October 5, 2018

Monthly Mystery Munchies #36: Duck breast with asparagus and fresh herb Risotto

Category: Challenges

Gourmet, elite-ish and expensive might as well be the theme for this month’s Monthly Mystery Munchies!

Because, when Gen suggested duck as a main, I have no clue that a few pieces of duck meat can get soooo expensive here in the Netherlands. Duck, as I’ve discovered, is considered a luxury. A few pieces of duck breasts, each weighing less than 200g set us back about €20 from our local slagerij (butcher).

That was pretty steep, no? If you are a vegetarian, look away now. Really. I mean, they used to look like this:

 

Then…BAM!

 

The real question is what do we do with duck meat? What do we eat it with? What’s a good side dish?

We didn’t have a frigging clue as, neither me nor Silver Bullet has ever attempted this before. We are both duck-meat virgin and frankly we both did not know where to start. If we screw up, it would be one hell of a very expensive screw-up! 

The good news is: we didn’t.

We both decided that perhaps this may go well with risotto (Silver Bullet’s specialty). Silver Bullet thought he’d spice his risotto with asparagus and herb. With that as a base, we kept the duck relatively simple by searing it with salt and let it cook in its own fat. The meat is them topped with fried sage and served alongside a plate of yummy risotto.

How do you like what you see? 

Yes, it is a little pink. And that’s because it’s actually red meat. Cooking it is different from cooking chicken and/turkey and so under-cooking it to medium or medium rare is OK. The recommended internal temperature for safe consumption is at  134F (54 celsius)  for medium-rare and 155F (68 celsius)  which is closer to medium-done after resting. 

Ready to roll?

Duck breast with asparagus and fresh herb Risotto
Serves 4
Elegant comfort food that's classic, creamy and rich guaranteed to lift your spirits.Vegetarian friendly recipe. This one though is a tad "elitist" :p
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
For the duck
  1. 4 duck breasts, skin on.
  2. Salt and pepper
or the risotto
  1. 1.1 litres chicken stock (or another stock of your preference).
  2. 2 shallots
  3. 2 cloves of garlic
  4. 3 to 4 sticks of celery
  5. I cup Parmesan cheese
  6. One bunch of green asparagus (I would prefer white asparagus but they’re not in season...)
  7. One bunch of fresh basil
  8. One bunch of fresh, flat leaf parsley
  9. A few sprigs of fresh thyme
  10. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  11. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  12. 400 g risotto rice
  13. 250ml of dry white wine or dry white vermouth
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven at 200 degrees (celsius).
  2. Make sure your duck is at room temperature before you start cooking it. Score the skin of the duck breast with a sharp knife, slicing about 4 to 5 diagonal cuts into the skin and the fat (but NOT into the meat). This will help with the rendering of the fat and make the skin nice and crispy. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put aside.
  3. Heat up the stock (you can use basic stock cubes) and leave this on a low heat to keep it warm
  4. Finely chop the shallots, garlic and celery. Finely grate the parmesan cheese.
  5. In a separate pan, heat up the oil and butter. Fry the shallots, garlic and celery over a low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until the shallots start to turn translucent and the celery is soft (make sure they don’t color).
  6. Increase the heat and add the rice. Keep stirring until the rice turns slightly translucent (1 or 2 minutes). At this point add the wine or vermouth to the pan. Keep stirring until the wine has been cooked into the rice.
  7. Add your first ladle of stock and a good pinch of salt and pepper, then turn down the heat. Keep stirring until the stock is absorbed by the rice. Keep stirring and adding the stock one ladle at a time, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. You can’t really walk away at this point, you have to keep stirring to ensure the rice is cooked slowly and evenly in the stock, allowing the starch to come out and create this creamy texture.
  8. At the same time, once you have added the first ladle of stock to the rice, take your duck breast and put them skinside down in a COLD non-stick skillet or frying pan and put on a medium heat. Starting with a cold pan will help the fat to render more easily. Remember that a duck breast is cooked for about 75% on the skin side. As the pan gets hot you want a nice sizzle as the fat starts to melt and the skin starts to slowly cook. Keep an eye on it, don’t fry it too fast otherwise the skin will not be crispy enough when the duck is already cooked. There is no need to add any oil. Just leave it to simmer while you turn your attention back to the risotto.
  9. Keep adding ladles of stock one at a time and stirring it into the rice, until the rice is cooked al dente (it should still have a slight bite to it). This can take anywhere from 15 to about 30 minutes depending on the heat and the type of rice. If you run out of stock, add some boiling water. Make sure it’s properly seasoned. Keep an eye on the duck.
  10. Once the skin of the duck is nice and crisp, turn over the duck breasts and sear them on high heat for one or two minutes. Then transfer them to the pre-heated oven for an additional 6 to 8 minutes, skin-side down. If your skillet has a plastic handle, transfer the breasts (including the fat!) to an oven dish first. You want the duck to have a nice color on the outside, but it should still be a little pink on the inside. Once done, take out of the oven and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing into it! (keep whatever duck fat is left over. It can add lots of flavor to other dishes such as roast potatoes!).
  11. Add the asparagus to a pan of boiling water and boil them for a few minutes until they have softened but still have a bit of a bite to it (about 5 minutes).
  12. Meanwhile remove the risotto from the heat once it’s cooked and add the remaining butter and parmesan cheese. Give it a good stir to allow the butter and cheese to melt into the rice. Now place a lid on the pan and leave for a few minutes to get the really creamy texture that makes a risotto so wonderful.
  13. To serve, spoon a nice amount of risotto on a plate. Add about 3 to 4 asparagus on top. Slice the duck breast into 1 to 1.5 cm slices and lay these on top of the asparagus. Serve immediately while the risotto is still nice and hot.
Adapted from Artichoke and Goat Cheese Risotto
Grubbs n Critters http://grubbsncritters.com/
Now folks, please pop over to Gen at Eat, Play, Clove and salivate at what she has made. Oh sweet ducks! 

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Monthly Mystery Munchies features every first Friday of the month in collaboration with Gen, Author of Eat, Play, Clove.  Stay tuned with next month’s edition from the Grubbs ‘n Critters’ Kitchen!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram: Gen here;Me here 

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September 10, 2018

Monthly Mystery Munchies #35: Quick and Easy Roast Chicken

Category: Food

5 months later, folks!

Thanks to my partner in crime, Gen from Eat, Play, Clove,here I am with our MMM#35 re-debuting back into the blogosphere.  We went way back, Gen and I. At her suggestion, we agreed on “Roast Anything” as the theme for this month.  

Nothing too complicated this time; my life is complicated enough (stories for many more blog posts in the time to come)

The theme also gave me a chance to resurrect one of my old recipes which I haven’t done in a long, long time: Roast Chicken – juicy, succulent, flavourful and flesh dropping-off the bones.

Grubbs ‘n Critters (c)

 

This is one easy recipe to try. It takes only 15 minutes to prep, half an hour to marinate and then you leave it in the oven for a good 1 hour (thereabouts) to roast till its cooked. If you so prefer, make that special Chicken Rice with it.

Mind you, not just chicken and rice. I’m referring to the type of Chicken Rice we usually get in back in Asia – complete with chicken soup,  rice cooked in chicken broth and accompanied by really, really good chilli sauce. It used to be my go-to food for lunch or dinner when I was still living in Singapore. There are always only a few good chicken rice go-to stalls as well. Not all chicken rice are made equal! 

For now, let’s stick to just the Roasted Chicken recipe. Make sure you have some spices handy: 

Easy & Quick Roasted Chicken
Serves 6
Succulent, flavourful and flesh-dropping-off-the bone type of recipe. You'll love this recipe for its quick and easy preparation.
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 15 min
Ingredients
  1. 8 pieces chicken legs
  2. 2 inch ginger, pounded
  3. 2 tbsp sweet soya (black) sauce
  4. 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  5. 3 tbsp honey
  6. 1 tspn salt
  7. 1 tspn ground white paper
  8. 2 tspn ALL SPICE powder
  9. 2 tspn tumeric powder
  10. 1.5 tspn cumin powder
  11. 1 inch ginger sliced
  12. Tumeric Leaves (optional)
Sides/Garnishes
  1. Cucumber, sliced
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
  2. Combine pounded ginger, soy sauces, honey, salt, white pepper, All Spice powder, tumeric and cumin and rub it all over the chicken. Leave it to marinade for min. 15 minutes.
  3. Prepare aluminum foil – put in the marinated chicken and spread the sliced ginger on top of the chicken. Lay the tumeric leaves over the chicken (if using)
  4. Crimp the aluminum foil together end-to-end loosely. Put in the oven for 30-40minutes
  5. After which, open up the aluminium foil a little bit and roast for 5-10 minutes till golden brown and the skin becomes crispier. (Leave it too long or the chicken will get dry)
  6. Once the skin is brown enough, keep the aluminum foil loosely crimped together to keep it moist
  7. Serve with salad or rice on the side.
Notes
  1. An easy dish to make to satisfy even the pickiest pallete.
Adapted from Grubbs 'n Critters
Grubbs n Critters http://grubbsncritters.com/

There is nothing not to like about this chicken. For me, it’s like food for the soul. The family loves it. What’s great about this is I’ve got Gen to thank for cheering me on and nudging me to re-create a dish which I have otherwise neglect. 

Let’s pop over to check what’s on her plate at Gen’s #35 Monthly Mystery Munchies. I think I have an inkling just what it might be! 😉  

==========================================
Monthly Mystery Munchies features every first Friday of the month in collaboration with Gen, Author of Eat, Play, Clove. (I had to postpone this fom last Friday because I have been quite a lot out of whack in the recent months) Stay tuned with next month’s edition from the Grubbs ‘n Critters’ Kitchen!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram: Gen here; Mhere 

 

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April 6, 2018

Monthly Mystery Munchies #34: Savoury Cake

You read that right: Savoury. Cake.

Whoever says cake has to be sweet? Because if you are anything like my mother-in-law, baking a sweet cake would just be a waste of sugar, butter, flour and eggs as she doesn’t like sweet stuff. Typically cakes. Which automatically means that a typically sweet, spongy, creamy birthday cake would be lost on her.

So how?

That’s when we thought about making a cake savoury. She loves cheese – lots of it, though cheese cake is a no-no. We somehow have to use real, hardcore cheese. Ironically,  that has actually inspired the theme for this month’s mystery munchies where the challenge is to use berries and pistachios. 

All wrapped up in filo, glazed with butter and blueberry sauce
Right out from the oven!

Sold yet? No? you will be after this because what you see in the above picture is only half complete.

What you don’t see is the soft, gooey Camembert cheese sprinkled with crushed pistachios underneath layers and layers of filo delicately brought together with melted butter.  It is then topped again with blueberry sauce before crinkling the filo together at the top, drizzle it with more blueberry sauce and pistachios.

You cannot go wrong with this. It’s fail-proof  and I  highly recommend it:

Savoury Cake: Camembert in Filo topped with Blueberry Sauce & Pistachios
Serves 5
Cheesy, savoury, nutty and gooey alternative to sweet cakes!
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 block of Camembert cheese
  2. 5-8 sheets of filos
  3. Melted butter
  4. One cup of blueberries
  5. 1/3 cup sugar and some water
  6. 100g crushed pistachios
Instructions
  1. Mix fresh blueberries with sugar and water in a hot pan. Reduce the mixture into a sauce. Cool and set aside.
  2. Layer 5-8 sheets of filo one on top of the other with melted butter in between each sheets
  3. Place the camembert in the middle of the filo sheets
  4. Glaze the top of the cheese with blueberry sauce and top with the nuts
  5. Cover the cheese by crinkling the filo sheets together.
  6. Spread melted butter around the filo
  7. Top it wth the leftover sauce and sprinkle more pistachios
  8. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the filo turns brown
  9. Serve hot!
Notes
  1. Feel free to layer with more cheese on top or substitute with a different type of cheese such as brie.
Grubbs n Critters http://grubbsncritters.com/
This has been the easiest and fastest, no-fuss birthday cake I have ever made. For cheese lovers, I bet this is must be a real treat and there is room to wriggle by adding another layer of cheese on top of it with all sorts of nuts to go with it.

A great substitute for those who are adverse to sweet cakes.

This has once again been a good exercise to stretch the creativity of what’s possible with simple ingredients such as berries and pistachios. Knowing Gen’s affinity for berries and nuts herself (pun on nuts intended!).  I have no doubt that Gen would double the pleasure with her berry-nutty creation for this month.

Let’s pop over to check what’s on her plate at Gen’s #34 Monthly Mystery Munchies  she’ll be making with this crazy, little twist. 

==========================================
Monthly Mystery Munchies features every first Friday of the month in collaboration with Gen, Author of Eat, Play, Clove. Stay tuned with next month’s edition from the Grubbs ‘n Critters’ Kitchen!

 

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