ingredients:

  • Turkey and derivatives:
    • Brine
      • Apple Cider
      • Cranberry juice
      • Water
      • Rosemary
      • Thyme
      • Sage
      • Sea salt (~10tbs)
      • Black pepper
      • White pepper
      • Red pepper
      • Paprika
    • Stuffing
      • Whole Foods Gluten Free Sandwich Bread (toasted and cubed)
      • Onion
      • Celery
      • Green pepper
      • Dad's spice mix (found on Chicken, The Phantom Menace post)
      • White wine
      • Pecan halves
      • Craisins (raisins made from cranberries)
    • Gravy
      • Gluten Free Flour (we used Bob's Red Mill all purpose mix)
      • Vegetable oil (just a little to brown the flour in)
      • Turkey drippings, strained and separated
      • Milk
      • Salt & Pepper (lots, just keep adding until it tastes right to you)
  • Side of Fruit
    • Pineapple
    • Grapes
    • Cantaloupe 
  • Side Salad
    • Lettuce 
    • Carrot shavings
    • Red Peppers
    • Artichoke Hearts
    • Tomatoes
    • Various dressings
  • Green beans
    • Green beans
    • Chicken Broth
    • Salt
    • Pepper
  • Steamed Vegetables
    • Cauliflower
    • Carrots
    • Broccoli
    • Butter
    • Garlic Salt
  • Mashed Potatoes
    • Potatoes
    • Milk
    • Butter
    • Salt
    • Pepper
  • Cranberry Sauce
    • Cranberries
    • Sugar
    • Water


Procedure:
Turkey:
    This year, I brined the turkey overnight.  The brine consisted of about a gallon or so of liquid, split roughly between apple cider, cranberry juice, and water.  To that I added lots of sea salt, spices, and fresh herbs.  The brine simmered for about an hour and a half, long enough to infuse the herb flavors into the liquid, caramelize the sugars in the juices, and boil off some of the water.  I removed the giblets and rinsed the turkey well (I also had to cut off some fat and some of the giblets that were left in the cavity - the bird had been butchered in haste).  I placed the turkey in a huge ziplok bag made for brining turkeys and added the cooled brine.  This went in the fridge for about 15 hours, roughly an hour per pound.
    The morning of Thanksgiving, we took the turkey out of the brine, rinsed it briefly, and rubbed it with oil.  Then, we stuffed and trussed it and baked it at 325 until the internal temperature was 185 (about an hour for every 3 pounds).  Because we forgot to move the rack to the very bottom, the turkey started blackening early.  We covered it lightly with foil.  It looks pretty black in these pictures, but was not actually burned.  I'm not sure if the brining makes the skin blacken faster than normal, it may.  

Stuffing:
    My dad has gotten gluten free stuffing down pat.  We just use Whole Foods Gluten Free Sandwich bread, toasted and cut into cubes.  Another GF bread would be fine, but I would stay away from anything with oily or hard seeds (flax, poppy, etc), or large amounts of bean flour (too much flavor that doesn't really go with stuffing) - the closer to white bread you can get, the better - you want to soak up flavor with the bread, not add too much.  To start the stuffing, caramelize onions, celery, and green pepper with a little oil or butter and seasonings to your taste (we used my dad's general spice mix, found here).  Use a little white wine or other liquid to de-glaze the pan when it's almost ready.  Mix the vegetables with the bread cubes, pecan halves, and lots of melted butter.  It should be a moist, butter mix.  This goes into the turkey to become extremely delicious.  Some people prefer to make stuffing on the stove top.  I don't buy into that, but you could probably get good results that way, just using turkey drippings to add flavor instead of baking in the turkey.  I can see doing that so you can make more than you can fit in a turkey.  

Gravy:
    We usually make a white gravy.  You start by browning some GF flour with a little oil, making an unappetizing brown goo.  Add some turkey drippings, strained and separated.  Just keep mixing slowly and all the clumps of flour will go away.  Add some milk slowly, while stirring.  Add salt and pepper, until it tastes the way you like it.  You can add more drippings or milk as needed to get the balance right.

Mashed Potatoes:
    You should know how to make these.  Boil lots of peeled potatoes.  Drain.  Mash with milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Steamed Vegetables:
    My mom makes this all the time, easy and delicious.  Cover a large plate with a head of cauliflower, surround it with some cut up broccoli and carrots, pour some melted butter over it, sprinkle on some garlic salt, cover with saran wrap, and microwave for about 10-15 minutes, until everything is nice and soft.

Cranberry Sauce:
    Cranberry sauce is very easy to make, and much better than the canned stuff.  Just boil cranberries in sugar water until it tastes like cranberry sauce.  I don't remember the ratio of sugar and water, but I think its about equal amounts - bags of cranberries have the recipe on them.

Other sides:
    The other sides were just a tossed salad, some cut up fresh fruit, and green beans simmered in chicken broth.


Resulting Deliciousness:
    This Thanksgiving turned out very well.  The turkey was extremely flavorful, the brine worked just how I wanted it to.  The dark meat took on the flavor especially well, maybe because it has a larger skin surface area - to - meat ratio than white meat, or maybe because it is a little fattier and more flavorful to start with.  The stuffing turned out as good as it always does.  I think the GF bread, being higher in fat than normal bread, actually makes a better stuffing than any wheat-based bread stuffing I've ever had.  All of the sides turned out great, as always.  Next year (and at Christmas), I think I want to venture out to some new sides.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Summary

This Thanksgiving was a blur of cooking, eating, and napping - in other words, a perfect vacation.  I'm breaking all of the recipes up into several posts.  Check back over the next day or two as I add them.  For now, here is a list of what we made and a few teaser pictures!  I'll make these links to the recipes once I get them written up.  Enjoy!


  • Thanksgiving Dinner
    • Turkey (brined!)
    • Gluten Free Stuffing
    • Gravy
    • Salad
    • Steamed Veggies
    • Green Beans
    • Cranberry Sauce
    • Fruit
  • Thanksgiving Desert
    • Pumpkin Pie
    • Apple Cranberry Pie
    • Whipped Cream
    • Ice cream 
  • Day After Thanksgiving Breakfast
    • Cornstarch Crepes
  • Day After Thanksgiving Dinner
    • Turkey Gumbo