Blueberry Cherry Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh cherries
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne, maybe more
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Combine everything in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the blueberries have burst and the sauce has thickened. Blend it all using a stick blender. Put it on things. Eat those things.

Thoughts: Pretty legit.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pan-Seared Duck with Cherry-Port Reduction

A fitting 350th post! This was the inaugural dish for using our new Wusthoff steak knives (thanks Paul and Erin!) and it was also New Year's Eve, so we kinda went all out. This was actually the second course (after a cream-based oyster stew from Saveur) but I kind of procrastinated on that, and I know we made some significant modifications but I can no longer remember what they were. I may blog it anyway and kind of make it up. That's the kind of quality you can expect at DCCDI.

All of this was served with some rustic bread and truffle butter. We're so fancy.

Edit: I guess this is the 350th post, but not the 350th PUBLISHED post. We have 9 unpublished drafts. Whatever. It's still impressive.

Ingredients

• duck breasts
• 1/2c pitted cherries. We used sour cherries, which I think is better, though some use sweet.
• 2tbsp tawny port
• 1tbsp honey
• one small-medium shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2c chicken broth
• salt

Start out by preparing the duck breasts. Take a sharp knife and score the skin side in a diamond pattern. You're aiming to cut all the way through the skin without cutting through the meat. Do this across the entire duck breast. Pat the duck breasts dry.

Preheat the oven to 400. Now take a clean, dry pan. Place the breasts in the pan, and put over medium or medium-low heat. I know, right? The thing is that you want to render the fat out of the skin so you have a really crisp skin, and that takes a lower heat. So what you do is cook the breasts on the skin side for 15-20 minutes over this low heat. As the pan fills with duck fat (and it will SEVERAL times), you should pour that off into a separate container - you'll want to save that. You don't want too much more than 1/8" of fat in the bottom of the pan at any time. Also, move the breasts around from time to time so they don't burn and so they brown evenly.

Once they're a deep golden brown on the skin side (and 115* on a thermometer, apparently, though we eyeballed it) you want to flip them to the non-skin side and cook for 30 seconds. Flip them BACK to the skin side and pop them in the oven for about 5 minutes (in the pan if you're using stainless steel or cast iron). You're aiming for an internal temperature of 125, though we just did 5 minutes. Take the duck breasts off the pan and put them on a rack to rest (or at least set them aside on another plate).

Now create the sauce. You should pour off all the remaining duck fat in the pan so you have just enough to cook the shallots. Toss the shallots in there and cook until they're getting translucent, then add everything else (cherries, port, honey, broth). Bring to a simmer and reduce to a glaze, then salt to taste.

Thoughts: We didn't hit "rare" for the duck, or even a "medium rare," but more like a "medium." Which was fine, though - the duck was still fantastic. The skin was really delicious (so success there) and the duck was still tender and flavorful. I was surprised how easy this was. When I get duck in a restaurant, they usually sear it quickly rather than with this method, so the layer of fat on top is actually quite thick - I think I like this method more, actually, because you can theoretically get that crisp duck skin and still have rare or medium-rare duck. We just need to work on the timing. Also, the steak knives made short work of this. A testament to our cooking skills, or the sharpness of the knives? Not sure.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cherry Peach Clafouti

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs stone fruit (in this case, about 1 lb cherries and .5lbs peaches)
• 3 tbsp flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp citronage
• confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pit all your fruit and put it in a 10-inch tart pan (with high sides, preferably).
Sift together flour, salt, and sugar. Gradually whisk in whole eggs, egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and liqueur.
Pour wet ingredients over the fruit.
Bake until puffy and brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly (cake should sink), then dust with sugar. Eat.

Thoughts: Recipe was hella easy, let me tell you that. We made a few modifications. The original recipe called for 1 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream, but we only had whole milk so we just used that. It also called for kirsch, which we didn't have, but we figured orange would complement the stone fruit just fine. We also forgot to butter the tart pan. We also had the issue where we had too much batter for our pan, which is why we recommend using one with high sides. But most importantly, this recipe was a literal disaster. LITERALLY. It was terrible. I will just say that a lot of our baking recipes that we get from Martha Stewart are not super great, which surprises me a little. The thing about this dish is that the fruit releases a whole mess of water, which in turns prevents the custard from settling completely and it just gets really runny and gross. If we were to try to make this again, I would probably cut up all the fruit, mix it with some sugar, and then let it drain for forever. I'm pissed with Martha for even making this recipe. What a mess. Dan says he'll eat it, but it's pretty much a waste of eggs, two cups of milk, and a bunch of really delicious fruit. We're going to try chilling it and then grilling individual slices to see if that makes it edible. Because it isn't really right now.

Disaster Index: 6/10 (4 for Dan, 8 for me)

Hot Cross Buns with Dried Cherries and Golden Raisins

Ingredients
This recipe was again taken from Martha Stewart. Its subsequent complexity should therefore surprise no one.

• 1 cup plus 3 tbsp plus 2 tsp whole milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4.5 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/5 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for bowl and baking sheet
• salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 5.5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 3/4 cup chopped dried golden raisins
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Heat 1 cup milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it registers 110 on a candy thermometer.
Pour milk into a mixer bowl, and fit mixer with a dough hook.
With mixer on slow speed, add the granulated sugar, the yeast, the butter, 1.5 tsp of the salt, the nutmeg, the cinnamon, and the eggs.
Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and knead until mixture comes together in a soft, sticky dough.
Continue kneading until dough is smooth, about 4 minutes.
Add cherries and raisins, and knead to incorporate.
Remove dough from mixer and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead to further distribute dried fruit.
Coat a large bowl with PAM. Shape dough into ball and place in prepared bowl. Cover with saran wrap.
Do the microwave trick, and then put the bowl in the microwave and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
PAM a rimmed baking sheet. Turn dough onto a floured surface, knead briefly, then divide the dough into three equal pieces. You'll be working with one piece at a time, so just keep the other two under the plastic wrap.
Divide each of the three pieces into 10 pieces, and shape each into a tight ball.
Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing them 1/2 inch apart.
Repeat with all the remaining dough. If you don't have 3 baking sheets than I guess you're screwed. Just be creative.
Cover the sheets with plastic wrap and put them somewhere warm and let them rise for another 1. You could put one sheet in the microwave, and the other two in a warm oven. That's what we did. Just make sure the oven isn't TOO warm.
After an hour has elapsed, remove the sheets from their respective warm places.
Preheat the oven to 375. Whisk together the egg white and water in a small bowl. Brush tops of buns with egg-white wash. This will cause them to deflate a little. It's ok.
Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until golden brown, 20-22 minutes.
Let cool on sheet for 30 minutes.

For the frosting:
Whisk together the remaining 3 tbsp plus 2 tsp whole milk, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Spoon the icing into a pastry bag (if you're FANCY) or just a normal ziploc bag with a small corner cut off. Pipe icing in whatever pattern you want across the top of the buns.
Eat.

Thoughts: This recipe was way too complicated to make. I probably wouldn't make it again. Also, Martha says that the buns are best eaten the same day, and boy howdy, she's right. They get hella dry. And we obviously couldn't eat them all in the same day, because there were 30 fucking buns and there are only 2 of us. Why didn't I halve the recipe? Or even quarter it? I don't know. Just keep that in mind. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you can't use them all in one day and they get dry and stale, just make them into French toast. Cut the buns in half and then soak them in the custard. Sweet Jesus, it's delicious. So at least they won't go to waste.
Otherwise they were pretty good. I guess you're supposed to make them for Easter? I did not know this. I suppose you could pipe crosses on the buns or something (probably why they're called hot CROSS buns). Or you could pipe rude and obnoxious messages to your friends on them. Or lewd images. You get to decide how much you want to offend God.

Disaster Index: 3/10

White and dark chocolate cherry cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbp milk
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup white-chocolate chunks
• 1 cup dark-chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined. Set aside.
Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add milk to the butter mixture and then add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Batter should be quite stiff.
In another bowl, combine cherries and chocolate chunks, then add to batter, stirring only to blend. Mold into balls and set on greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. Eat.

Thoughts: Pretty good. The original recipe called for macadamia nuts, so I'm glad we dispensed with those. Super good. Dan wasn't expecting to like them, but he did. Once they've cooled a little, they get more crunchy on the outside.

Disaster Index: 1/10