Pate Mousquetaire...Duck Pate With Calvados And Prunes

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Just a quick note to say I'm alive and well, though exhausted and overwhelmed from "the endless move".  And endless it has been. 

We got here a week ago and are still surrounded by boxes and what have you.  Moving in town is worse that moving across the country, that I can attest to.  When you move far away everything has to be packed in boxes, even the garbage! Don't laugh, I have arrived at the other end and found a waste paper basket full of discards.

I don't know how I'm going to unpack, decorate and receive my mother in two week's time.  Something has to give and that something is, sad to say, blogging. But I will try to stop by and drop off a recipe or two of things I think you will enjoy making for the holidays...like this pate.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, now sadly out of print, La Cuisine de Normandie by Princess Marie Blanche de Broglie. It is typical of the area of Gascony and uses all the flavors typical of the region: duck, prunes and Armagnac. The sweetness of the prunes plays well with the rich duck meat in this savory recipe. It is simple to prepare and makes quite a splash. 

Keep it ready in the refrigerator for family or guests and take some to the home of special friends, particularly if invited for Christmas Eve Dinner.

If you are a new subscriber, search around the site for Christmas recipes and ideas of the past three years.  There's plenty to keep you busy.

Now back to the boxes...ugh.

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 1/2 - 5 pound duck, boned, or 2 large duck breasts and 2 dark chicken quarters, including thighs and drumsticks

1/2 cup Calvados

1/2 onion

2 shallots

1 apple, peeled and cored

1 tablespoon butter

10 ounces loose sausage, try a mild "country" sausage

1 egg

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Allspice to taste

Thyme, to taste

1 tablespoon minced fresh sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried sage

6 prunes, pitted and quartered

1 small bay leaf

2 whole sage leaves

2 strips bacon or skin from chicken

Directions

Remove the meat from the bones of the duck and chicken. Cut one duck breast into 1/4-inch strips and the rest of the meat into chunks. Marinate the meat in the Calvados for at least one hour.

Mix the onion, shallots and apple; sauté them gently in butter. Using a grinder or food processor, chop the chunks of meat coarsely. Combine this meat, the sausage and the onion-apple mixture. Moisten it with the egg, add the seasonings and the Calvados, and mix well. Fry a small patty and check the seasoning.

Place 1/3 of the mixture on the bottom of an oiled 3 1/2 cup loaf pan or terrine. Then place half of the breast strips and the prunes on top, lengthwise; cover with another third of the meat mixture, and repeat. Put the bay leaf and sage leaves on top and cover with the bacon or chicken skin and foil.

Bake the paté in a water bath in a preheated 325 oven until done, about 1 1/2 hours. Weight the pan until the paté is cool (Note: use another pan with a can of tomatoes on top). Refrigerate it for a day or two before serving.

Serve on very thin white toast.

From "The Cuisine of Normandy" by Princess Marie-Blanche de Broglie

Cassoulet With Sausage, Lamb and Duck Confit

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“CASSOULET…that sumptuous amalgamation of haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton and preserved goose, aromatically spiced with garlic and herbs, is cooked at great length in an earthenware pot, emerging with a golden crust which conceals an interior of gently bubbling, creamy beans and uniquely savory meats.” Elizabeth David – French Provincial Cooking 1960


If there was ever a time for a cassoulet, this has to be it!  A huge snowstorm is sweeping across the nation, everyone is riveted by the news from Egypt and I have leftover duck and roast pork in the freezer from the holidays.  If you are thinking what I'm thinking you are absolutely correct....it's time for a cassoulet!

Part of the problem of making an authentic cassoulet is having the time to sit around and watch the pot so you can add stuff and stir the beans.  The other is all the components that have to be cooked and added.  That is when planning ahead comes in. 

Cassoulet is  a country dish that takes advantage of leftovers, remember that.  You will never have a great cassoulet at a fancy restaurant;  but you will have an unforgettable one at a French country house. If you go out and buy all the ingredients to make one,  it can be an expensive proposition.  I have been planning and freezing for over a month and now I have everything I need already cooked and ready to go in the pot.  That will save me half the time it would take if I had started from scratch.

Over the holidays we had roast duck and the broth and leftover legs were frozen.  Same with the leftover roast pork we had for New Year's Day. This past weekend, I cooked a small leg of lamb which ,though unnecessary at this point, will make for a nice addition. All I will need now is to soak the beans overnight and make the cassoulet on a day, like today, when it's too cold or snowy to go outside.  If you get a good news day like today, consider it a bonus.

I use the frozen duck broth to cook the beans in and after defrosting the cooked duck legs, pork and lamb, add them to the casserole.  It saves quite a lot of time and minimizes the mess in the kitchen, That, to me, is quite an accomplishment!

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

1 1/2  lb dried white beans (preferably Great Northern)
1/2 lbs bacon
1/2 lbs. fresh pork rind
2 carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
4 onions, 1 stuck with  2 cloves and 3 onions chopped
5 garlic cloves crushed
1 bouquet garni, parsley, thyme and bay leaf
3Tb butter
Salt and pepper
1 lb lamb shoulder
1/4 lbs. pork loin or shoulder
1 lbs French garlic sausage or kielbasa
2 shallots, chopped
2 - 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 TB tomato paste
3 pieces duck confit (or duck legs)
Fresh bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Soak and cook beans:

Cover beans with cold water by 2 inches in a large bowl and soak 8 to 12 hours. Drain in a colander.

Return the beans to pot and add bacon, bacon rind, carrot, onion stuck with clovers, 1 garlic clove, bouquet garni, and water (or duck stock) and cover by two inches. Cover, bring to a boil and reduce to low, cooking 1/2 to 2 hour until done and seasoning with salt and pepper.

In a casserole, or casole, melt 2 TB butter, add lamb, pork and duck.  Stir sausages, chopped onions, shallots and remaining 2 garlic cloves. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, season with salt and pepper. Add enough bean broth to cover,  bring to boil, reduce heat and cook  for 1 hour. If the pork and lamb have been previously cooked, only do so for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Drain beans reserving broth.  Remove carrots, bouquet garni, onion with cloves and discard.  In a large gratin dish, spread half pork rind,.  Layer half the beans, half the meats and confit or duck.  Repeat the layers , finishing with bacon, pork rind and sausages.  Moisten with some of the reserved bean broth, sprinkle with fresh bread crumbs and remaining 2 TB butter.  Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

I would serve this for lunch accompanied by a salad and a bagette.  A red French wine from Languedoc would go well with this recipe.


Recipe adapted from Francoise Bernard
Photo David Leibowits

Roast Duck Legs With Honey, Vinegar And Caramelized Apples

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I bought four duck legs with the best intentions of turning them into duck confit for pates and cassoulets in the future;  but I got lazy and decided instead to roast them and serve them with a sauce.  After glancing through a few cookbooks I came upon this recipe from Marie Blanche de Brouglie, Princess de Brouglie, and decided to give it a try.  Her cookbook, The Cuisine of Normandy, unfortunately, is out of print but I promise to post more of her fabulous recipes at a later date.. The original recipe is for Magrets de Canard Saint-Wandrille,  the latter being a Benedictine monastery founded by Count Wandrille in 649. 

I have substituted duck legs for duck breast, so feel free to use either.  The recipe has three parts, all of them terribly easy.  The first is making the sauce, then searing and roasting the duck and finally caramelizing the apples.  With all due to respect to Princess de Brouglie, after making the recipe, I think it makes more sense to do the apples first, then the sauce and finally roasting the duck, so this is what I would suggest for next time.

By the way, this is a strong candidate for this year's New Year's Eve dinner, so plan ahead.

...and, stay tuned, wait 'til you see what we are going to do with the leftover duck!

After searing and before they went into the oven

The sauce

Out of the oven

 Serves 4*

Ingredients

6 duck legs (whole with thighs) or 4 boneless duck breasts
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 Tb honey
2 Cups duck stock or rich brown chicken stock
6 TB butter
4 apples
Lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
about 1/3 cup tap water
3/4 cup ice water

Preheat oven 425.

Season duck with salt and pepper.  In a heavy iron skillet brown the legs or breasts over medium high heat starting with the skin side down to render fat.  The meat should be cooked rare, 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Remove the duck to a heated plate and cover it with foil to keep warm.

Pour the fat out of the skillet (but save it for later use!) and deglaze pan with the vinegar.  Add the honey and stock and reduce the liquid to about 1 cup.  Whisk the butter into the sauce, a tablespoon at a time. Pour sauce into a bowl and wipe the pan with a paper towel.   You will be using the iron skillet later.

Peel, core and quarter the apples.  Trim the quarters into football shapes and rub them with the lemon juice.

In a saucepan,  combine the sugar with enough tap water to moisten it.  Cook over low heat until it reaches a deep golden color.  Quickly add the ice water, but be careful to stand back from the saucepan as it will spatter.  Add the apples and cook them in this caramel until tender.  (if you don't want to go through this, cook the apples in brown sugar and water...a little Calvados or brandy wouldn't hurt!)

Return duck legs to skillet and roast in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.  (Her recipe doesn't call for this but I cannot stand rare duck, and roasting crisps up the skin.  You might want to do less time if you are using breasts)

To serve, arrange duck legs, or breasts, on platter, pour sauce over them and surround with caramelized apples.

Note

If you cannot buy individual legs or breasts, cut up a couple of ducks, cook what you want and save the rest for later use.  Don't forget to keep the liver for pate!

I suggest 6 legs for four people as they can sometimes be quite small.  The worst that can happen is you will have one or two for the leftovers I will be posting next!

Duck A L'Orange With Wild Rice

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This is my easy version of what can be a complicated dish.  The duck is first boiled to removed the excess fat and roasted at high heat to render a crisp skin.  The broth is saved to make the wild rice and for a future duck risotto.  Save any duck meat you have left over!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients


2 (5 to 5 1/2 pounds each) ducks, innards and wing tips removed

6 quarts chicken broth

Kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Unwrap the ducks and allow them to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. With a fork, prick the skin without piercing the meat. This will allow the fat to drain off while the ducks cook.

Meanwhile, in a very large stock pot which can hold the 2 ducks, heat the chicken broth with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt until it boils. Add the ducks very carefully and bring the stock back to a boil. If there isn't enough stock to cover the ducks, add the hottest tap water to cover. If the ducks float to the top, place a plate on top to keep them immersed. When the stock comes back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the ducks in the stock for 45 minutes.

When the ducks are finished simmering, skim off enough duck fat from the top of the stock to pour a film on the bottom of a 14 by 18 by 3-inch roasting pan. This will keep the ducks from sticking when they roast. Carefully take the ducks out of the stock, holding them over the pot to drain. Place them in the roasting pan, pat the skin dry with paper towels, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. If you have time, allow the ducks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the skin to dry.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (Be sure your oven is very clean or it will smoke!) Roast the ducks for 30 minutes. You can glaze the duck with the sauce for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remove from the oven and allow them to rest, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. If there is some liquid in the cavity, add some to the sauce. Serve warm.

Orange Sauce

14 oz orange marmalade
1 cup duck broth
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet
1 TB cognac
1 tsp sherry vinegar
Salt and Pepper

After you boil the ducks, take 1 cup of the broth and set aside.  Add the neck and innards and 1 chicken cube and boil down until reduced by half. In another saucepan, add the orange marmalade and cook at medium low until it dissolves a little.  Add about 1/2 cup of the reduced duck broth bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add salt, pepper, the Kitchen Bouquet, the sherry vinegar and the cognac, stirring after each addition.  Set aside until ready to use.  Warm up on medium heat and if needed, add some leftover duck broth to soften consistency.

*You might want to add 1-2 TB of butter to the sauce and mix right before serving

Wild Rice

4 cups of duck broth, degreased
1 chicken bouillon
1/2 Cup chopped onions
1/2 Cup chopped celery
1 TB butter
2 Cups brown and wild rice
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion and celery in the butter.  Add the duck broth with 1 cube of chicken bouillon.  Bring to a boil.  Add the rice and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook in low heat until done, about 45 minutes.