Saturday, June 18, 2011

Dinner with the neighbors....


I hope everyone is enjoying Spring! I am loving every minute of it. My tomatoes are growing rapidly and I just subscribed to a CSA with Silverlake Farms. I signed up for a ten week program which gives me a variety of fruits and vegetables from local farms. Yesterday's pick up included the following:

beets
yukon gold potatoes
strawberries
blood oranges
romaine
minzu
purple carrots
cherries
goat cheese

I could not be happier, for info go to Silverlakefarms.com they also have a really great blog you can follow with terrific recipes!!!

We live in a great residential neighborhood off of Melrose and some friends of ours just bought a house up the street so we had them and the couple across the street over for dinner last week. I often entertain and always like to make new things so I decided on Duck Ragu from Gwyneth Paltrow's new book "My Father's Daughter" this is the first thing I have made from this book and it was delicious, the dinner party was a huge success......


Duck Ragu

Serves: 4–6

  • 1 organic large duck, washed and dried
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 slices duck bacon, finely diced
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 medium stalks celery, finely diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 2 5-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, stems discarded and leaves finely minced
  • 3 14-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
  • 1 cup Italian red wine
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 pound pappardelle (fresh or dried)
  • Gremolata Bread Crumbs or freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Trim off excess skin from the opening to the duck’s cavity and back end. Rub the entire duck with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, inside and out. Roast it for a total of 2 hours, flipping it from its back to its breast (and vice versa) every 1/2 hour. Let it cool in the pan until you can handle it. Drain off the fat and either discard or reserve it for another use, such as roasting potatoes. While the duck is roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the duck bacon. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until starting to crisp. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and rosemary. Turn the heat down to low and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomatoes and their juice and put 1/2 cup water into one can, swish it around to get all the tomato stuck to the sides, pour into the next can, and repeat again with the third. Add the tomato water to the Dutch oven along with the wine, a good grind of pepper, and a healthy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down very low and let simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

After the duck has cooled down a bit, remove and discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Fold the duck meat into the ragu along with the tomato paste and cook on very low heat, uncovered, for at least 1 hour (and up to 4), adding splashes of water if necessary to keep it from drying out (continue to season with salt and pepper as you splash).

To serve, cook the pasta, divide it among bowls, and spoon a generous amount of duck ragu over the pasta. Top with the Gremolata Bread Crumbs or Parmesan.

Active preparation time: 50 minutes
Total preparation time: 4–5 hours

Gremolata Bread Crumbs

Yield: 1 cup

  • 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs, toasted and coarsely ground
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
  • Small pinch of coarse salt

Toss everything together.

Total preparation time: less than 5 minutes

recipe from Gwyneth Paltow's blog Goop.com

Enjoy xoxo

Jamielyn