Roast Duck with Sweet Cherry Sauce

This was Carol's b-day dinner - our own Muscovy duck and a sweet, dark cherry sauce to slather over it. Served with steamed fresh broccoli and a wild rice pilaf. Woof! Cherries and the dark, almost "roast beef" flavor of the Muscovy go together really well.

This was simple enough that cooking it was only a background thought while we seeded in tomatoes and peppers, cleaned up and got other chores down. Easy-skeasy and super-delicious. And there are 2 more Muscovy in the freezer!

Ingredients

• 1 duck (we raise Muscovy, best of the ducks, IMHO)
• 20 oz of sweet cherries, pitted (we chose organic frozen ones)
• 12 oz of strong dark beer (we used Sam Adams' Cherry Wheat)
• 2 cups of good broth or stock (our own turkey broth)
• 1 small onion, finely minced or 1/4 cup onion flakes
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• salt and pepper

Steps

1. Roast duck in a 250 F oven, breast side down for 3 hrs.
2. Raise oven to 350 F, flip duck to breast side up for 30-45 minutes. Watch the skin and remove when it becomes crispy, not dry.
3. While the skin crisps, in a pot place the frozen cherries, beer, and broth on medium-high until cherries thaw.
4. Add onions or onion flakes, sugar, and salt and pepper.
5. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes to develop the flavors. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Boca Negra Cake: Carol Says Yum

This was Carol's birthday cake this year.

From "Baking with Julia"

"A boca negra, or black mouth, is what you'll have after one bite of this intensely chocolaty cake - you'll also have a smile on your face. A chocolate craver's ideal, this cake calls for 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, and you'll taste every ounce, so choose chocolate you love."

"The cake is meant to be served warm or at room temperature, when it is as moist, dense and dark as the chocolate you use to make it. Chilled, it has all the appeal of fudge. The white chocolate cream, which is made a day ahead, is one you can use with other desserts, and neither the cake nor the cream is a challenge for beginner bakers. In fact, if you make it in the food processor; it takes only 5 minutes."

Here is the recipe from What's Cooking America

Ingredients

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided into 1 cup and 1/3 cup
• 1/2 cup bourbon, kirsch, chambord or red wine
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces, room temperature
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Steps

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper; butter the paper. Put the cake pan in a shallow roasting pan and set aside until needed.
   
3. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl; set aside.
   
4. In a 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 cup of the sugar and the bourbon; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a full boil.
   
5. Immediately pour the hot syrup over the chopped chocolate and stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
   
6. Piece by piece, stir the butter into the chocolate mixture, making certain that each piece of butter is melted before you add another.
   
7. Put the eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl; whisk until the eggs thicken slightly.
   
8. Beating with the whisk, add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until well-blended. Gently whisk in the flour.
   
9. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, running your spatula over the top to smooth it. Carefully pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about 1 inch up the side of the cake pan.
   
10. Bake the cake for exactly 30 minutes, at which point the top will have a thin, dry crust.
    
11. Remove from oven and remove the cake pan from its water bath; wipe the pan dry and cover the top of the cake with a sheet of plastic wrap. Invert over a plate.
    
12. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature with the chilled Whipped Cream.
    

Super-Everything All Grain Waffles

We love breakfast - especially weekend breakfasts where waffles and pancakes rule. Sometimes we go "breakfast for dinner" and waffles show up there too.

We are trying out the SuperFoodsRx cookbook and there are no waffles, but this one is definitely in the spirit - 1/3 cup of batter servings, but since our waffle iron needs two 1/3 cup scoops to make one waffle, we think one serving is probably half a waffle PLUS 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 fruit to top it off. Booyah!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 cup yogurt (low fat and plain)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 2 eggs, beaten (free-range and fresh, if you can get it)

1. Sift together the flours and powders.
2. Make a well and drop in the yogurt, applesauce, milk and eggs.
3. Mix all together, do not go past the "just mixed" stage.
4. My secret - let the batter sit for about 10 minutes as the waffle iron heats up. Waffles seem to get fluffier.
5. Cook waffles as you normally would.

Top with whatever fruits you like - we thawed some strawberries from last summer, keep the thawed juices and put them on top of yogurt on the waffles. Yummy!

Our Staple Zucchini Bread

Our garden (like most!) yields waaaayyyy too much zucchini for us to handle. We try adding it to everything, but there is only so much you can do with zucch. We used to grow a Seeds of Change variety, but then last year we switched to the Costata Romanesco zucchini (easy to find, we got ours from Baker Creek Seeds).

Costata has a really nice nutty texture and the flesh stays pretty crisp, so it is perfect for the zucchini bread the girls like.

• If I have it, I like to plump the raisins up beforehand in some orange juice and then cut the sugar some.
  
• Also, I can cut the oil in 1/2 with applesauce (1/2 c applesauce + 1/2 c oil).
  
• Finally, we like to cook this up in the bundt cake, makes it easier to control the portion size and it just looks fancier!
  

Ingredients:

- 3 large eggs

- 1 cup sugar (half brown and half white sugar)

- 1 cup oil (see note #2 above)

- 2 cups white flour

- 1/2 t baking powder

- 1 t salt

- 1 t baking soda

- 2 t cinnamon

- 1 t allspice

- 1 t cloves

- 1 t fresh nutmeg

- 1 cup plumped raisins

- 2 to 3 cups zucchini

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

1. Mix eggs, oil and sugar together till well blended.
   
2. Add flour, powder, salt, soda, and spices.
   
3. Mix the whole lot together till well blended.
   
4. Add raisins and zucchini and mix till just combined.
   
5. Pour into a greased bundt pan or a 9x5 or 8x8 or whatever pan you have lying about.
   
6. Bake for 1 hour or until the toothpick test comes out clean (less in wider lower pans, I would check at 50 minutes with an 8x8).
   

This is also a great base recipe for substitutions

1. Pureed pumpkin or squash for zucchini (might add some dry milk powder to balance).
   
2. Applesauce instead of zucchini (more spicing and less oil).
   
3. Carrot "cake-bread" might work here too.
   
4. Winter zucchini cake - we grate the zucchini in summer and freeze in 1 lb baggies. Make sure you drain the grated zucchini before adding it.