Duck, pork sausage, twice baked potatoes roasted vegetables, and fresh blueberry, vanilla ice cream

     Great show last night by George Lopez---didn't cook anything last night. Got 4 stitches in my left ankle--long story. I first started prepping the blueberry ice cream. I mixed a cup of fresh blueberries and heavy cream. I heated 2 cups of milk and put a fresh Tahitian vanilla bean in it. I whisked two egg yolks and a cup of sugar. i mixed them together and let them cool. 

   I put duck beast with African curry spices in the sous vide at 149 degrees. I also put russet potatoes in the oven at 375 degrees. I prepped the squash, onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and fennel with olive oil and herbs. After an hour I took the potatoes out and sliced ff the top and took the potatoes filling out. I mixed the filling with fresh chives, basil, scallions, butter,garlic, and herbs. I stuffed the potatoes with potato filling and baked it. I also put the vegetables in the oven.

   I took the duck breast out, and seared the skin. I used the dripping to make a sauce. I sliced the duck breast and added fried Italian ham to the potato. I pared this with a 2001, Penfolds RWT (Red Winemaking Trials) Shiraz. Great wine--blackberry, svelte taste

Dessert was fresh blueberry ice cream.

Steak, Quinoa, and Asparagus

   A friend of mine at work, said he was having steaks and was looking for a wine to match. I told him to go to Tamura's to pick up a Chateau Lassegue 2006 (same one I had a few days ago). I got to thinking that  I would like steak as well.

  I picked up a few NY Steaks, and seasoned them and put them the sous vide for 1.5 hours at 149 degrees.  made vegetable quinoa, and oil olive roasted asparagus. The wine I matched was a New Zealand Clifford Bay Pinot Noir, 2008--very fruit forward wine---probably too much fruit for the steak--but I have been trying to support New Zealand in light of their earthquake. The wine is a great value at 10.99.

Dinner with Wayno

   My friend Wayno came to visit. He is on the Lincoln. I made him home made cheese bread. The may course was spaghetti bolognese. I also added the home made fennel sausages I made the day before. The sauce simmered for two hours. I used San Marzano tomatoes from Napoli. Also, made asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. The wine was a 2009 Red Guitar from Navarra, Spain. Kim and I loved the wines from that region. It was great seeing Wayno.

Bison Dinner

             I was talking to my friend Sebastian and mentioned that he was grilling some Bison steaks he got from wholepaycheck. Last week, I was able to purchase a Bison tri-tip roast (lower loin cut) from wholepaycheck. Bison has less fat than chicken and care must be made not to overcook. Tri-tip is usually a tougher cut and requires that you cut across the grain unless you want to get your jaw tired from gnawing so long.

       Sous vide cooking is the best way to make meats tender. I seasoned the Bison tri-tip roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and herbs de Provence. I put it in a vacuum pouch with 2 tbs of non-salted butter. I put the sous vide at 147 degrees and put the roast in for 8 hours.

    Later on a grilled some zucchini, mushroom, onions in herbs and butter along with couscous in chicken broth. I took the roast out and seared it in butter for 2 minutes a side and sliced it. It tasted phenomenal. I used the Bison drippings from the pouch as a sauce by deglazing the pan and reducing it.

         I served it with a 2006 St Emillion Lassegue. In 2008, we visited the winery and had a great tour and tasting led by Pierre Seillan, the winemaker.

Making Sausages using the Kitchen Aid

Grinding the meat

          Been wanting to make homemade sausages for a long time. I was finally able to get some collagen sausage casings. I really enjoy going to different countries and enjoying the different types of sausages they make. Germany has an amazing number of different schnitzel and I love France's Toulouse sausages.  Don' t forget Spanish chorizo which an integral part of paella. I made a traditional fennel sausage. I used the Chez Panisse cookbook recipe as a base. I ground pork shoulder and added salt, pepper, fennel seed, cayenne pepper, and white wine. I mixed it by hand and use the sausage stuffer attachment. I plan to use the sausages as a side dish this afternoon with my spaghetti bolognese this evening.  

The finished product

Dinner on Sunday, March 6

     Busy day. Got up this morning and went to pick up plants. My garden has taken a beating from the rain. This also causes the snails and slugs to increase. I was able to get a natural snail repellent (no its not salt). Hopefully, my new plants will thrive.  We also went to William and Sonoma, which is like going to Toys R Us for a child to me. I bought some spices, gum molds, and a spice cornichons. One of the spices I bought was 'African Curry',  so I rubbed this on two chicken breast (spice mix tasted hot) and put them in the sous vide for two hours. In the meantime, I made quinoa, with kale, onions, carrots, garlic and chicken stock. I added Moroccan spices to it: cardamom, cumin,lime,  coriander seeds, and Cinnamon. I served the African Curry chicken over quinoa, with Harissa sauce and naan.  It came out great. the chicken had a spice to it, and the quinoa tasted very savoury and warm. The wine was a Chateau Bonnet  2009 sauvignon blanc/semillon. The wine's sauvignon blanc's acidity was mellowed with the semillon. It went quite well.

A little early Irish Dinner

    Walking through Costco, I saw that the corned beef was on sale. I picked up one and put it in he sous vide for 24 hours at 149 degrees. I hen go some cabbage, carrots and fingerling potatoes and used the corned beef broth from the sous vide bag and served. It is amazingly tender.