Seared Duck Breast with Chili, Honey & Ginger Glaze

Smorgasburg was so awesome not just because of the food I got to eat there, but because of what I got to take home! I took home two lovely duck breasts from Hudson Valley Duck Farm’s stand. Ms. H was coming into town so I decided to make magic.

Yup, that’s magic.  I was very excited to make the duck so I searched high and low for a recipe that was to my liking.  As always, my Epicurious app came up with this amazing recipe for Seared Duck Breast with Chili, Honey & Ginger Glaze.

Ingredients

2 whole magret duck breasts, approximately 1 pound each, available from specialty meat markets

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 small dried ancho chili pepper soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes (I couldn’t find ancho chilis so I used a Jamaican hot pepper)

1 small white onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 tablespoons warm honey dissolved in ½ cup port wine

2 scallions, chopped, about 1/2 cup

With the point of a knife, score the skin side of the breasts in crosshatch pattern, being careful not to pierce the flesh of the meat.

Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute before adding the breasts, skin side down. Cook skin side down over medium to low heat, for approximately 10 to 12 minutes to render the fat from the skin before turning the breasts over. 

When the duck has rendered its fat and the skin has taken on a crisp exterior quality turn the breasts over and sauté the flesh side for 3 to 4 minutes.  Duck is reeeeallly fatty! I used the reserved duck fat to make asparagus and also mixed it in with the mashed potatoes :-)

Carefully remove the duck from the pan, place on a platter to keep warm.  Place the chili into a blender and begin to pureé, adding as much of the reserved liquid as necessary to create a smooth and thin paste-like texture.  After removing the duck breasts from the pan add the onion to the still hot pan and return to the heat. Add a tablespoon or two of reserved duck fat. Sauté the onion briefly before adding the ginger and 2 tablespoons of the chili paste. Add the honey and port to the ginger chili, stir to combine and cook for one minute.

The breasts have rested for several minutes and should now be medium rare. They can be sliced lengthwise or cross-wise and several slices placed on each plate. Drizzle the warm glaze over the duck or for more impact, brush some on the duck breasts before slicing, run the duck under a hot broiler for 1 minute, caramelize the glaze and then slice and drizzle.

Oheemmgeee! The duck was amazing! I served it with asparagus and mashed potatoes.  I definitely will be trying this recipe again.  I must say that one duck breast was plenty for two, but being the glutton that I am, I had no problem eating more.

Hungry yet?

Spicy Chicken and Potato Curry

These days, I find myself checking out the Whole Foods website for the weekly sales about a half hour before I leave work then plotting my evening meal.  A few weeks ago, I was extremely successful with my version of this recipe.  Instead of beef, I used boneless chicken thighs.  The recipe on the website is essentially perfect – I just had to substitute one ingredient.

Ingredients

½ onion, chopped

2 serrano chiles (remove seeds for a milder curry)

3 cloves garlic

1 tbs peanut or expeller-pressed canola oil

1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

1 tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste

1 cinnamon stick

1 ¼ tsps coriander seeds

1 ¼ tsps ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

½ tsp sugar

1 pound red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/3 cup packed cilantro leaves

In a blender, combine onion, chiles, garlic and ½ cup water and blend until smooth. Set aside.

In a large skillet with a tightly fitting lid, heat oil over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Set aside.  Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add cinnamon, coriander, cumin and turmeric; stir for 10 seconds and then add the onion and chile mixture. 

Simmer for 1 minute and then stir in coconut milk, tomatoes and sugar. (The tomatoes added a texture that I didn’t love, so I’ll probably leave them out next time.) Add the chicken back in, cover the skillet, and simmer 40 minutes.  Stir in potatoes and continue to simmer until chicken and potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes more; remove the lid during last 10 minutes of simmering if you would like a thicker sauce. Remove cinnamon stick. When you taste the curry, you’ll definitely want to add more salt.

After adding enough salt, I decided to taste it, but ended up eating it as though it were soup.  I then had another bowl with rice.  This curry was amaaaazing! Thank you Whole Foods!

Hungry yet?

Smorgasburg!!

Where do I even begin?! Last year was the first time I heard about Smorgasburg. I’m not sure what prevented me from making it to Williamsburg last summer, but this year I’ve already been to Smorgasburg THREE times and I’m pretty sure I can get one more visit in before it ends in November. Smorgasburg is a delightful food market on the Williamsburg Waterfront. It happens every Saturday on the Williamsburg waterfront between North 6th and North 7th St., at the East River, from 10am to 5pm. There is also a Greenmarket with 5-10 farmers.  Part of the reason I went so many times is because of an amazing Gilt City deal that gave me access to more food than I probably should have consumed each day.  Lucky for me each time I was accompanied by fantastic friends that also had an appetite.  We tried a variety of items each time and I was left wanting more. By far my favorite each time was the Lobster Roll at Red Hook Lobster Pound.

That is the Maine style served cold with mayonnaise and perfectly seasoned. It costs $16! Thankfully my Gilt City tickets helped me out. $16 is pretty steep but I must say they pack it with LOTS of lobster so it might actually be worth it.

The Connecticut style served hot with butter was also delicious, but IMHO not as good.  Bite Size Kitchen also provided some exquisite eats.

Grilled Chicken Wings with Red Curry Sauce.  The chicken was tender and the spiciness was perfect. They also had pork buns, which I was told were good but a little salty.

The meatballs got rave reviews.  Juicy and well seasoned.

My first trip, I didn’t make it to Asia Dog, but Ms. O and Mr. M did.  Asia Dog had a lot of great selections.

Ms. O and Mr. M ordered the Mel & Steve and The Vinh.  

They were very satisfied with their purchase.  On another trip, I ordered The Mash.

It was so good, I ordered it twice!  The chips were a great crunch on my chicken hot dog and the combination of spicy ketchup and jalapeno mustard was perfect!  Bestie ordered The Ginny.

She loved every bite! I was especially pleased with Asia Dog because they offered so many different types of hot dogs.  As a non-beef eater, it was great to have the chicken option! Ms. O and Mr. M also stopped by the Brooklyn Oyster Party.  They were able to sample 3 delightful treats. 

Cooks Cove from Malpeque Bay, P.E.I., Canada, Beau Soleil from New Brunswick, Canada and Malpeque from Prince Edward Island, Canada.  Apparently the taste was just like the description. 

We also stopped by Kumquat Cupcakery for a quick cupcake break.  There was a wonderful display of delicious treats.

I couldn’t help myself and quickly devoured a couple of Red Velvet Cupcakes. 

I stayed away from the Bacon cupcakes, but I’m sure others would be interested.  By far the most disappointing thing I ate was the Fish Taco at Choncho’s Tacos.

It was dry and flavorless.  The best part of it was the cilantro. The corn tortilla was dryer than usual the fish was lacking…quite frankly it just plain sucked. I thought maybe the fried cod was just a bad choice, but Bestie tried the grilled salmon.  It was so dry that the salmon was almost brown – not a hint of pink. She choked on it!! It was quite frightening to see her struggling. I couldn’t believe how terrible it was.  Thankfully Salud! provided delicious smoothies and eventually washed away the painful experience. One of the best parts of Smorgasburg was Dough.  

When we walked into the gated area, there was a long line forming by Dough’s stand.  Ms. A had warned me before hand and also told me this was a must have. 

Based on this display, there was no way I could leave without getting my mouth on a donut. I devoured the Lemon Poppyseed, but also enjoyed the Cinnamon Sugar donut holes.  

Ms. O also let me sample her Blood Orange.  

The donuts were fantastic! Everything I hoped for and more.  Sweet but not overwhelming.  The second time around, I was too stuffed to eat it so I ended up having it for breakfast the next morning.  Awesome, much?

Smorgasburg is AMAZING! I highly recommend you head over to Williamsburg before they close up for this year.  For more pictures of the various treats, check out the facebook page.

Hungry yet?

Shrimp Fajitas with Cilantro Rice and Black Beans

Mr. J returned to NYC a few weeks ago! To celebrate his arrival, I made quite the tasty dinner. I've wanted to make Shrimp Fajitas for a while now. When I saw a recipe in the June 2011 Cosmo magazine, I decided to make my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed

½ red bell pepper, julienned

½ orange belle pepper, julienned

1 small red onion, julienned

1 jalapeno, minced

In a medium bowl, whisk together the first 3 ingredients. Add shrimp, and toss to coat. Put the shrimp in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. Heat a large skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Add peppers and onions. 

Sauté until tender, about 7 to 8 minutes then remove and place in a separate bowl. Add the shrimp with marinade. Cook shrimp about 2 minutes on each side.

Mix the shrimp with the peppers and onions.

Done! I served it in tortillas with a side of black beans and cilantro rice.  Mr. J was quite pleased, as was I. 

Another successful dinner!

Hungry yet?

Nage

My trip to DC wouldn't be complete without seeing Mr. K. He met Ms. O and me for brunch at Nage. I chose Nage because of the opportunity to use my Scoutmob discount. It is located in a hotel so I was a little skeptical but figured it would be worth it. Our waitress forgot our order and brought us the wrong things and also took extremely long before she came to ask for our order. Eventually all was well and food arrived. Mr. K and I ordered the Smoked Salmon Frittata.

The eggs were cooked with red onion, tomato and dill. The dish was served with soffrito potatoes and a choice of toast. I went with English Muffin. The eggs tasted great. The balance of flavors was excellent. It did not taste too fishy which sometimes happens with smoked salmon. The potatoes were pretty good but I was slightly disappointed because when I saw soffrito I thought they'd be stewed or at least more flavorful.  Ms. O ordered Buttermilk Pancakes and a side of eggs. 

Her pancakes arrived with cinnamon-bourbon butter, which was apparently very flavorful. I've been thinking about trying more butter flavors so I might make that one sometime soon.

The food at Nage is good. I wasn't even that upset when I realized I forgot to use my Scoutmob. The service was somewhere between bad and awful but thankfully that didn't affect the quality of the food. I recommend trying Nage. Especially if you remember to use Scoutmob!

Hungry yet?