Watermelon Gazpacho

It's been forever since we've had time or inclination to put up any new recipes. But this isn't the first time we've made watermelon gazpacho, so I thought it was high time I blog this sucker. Maybe we'll get back into posting our recipes here.

Ingredients for the Soup

• 2 lbs of seedless watermelon, roughly chopped.
• Three medium tomatoes, stem bits removed, roughly chopped.
• 3c of crusty bread, crusts removed, rough chop
• A cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2c water
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4c mint
• 1/4c cilantro
• 1/4c olive oil
• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• Somewhere between 1/2 and 1 tsp of adobo seasoning (or just 1/2 tsp of cumin)

Ingredients for the Basil Oil

• Didn't realize we were going to get fancy, did you?
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4 olive oil
• Salt  & pepper to taste

Garnish

• Some little bits of cubed tomato, watermelon, avocado, and/or feta.

This is a pretty easy recipe, and the results are fantastic. So basically, blend together the basil oil ingredients in a blender, then set aside and rinse out the blender (doesn't need to be totally clean). Toss all of the soup ingredients into a bowl and let them sit for a little while (5, 10 minutes) and then blend those, too (in batches if you have to). Set in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes, then adjust seasonings.

To serve, pour some soup in a bowl and top with the garnishes and drizzle with basil oil. If you want to be really fancy, you could serve this as a shooter, actually, or you could put a pile of the garnishes in the center of a plate and pour some soup around it. But we weren't as concerned about that.

Thoughts: This is remarkably easy. It's good for summer, since it's like 97 degrees out and who wants to cook? And it's refreshing. I guess it took a little while to put together, bit if you make a smaller portion it wouldn't have to take very long. Honestly, you could skip the basil oil and just use some basil in the garnish. That would also mean you can dirty fewer dishes, and you can just toss ingredients into the blender as you go.

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

Chicken in a Dutch Oven

I don't know if this is really necessary as a recipe, but I kind of wanted to remember the specifications for how we did this, because the chicken really came out perfectly.

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken - ours was about 2.5lbs, but you can go up to 5-6 lbs so long as it fits in your (covered) Dutch oven
• 1/2 lemon, sliced thin
• Something onion-y - we used 2-3 shallots, cut in half (root to tip), though you could use onions.
• Celery - we used about 2 stalks worth, cut down so they fit inside a bird.
• Garlic - about 2 cloves, chopped
• 1:1:1 mixture (ish) of sage, rosemary, and thyme, with a bit of salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 250. Yeah, just 250. Wash the bird thoroughly in lukewarm water, including the inside. Then pat dry with a towel, making sure the outside is quite dry. Insert the onion, celery, and garlic into the bird, then fit the lemon slices in under the skin and in the cavity. We then trussed the bird, but that's not really necessary. Coat with some olive oil and sprinkle liberally with the seasoning mixture to coat the bird.

Place the chicken breast-side up in a lightly oiled dutch oven and cover. Place in the oven for about 80-120 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the breast is just shy of 160 and the thigh is just shy of 175. Then turn on the broiler onto high and uncover the dutch oven. Let the bird cook just a little while longer (flipping it over after a couple minutes) to brown under the broiler. Remove from oven and cover with the dutch oven lid. Allow to rest for 20-30 minutes.

Thoughts: This was really easy. Why don't we do this more often? We prepared this chicken for use in chicken matzo ball soup (we used the carcass and vegetables again afterward to make the stock). It was really delicious. Would make again. Some recipes recommend searing the chicken FIRST and then just baking it, but I thought, well, it's in the oven already. Why not use that? It worked pretty well, but toward the VERY end the oil started to pop inside the oven. Not great. Maybe searing would be better if we want to eat the skin. OTOH, I could still sear individual pieces AFTER carving it. I think that may be my preferred approach, since it's so much more manageable.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Salmon with Fennel and Pernod

This is what magic tastes like. CLASSY MAGIC. From Bon Appetit.

Ingredients

• 1.5 tsp crushed fennel seeds
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 2 tbsp minced red onion/shallot
• 1 large fennel bulb with fronds -- bulb sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, fronds chopped
• 2 salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp Pernod

Make compound butter: In a large non-stick skillet, cook fennel seeds over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1.5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool. Mix in  butter, shallots/onion, 1 tbsp fennel fronds, and whatever salt and pepper you want. 

Melt 1 tbsp of this mixture into the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced fennel and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook until fennel is tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover and let cook until fennel is brown, another 2 minutes. Remove fennel from skillet and set aside.

Season salmon. Add the rest of the compound butter to the skillet and let it melt. Add salmon, skin side down. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn salmon over, add 1/4 water to skillet. Cover and continue cooking another 5 minutes. 

Slide salmon over to one side of the skillet and add the cooked fennel back in. Add Pernod, some more butter, and the rest of the fennel fronds. Heat through.

Serve with the rest of the butter on top of the fillet.  

Thoughts:

UGH DELICIOUS. This was our first foray into cooking salmon and it was the best-cooked salmon I've ever had. I give all credit to BA. I would eat this all the time if it weren't so complicated. Dan says it was amazing and he's right. Not much to say here. Go make this. Dan edit: we actually used the salmon cooking instructions from Serious Eats. It yields a really crisp salmon skin that is super delicious. I don't think we actually cooked it 5 minutes and flipped with water. I think we cooked it just like the Serious Eats post.

Disaster Index: 1/10 but actually like -2/10. Can we do that? We just did.

Oyster Stuffing

I'm getting tired of blogging these, but this is important.

Ingredients

• Cubed loaf of french bread, left out for a couple days so it's really stale.
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 shallots, chopped fine
• 4 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 lb of oysters, shucked (liquor reserved)
• 1c chicken stock
• 1/4c port
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 tsp tobasco
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the pan and chop into little bits. Add the shallots and celery to the pan and stir, adding the bacon when that's ready. When the veg are cooked through (about 10 minutes), add the oyster liquor, stock, port, thyme, sage, tobasco, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, then add the oysters and bread cubes. Take off the heat and cover the pot. Leave for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400.

After the 10 minutes are up, put the stuffing in the oven covered for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and cook another 20 minutes. Serve!

Thoughts: We shortened the cook time because of the altitude, so this could go up to 30 minutes then another 30. This was our first time making oyster stuffing, but it was AWESOME. Would make again.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cream of Red Bell Pepper Soup

Maybe we can get back into the swing of things here.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs red bell peppers
• 2tbsp shallot or red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 3c chicken stock
• 1/2c half and half
• 1tsp red wine vinegar
• 1tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/8tsp cayenne
• Parmesan, salt, pepper to serve

Over a gas stove (or under a broiler), char the skin off of the red bell peppers until they're really blackened.  Put them in a paper bag as you finish them and close the paper bag - let them sit in the humid environment for about 10 minutes to sweat.  Then take them out and rinse them in the sink under cool water - the skin should come off pretty easily.  Use a butter knife to scrape off any extra that doesn't just flake off.

In a pot, add the shallot and onion and saute in olive oil until the onion is translucent.  Add the garlic and thyme and sautee another 30 seconds, then add the peppers and the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 20 minutes.  Then blend everything together until smooth (we used an immersion blender).

Return the soup to the heat and add the half-and-half, vinegar, and cayenne.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with parmesan.

Thoughts: We didn't have the recipe for red pepper soup we ate at Sally's because we forgot it.  So we did this, and it was actually pretty good.  We both liked it, though there wasn't as much going on here in terms of different textures and flavors - it was a little one note.  But it was a good note.  I can see making this again, particularly because it's so easy.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Parsnip and Carrot Soup

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  
• 3 shallots, diced
  
• 1 onion, diced
  
• 3/4c vermouth
  
• 5-6 parsnips, peeled & chopped
  
• 2 carrots, peeled & chopped
  
• 5c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• 3/4tsp balsamic vinegar
  
• 3/4tsp salt
  
• pepper
  
• 3/4c milk
  

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add shallots and onion and saute until soft and translucent. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half - about 10 minutes. Add the parsnips, carrots, chicken stock, vinegar, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until parsnips are tender - about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and blend until smooth. Return to the pan and add the milk.

Thoughts: The original recipe called for half-and-half instead of milk, which might have been better. As it is, though, the soup was pretty great. We found ourselves adding honey or brown sugar at the end, though, because the wine and vinegar tended to overpower the natural sweetness of the parsnips. Claire liked the soup all right even though she's not a big fan of parsnips.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Spargel Saison!

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion OR 3 medium shallots OR 1 medium leek (washed well, white and light green parts only, chopped finely)
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• salt
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (we used Vermouth)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, if you must)
  
• 2 bunches asparagus, tough ends removed, and cut into 1/2 inch lengths
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• ground black pepper
• VARIATION: 3 SLICES COOKED BACON
• VARIATION: CRUMBLED GORGONZOLA
  

Combine the onion, oil, and 1/2 tsp salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until softened, about 8-10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Whisk in the wine and bay leaf. Cook until wine is absorbed, about 1 minute.
Whisking constantly, add the broth.
Bring to a oil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the broth is slightly thickened and no longer tastes like flour (5 minutes).
Add the asparagus and continue to simmer, uncovered, until tender, 7-10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf.
Puree the mixture in batches in a blender until smooth.
Return to saucepan. Stir in the half-and-half and cook over low heat until just hot (don't boil).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
If using variations, add the chop the cooked bacon slices and stir in. Top with Gorgonzola cheese.
Eat.

Thoughts: Fantastic soup. And easy to make. And if you don't like your soups too healthy, go ahead and add the bacon and Gorgonzola. Let me tell you, it makes it so much better. There should not be any dish without bacon. Let me say that. Dan says that he's not sure that the bacon did much for him. So APPARENTLY bacon isn't for everyone. But without those two variations, the soup is ridiculously healthy. The only questionable thing in there is the half-and-half, and there's only 1/2 cup for the entire recipe. Not too shabby. I would definitely make this again.

Disaster Index: 1/10. Full marks!

Update: We made this recently, but instead of 2 bunches of asparagus we did 1 bunch asparagus and an equal proportion of kale, washed and chopped. It went well - the soup was quite good. If you don't have enough asparagus, kale works very well. Then I decided that I wanted to stir the blue cheese into the soup directly rather than in individual servings, and this was... less successful. Lesson learned. You can season the soup with some dill. See what you think.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 2 28oz cans GOOD diced tomatoes (Muir Glen?)
  
• 1.75c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• 1.5 tbsp dark brown sugar
  
• 2tbsp butter
  
• 4 large shallots, minced
  
• 1tbsp tomato paste
  
• pinch of allspice
  
• 2tbsp unbleached white flour
  
• 1/2c whole milk
  
• 2tbsp brandy or dry sherry (we used vermouth)
  
• salt
  

Melt the butter in a soup pot, and add the shallots, tomato paste, and allspice. Cook until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add the flour and stir to coat, 30 seconds. Now add the tomatoes and broth and stir well. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Blend the soup until smooth. An immersion blender is best, but if you don't have one then a normal one would work too. We used a normal blender and did two batches. Return blended soup to the stove and add the whole milk. Return to heat and stir well until it's hot enough. Take off the heat and stir in the alcohol. Serve (with grilled cheese sandwiches?)

Thoughts: Really good. In the future we could go smoother, but the blender was a bit of an issue. An immersion blender would be awesome for this, but we didn't have one. Whole milk worked well - the original recipe called for cream. I mean, it was basic tomato soup, but the flavor was just perfect.

Disaster Index: 1/10