Paper Chef #11: Just Ducky
Ah, fall, my third favorite season.
To salute the equinox with this month’s edition of Paper Chef, Stephen of Stephen Cooks offers us a tasty list of ingredients.
- Duck
- Ginger
- Nut Butter
- Pears
Now, as to the first ingredient, I was apprehensive at first (I even commented on Stephen’s blog about it), but as I lay in bed that night I remembered that I had a large amount of duck bones hiding in the back of my freezer. YES! I thought. Finally a chance to put them to use!
The next day I set about making those (usually discarded) portions of our favorite water fowl into a rich stock.
(Note: the following is a rather wordy version of most stock recipes you can find in nearly any cook book.)
I began by removing the bones from the freezer (duh… and yes I weighed them: almost 10 lbs) and placing them in a roasting pan. I recommend that you try to break some of the larger bones before roasting. Next, I preheated my oven to 375 F. When the oven came to heat, the bones were just thawed enough for my purposes. I placed the pan in the oven and roasted the bones to a beautiful golden brown. Then I dropped them in my 16 quart stock pot and added enough water to cover. I then placed the roasting pan on one of my two still-functioning burners, and caramelized one pound of chopped onion, 1/2 pound of chopped carrot, and 1/2 pound of chopped celery (also known as 2 lbs of mirepoix to the French). I deglazed the pan with red wine (does it really matter that it was Carlo Rossi “Burgundy”? I didn’t think so) and added that to the pot as well. After bringing the whole thing to a boil, I then added a tablespoon of black peppercorns, two tablespoons of dried thyme leaves, five medium sized bay leaves, and a small handful of Italian parsley. I then reduced it to a very, VERY low simmer (about four bubbles a second), and allowed it to cook overnight.
Duck’s Head Soup (stock): View at your own risk!
The next day I strained the amazingly flavorful brown liquid and put it back to the heat. After a number of hours on the stove reducing, I was able to extract more than 80% of the water from the stock, leaving an immensely flavorful glace (that’s pronounced “gloss”).
Now the next thing was to make a “nut butter.” I didn’t want to just buy something; that seemed to me to be a cop out. (Though I’m not disparaging anyone who did. I just knew that I had the tool — i.e. my food processor — to do something homemade.) So, I chose pistachios, because I LOVE them.
My pistachio butter goes as follows:
- 1 cup unsalted pistachios
- 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon green crème de menthe
Instructions
Grind pistachios in the food processor to a sticky powder. Add confectioner’s sugar and process thoroughly. Add corn syrup, one tablespoon at a time, then the crème de menthe, processing after each addition.
Mmm, mmm.
At this point I began to think of the best way to bring the remaining chosen ingredients and my two variations, together. The first thing that came to mind was Italian, and how better to incorporate these ingredients Italian style than in ravioli with a sauce?
To that end, I grabbed about four ounces of gorgonzola cheese and a couple of “starcrimson” pears. After peeling and coring the pears, I brushed them with melted butter, and placed them in a 400 F oven, allowing them to come to a nice golden brown.
Then I pureed them and combined then with the cheese, which I crumbled by hand. After that, I added two teaspoons of the glace, thus making the perfect filling for Fall.
Next was the dough. I took a page from The Pasta Bible by Christian Teubner, Silvio Rizzi, and Tan Lee Leng, and, again turning to my trusty food processor — this time with its “dough blade” — I spun up pasta dough. Then we broke out our pasta roller.
This was the point when we (Mrs. D and I) thought: “How can we make this dish even more fancy?” When we spotted the oregano growing in our yard, the idea came. We took our pasta dough and rolled it out almost as thin as filo, thus allowing one to see things through it. We then made creative patterns on the dough with oregano leaves and folded the dough back on itself, sealing the leaves between the two layers. This created a most flavorful, and at the same time decorative, ravioli, which we filled heartily, and cut using a tartlet pan, meaning that they were BIG.
Before cooking, I felt the need to attend to a sauce. And, there were still two ingredients to use to make this Paper Chef worthy! So, I took a tablespoon of my pistachio butter and a tablespoon of grated ginger and placed them in a saucepan along with 2/3 of a cup of white wine, whisked them all together and allowed them to reduce. When the mixture was reduced by about 3/4 I took it off the heat. When it stopped bubbling I added 4 tablespoons of butter, and swirled it vigorously to create an emulsion. Then I strained it, leaving a wonderful green-tinted sauce that went perfectly with the raviolis and left the oregano decorations in the pasta easy to see.
And now I present:
Ravioli dell’autunno with Sliced Anna Kiwi
After that I found that I still had large amounts of my ingredients left. So, I decided to plug on! The next thing I made was a soup. Rather than regale you with the process of this one, I’ll give you the recipe:
Duck Soup with Chicken, Pistachio Ginger Flavor
- 2 quarts water
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons duck glace
- 2/3 cup red quinoa
- 2 medium sized onions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, sliced VERY thin
- 2 teaspoons pistachio butter
- 1 pound cooked chicken meat
- 1 whole roasted pear
Method
- Dissolve duck glace and pistachio butter in the water and bring to a simmer.
- In a separate pan, sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger until golden brown, and add to the broth.
- Bring broth back to a simmer and add quinoa.
- When quinoa is fully cooked, add chicken meat (make sure to break it into small pieces).
- Serve, garnish with slices of roasted pear and a dab of pistachio butter.
After the soup, I STILL had some of the ingredients left and another thought jumped to mind: Risotto!!
Here’s another recipe for you…
Nutty* Duck risotto with Ginger and Caramelized Pear
(*because Daffy is trademarked)
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 1 quart water
- 2 tablespoons duck glace (and 1 tsp per serving as garnish)
- 2 teaspoons pistachio butter
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 starcrimson pear
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces parmigiano reggiano cheese
Method
- Dissolve duck glace and pistachio butter in the water, and bring to a simmer.
- Peel and core the pear, and in a 400 F oven, caramelize.
- Melt butter in a saucepan and add rice and ginger. Stir until all of the rice is coated.
- Add liquid to the rice one ladle at a time, stirring constantly between additions to make sure the liquid is absorbed each time.
- When all the liquid has been added and absorbed, add cheese and stir until it is melted.
- Serve, garnishing with a half teaspoon of duck glace, allowing it to melt on top. Then add a fan of caramelized pear slices.
Phew! That was fun! Good ingredients. What’s next? Bring it on!
–Chopper Dave
It’s looks like I’m not the only one having to use a bit of creativity for duck in Paper Chef #11! Your dishes sound delicious with equally delicious pictures. I like the transparent ravioli idea. I’ll have to try it with my leftover gyoza skins…
Lovely and luscious looking, just what I’ve come to expect from you two. :-)
Noodle — Glad to know we weren’t the only ones ;-) Thank you.
Kitchenmage — Thank you as well. It was all very fun to make. :-)
You make the best ravioli and creative pasta I think I have ever seen – wish I could taste them! This is even more inspired than the checkerboard idea.
I also especially like the gratuitous duck head photo!
I am always amazed at the creativity displayed here. The oregano raviolis are particularly beautiful, great poetry work!
Wow.Simply absolutely amazing!
Owen — We felt the need to put in that particular photo. It jest seemed appropriate for us to pay homage to the ducks that valiantly gave their lives in the pursuit of total utilazation of product. And, if you like these ravs, just wait for our halloween post ;-)
Gracianne, and Zsofi — Thank you both. We aim to please. Like I just said, stay tuned for our halloween expose!
Chopper Dave and Mrs. D: Congratulations on your well-deserved Paper Chef win!
That ravioli is just beautiful and I bet it was also very delicious! Congrats on your Paper Chef win!
Congatulations on the Paper Chef win. Your creations sounded delicious. Overall, it was an impressive group of entries. I really enjoyed reading them all.
Thank you Stephen! Thank you judges!
You like us! You really like us!
We’d like to thank our oregano plant for remaining sturdy in the waning weather. Our ironing board, for serving as an ample pasta rolling surface. Our freezer, for keeping the duck bones on ice for us for so long. Our two remaining stove burners for cooperation during the long process of making duck glace…
(orchestra starts to play)
Wait a minute, wait a minute. And last, but not least Catherine de Medici for championing Italian food.
(Orchestra swells. Hook comes out. Cut to commercial.)
Congrats to you both on taking the Paper Chef title! The ravioli is especially beautiful and sounds delicious. Now I’m wishing I’d bought a whole duck and saved the duck bones…maybe next time.
Congratulations! My god, when can I come over for dinner?
Congratulations! This all looks great!
Best,
Paz
I may be slow, but I’m having so much fun getting a closer look at everyones PC#11 dishes. What great variety. Your raviolis are gorgeous. What kind of a roller do you use? I’ve never been able to get them that thin.
Just lovely.
Thanks all!
Jennifer – if you’ve got any Asian markets nearby, you might be able to get whole ducks pretty cheap. We got ours back in Portland, then kept the bones frozen for the trip up here for later use.
Shauna… you’re one short ferry ride away… (taunt taunt! :-))
Thanks for the congrats, Paz! I have to say my favorite was the soup — if anything tasted like harvest time, that was it. Amazingly rich, and the pears in it were so unusual and so perfect!
Hey B’gina — Our pasta roller is an Atlas 150 by Marcato. It’s hand-cranked and has seven settings of thickness. The oregano leaves are sandwiched between a sheet at the thinnest –#7 — and, underneath, one at #5.
Hey! You guys won! (I ride the small bus — I know I’m late here.)
Congratulations, and I’m NEVER entering Paper Chef after all you did. I was, however, very impressed.
Oh, for a little duck in this part of the world, to taste the results of this recipe!I know there are a few wandering about the gardens of the National Insurance Academy at Baner, Pune , Maharashtra, India, in natural splendour…..
Congratulations for a well deserved first. it sounds droolworthy.