Favorite Kitchen Gadget and a Delicious Dinner

Hi all!  I'm here today sharing two of my favorite things with you.  First, Kate has inspired us to share our favorite kitchen gadgets.  I'll be sharing my link over at her party, and can't wait to see what other great gadgets are out there.

Secondly, I used my gadget to help whip up one of our all time favorite meals last night.   I'll share it all with you below...

You guys know I love to cook.  I'm more than happy with a full pantry and a free day to bake or cook away.  And there are lots of appliances and tools I depend on to make cooking and baking more efficient and consistent.  One of the tools I find myself coming back to over and over again is my microplane.  It's basically a fancy grater.  This one was given to me by a dear friend at a wedding shower, and I have been using it religiously for the past few years. To be clear, this is not a sponsored post.  Microplane does not know I exist.





I use it mostly for zesting citrus fruits, grating garlic or onions, and shredding cheese.  It also comes in handy for grating fresh nutmeg.  When a recipe calls for minced garlic, this is such an easy way to break it down.  Just grate the clove right on the microplane.



Some of the garlic will stick to the back, so simply scrape it off with a knife or spoon.


If you don't already have one of these, I think you'll love having one in your kitchen!

So, the recipe I made last night ranks in our top 10 recipes here in the domestiCate home.  Frank loves it, and it's simple enough to throw together on a weeknight.  But, it's delicious enough to serve for date night or for guests!

In the 1980s my Grandma wrote to a local magazine called Specialty of the House to request one of her favorite recipes from a restaurant, Sweet Caroline's in Greenville NC (which no longer exists).  The restaurant's chef, D. Waid Akeman,  shared the recipe and the magazine printed it.  It's been in my family's arsenal ever since!

The recipe is called Fettuccine Fruge.  It's a pasta with mushrooms and shrimp (or chicken) in a creamy (but not too heavy) white wine sauce.  The beauty of it is that the ingredients are listed in quantity per person, so you can tailor the recipe to however many people you are cooking for at the time.  I made enough for four...for last night's dinner and some leftovers for lunch today.  (I'll list the full recipe at the bottom)



Gather all of your ingredients.  Go ahead and start salted water boiling for your pasta.  Cook it a minute less than package directions (so it'll be al dente).  And grate your cheese.  Ree taught me the value of grating fresh cheese rather than buying pre-shredded cheese.   I say that like we're friends.  In my mind we are!  Anyway, it is SO much better, and the sharp microplane makes it pretty easy.  It also grates is so finely, the cheese melts in the recipe more quickly and evenly.




Grab your biggest pan and heat up some oil.  Toss in sliced mushrooms, garlic, hot sauce, and white wine.



Cook the shrooms down a bit, and put them aside in a bowl.



Use the same big pan (don't you love that!?) To heat up some more oil.   When it's hot, toss in your shrimp.



After just a minute, throw in your green onions.  The shrimp will continue to cook over the next few steps, and you don't want to overcook them, so move quickly now.  You want the shrimp to still be a bit raw at this point. 



Then add in the cream, red pepper, and mushrooms.





Let the mixture reduce until it gets a bit thicker (the shrimp finish cooking here), then throw in your noodles.



Use tongs to toss it all together and coat the pasta.  Add the butter and sprinkle on the cheese, gently tossing to incorporate it all.



Dish it onto big bowls or plates, top it with fresh parsley, and that's it!

The chef also suggested a simple salad to serve with the pasta.  It's so easy and delicious, I recommend throwing it together while your mushrooms are cooking. 



Once I cooked this recipe a few times, and really got the hang of it, it became a 30-minute meal, so easy to throw together for dinner.  And it's great to only have one pot and one pan to clean!

Fettuccine Fruge

adapted by domestiCate from Chef D. Waid Akeman

Olive Oil
White wine
Cayenne pepper
Garlic clove
Hot Sauce (like Sriracha)
Sliced Mushrooms (lots)

Heat Oil and Saute all of the ingredients.  Set aside in a bowl.
4 oz cleaned shrimp per person (or raw cubes of chicken)
2 sliced green onion tops per person
4 oz half and half per person
pinch of cayenne pepper
Parmesean cheese
3oz cooked fettuccine, al dente, per person
1 T butter per person
Fresh minced parsley as garnish

Heat a small amount of oil;  add shrimp and stir quickly.  Add onion tops and continue to stir.  When shrimp are mostly pink, add cream, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and mushrooms.  Reduce mixture until creamy.  Add the cooked noodles and heat through.  Sprinkle with cheese and butter.  Toss and serve in pasta bowls.  Garnish with parsley.

Side salad
Romaine Lettuce
Quartered Canned Artichoke Hearts
Calamata Olives
Grape Tomatoes

Toss with dressing of 3 parts red wine vinegar to 1 part olive oil and fresh (or dried) basil. 

What's your favorite kitchen gadget?  Do you have a family recipe with a story?  Ever coaxed a recipe from a restaurant chef?  Do tell!




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Zucchini Soup with Rice and Tomatoes

Happy Monday to ya!  I know the days are getting longer and warmer, but technically it's still soup season, right?  This is a bright, flavorful soup that's on a pretty regular rotation in our house.  My Mom started making this recipe years ago, and we still love it.  Thanks Mom!  You could easily swap out the chicken broth for veggie broth to go full vegetarian.  It's a keeper...give it a try!




Zucchini Soup with Rice and Tomatoes
adapted from the Italian Soup Cookbook

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 large onion, cut in 1/2" dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 small zucchini, scrubbed and diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (we use Muir Glen Fire Roasted - yum!)
4 cans (about 7 cups) of chicken broth
1/2 cup rice, uncooked
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil (I use about 1T of dried if we don't have fresh)
2T finely chopped fresh parsley (I like to use a good handful)
baby spinach (optional)
3/4 cup grated parmesean

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until it begins to turn golden (5 minutes).  Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more.

Add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper.  Stir and cook, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes more.

Add the broth, rice, basil, and parsley; bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to simmer and cook, covered, about 15 minutes.  Let the soup rest to develop the flavors.

I like to place a handful of baby spinach in the bottom of the bowl for added flavor and nutrition, then ladle the hot soup in and top with freshly shaved parmesean.





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Special Occasion Dinner

Hello Friends!  How was your weekend?  Saturday was rainy here, but Sunday was sunny and warm.  We even had the doors open.

As I mentioned last week, Frank celebrated a birthday on Thursday.  You know I love to cook, so I prepared a special meal for us.  Frank's favorite protein is duck, though we rarely have it.  Earlier this year I searched for a good duck recipe and found this one by Bobby Flay.  I made it then, and we both loved it.  Frank even said it was his favorite meal I had ever cooked for him.  I marked it as a keeper!  Do you guys mark your recipes?  It's so handy to jot a note about when you made it and if there was anything fun going on, or a guest at the table. 

 Duck is a bit hard to find around here, but I picked some up at Greenlife in Asheville, and the rest of the stuff is pretty readily available at your local grocery.  I'll highlight some of the steps, then list the full recipe at the bottom.

There are several components to the meal:  The duck, the pear sauce, the pear relish, and the potato cakes.  And I added a simple spinach salad.  You'll want to go ahead and boil a couple of potatoes and mash them up.  Have them refrigerated and ready to use for the potato cakes.  You can do this a day or two ahead of time.

A few hours before you're planning on sitting down to the meal, start with the Pear Sauce.  You'll saute some onions, then pour in a little red wine.

 In a separate pot I thawed 8 cups of chicken stock.  Since we keep it frozen, it was necessary for me to thaw it and warm it, but if you're using boxed or canned stock, you could use it at room temp without heating it.

While these were heating, I peeled, cored, and cut up three pears for the sauce.   The sauce will be strained, so I just cut them into big quarters.

Once the wine in the onions has reduced to about half, add in the other ingredients.  The recipe calls for New Mexican Red Chiles.  I wasn't able to find those 'round here.  I googled and didn't find much info, either.  I ended up picking up these dried Ancho chiles.  They worked well, and brought a medium level of heat to the sauce. I really don't know if Bobby intends for the chiles to be dried or fresh, whole or diced, or what.  But, this worked for me.

Toss all of this, along with the chicken stock, into the pot with the onions and wine.  Oh, the recipe calls for star anise.  Frank's not a huge anise fan, so I just left it out.

It needs to reduce by half again, which will take a while, depending on how wide the mouth of your pot is.  I started around 5pm and at a rolling boil it took about 2 hours for it to reduce down.   These 8+ cups of stuff will eventually be less than one cup of sauce.

Once I had the sauce going, I started the pear relish.  This part is super easy.  Dice up some ripe pears. The recipe calls for Asian pears, but I just used the Anjou we had.

 Lightly brown them.

Then you'll add bourbon and brown sugar.  Yum.

These pears were super ripe and juicy.  I cooked it down until the liquid was pretty thick.

This stuff is SO good!  It would be delightful on pork chops.  My little helper supervised as she ate her dinner.

"More please, Mom."

 Next I formed the potato cakes.  Use those potatoes you mashed, and just mix in blue cheese and panko bread crumbs, then add some salt and pepper.

Form them into cakes and stick them in the fridge to set.

Frank arrived home, and I pulled out some cheese and crackers for a little appetizer.  Have you guys had Humboldt Fog?  It's divine!  I'm no cheese connoisseur, but it's like blue, goat, and brie all wrapped up in one.

While the sauce was reducing, Frank opened up some gifts.

We bathed the Bean and put her to bed, and finally the sauce was where it needed to be.  I strained it into a smaller clean pot and left it to reduce even more.  And I started pan frying the potato cakes (after sprinkling them with more panko).

Last, but certainly not least, bring out the duck.  Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400F and set a pan on high heat.  The breasts I found came frozen, so I thawed them in the fridge the day before.

I patted them dry, then made slits in the layer of fat.  That will help the fat render and crisp more evenly.  Don't forget to sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Once your pan is screaming hot, place the breasts in, fat side down.  My pan was so hot, the breasts even jumped around a bit!  The duck has so much fat, it just crisps up.  It would take a while to burn these.  Once the fat has browned, flip them over.

After 4 minutes or so, drain the fat (keep it for another use!) and pop the pan into your hot oven for just a few more minutes.

The last thing to do for the sauce is whisk in a bit of butter and season with salt and pepper.  Next I plated it all up (potato cake, duck, relish, then sauce), and we dug in!

You know I'd love to create a masterpiece dessert, or layered cake, but alas Frank's favorite sweet has only three ingredients: cereal, butter, and marshmallows.  I have to admit, they're simple but delicious!

It was a wonderful evening with my favorite guy on earth! 

Let me know if you give this meal a shot.  Do you guys have any good duck recipes?  Is your favorite dessert a childhood treat?

Here's the full recipe from foodnetwork.com.  You can print it easily if you follow the link:

Pan Seared Duck with Red Chile Pear Sauce, Bourbon-Brown Sugar Asian Pear Relish and Potato-Blue Cheese Cakes

by Bobby Flay via Food Network

Ingredients

• 4 duck breasts
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Potato-Blue Cheese Cakes, recipe follows
• Red Chile Pear Sauce, recipe follows
• Asian Pear Relish, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Season the duck with salt and pepper on both sides and cook, skin-side down, until golden brown, drain the fat, turn the breast over and continue cooking in the oven to medium-rare doneness, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Place 2 Potato-Blue Cheese Cakes on each plate. Place one duck breast on top of the potato cakes, and drizzle the Red Chile Pear Sauce around the plate and on the ends of the duck breasts. Place a few teaspoons of the Asian Pear Relish on top of each of the duck breasts.

Potato Cakes:

• 2 cups cold mashed potatoes
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs, plus extra for coating
• 1/2 cup crumbled domestic blue cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Panko crumbs, for dusting
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Combine the potatoes, bread crumbs and blue cheese in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Form the mixture into eight 2-inch cakes. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Dredge the cakes lightly in more panko crumbs. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Cook the cakes until golden brown on both sides.

Red Chile Pear Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 8 cups homemade chicken stock
• 2 whole New Mexican Red chiles
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 3 pears, peeled, seeded and halved
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Asian Pear Relish:

• 3 Asian pears, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

For the Red Chile Pear Sauce: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the wine and cook until reduced. Add the stock, chiles, cinnamon, anise, and pears, and cook until reduced by 1/2. Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan and cook to a sauce consistency, and can coat the back of a spoon thickly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sauce can be gently re-heated, but cannot boil, or the sauce will break. For the Asian Pear Relish: Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the pears and cook until lightly golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat, add the bourbon and sugar and cook until the pears are lightly glazed.

Linking up:  At the Picket Fence  and Making Lemonade  

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