Slow-roasted Duck

Slow-roasted Duck

December 18. - I have to take a break from all the sweets. Who would like a piece of a roasted duck?

Duck is traditionally served at the christmas dinner in Denmark. Actually 75% of danes eat duck at christmas. Back in the days people ate goose, and it was roasted in the large ovens in the bakeries, because peoples own oven was too small. Slowly people gravitated towards the duck, because of its size and prize. Farmers wanted to get the good money from the geese they raised, and would eat the cheaper duck themselves.

A Danish-style roasted duck is filled with prunes and apple slices, to keep the duck breast moist. I like to add some slices of oranges and some christmasy spices for extra flavor.

The duck in the picture was a very young bird, maybe only about 5-7 weeks old. So it's a very small bird, with not to much meat on its bones. These ducks are OK if you are making Peking Duck, but is not the best for a danish-style duck. Normally I like an older bird, around 10-12 weeks old. These birds have much more meat. The small bird cost me about $22, and would serve 3 people, while the older one cost $36 and can serve about 6 people. I buy my ducks from Grimaudfarms.com in Stockton, California. I’ve have been very pleased with the birds I have gotten from that place.

This is my take on the danish-style roasted duck.

Ingredients:

• 1 duck (7-8 pounds)
• 2 oranges
• 2 apples
• 2 handful of pitted prunes
• A handful salt and some pepper
• 1 star anise
• 3 whole allspice
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 265℉ (130℃).

Chop the oranges and apples in the size of the prunes. Mix star anise, allspice, cloves and the broken cinnamon stick with apples, oranges and prunes. Have the salt in a clean cup.

Take neck and giblets out of the duck. Make sure that all feather sacks are out of the duck, you don't want a hard part of the feather in the crispy skin.

Pad the duck dry with some kitchen towel. Salt the duck inside, and fill it with the fruit mixture. Close the opening with a  trussing needle. 

Truss the duck by placing the duck on a tray with the legs towards you. Tuck the wing tips under the duck. Cut a piece of cooking twine about 3 feet (1 meter), and center it on top of the neck end of the breast. Lift the neck end of the duck and pull the twine down around the wings and under the duck, then bring the ends up over the breast, towards you, and knot the twine, pulling it tight to plump the breast. Bring the ends of the twine around the ends of the drumsticks and straight up. Tie as before to pull the drumsticks together and form a compact bird; tie again to secure knot."

Well, I did it my way, and tried my best to get the compact duck. Sometimes I just pull the wing onto the back of the duck, and use a cooking rubber band to tie the legs together.

Salt the duck with a lot of salt. 

Put the duck in the oven, breast side down, and cook it like this for 3-3½ hours. Have a pan under the duck, and put the giblets, neck and water in it. This water/drippings will be the base for the sauce. 

After 3½ hours turn the duck breast side up, and roast it for another 1½-2 hours until the temperature in the duck reaches 158℉ (70℃). If the skin isn't crispy, give the bird a few minutes under the boiler, be careful not to burn the duck.

Take the duck out and let it rest. Pour the drippings from the pan through a strainer into a saucepan. Skim the fat from the surface. I use a fat separator, which makes this process a breeze. Save the fat in the refrigerator or the freezer. Duck fat is a flavorful fat, and is perfect to roast potatoes in.

Add some cream, blue cheese and red currant jelly to the drippings and thicken the sauce, just like for the Danish pork roast.

Remove the twine and carve the duck, and serve with pickled red cabbage and Danish caramelized potatoes.

Poularde au Bayard - Chicken in White Wine

Poularde au Bayard

Poularde au Bayard was a dish my parents mad when they had people over. It's a dish where all the work is in the preparation. It's slow food at its best.

I think the recipe came from a pamphlet my mom got from the local butcher, but the details are lost in history. I remember that we all loved this chicken dish, and it was a treat when we had it. I removed most of the butter, because I don't need to have my meals dripping with butter. In my opinion there's no loss of flavor.

Ingredients: 

• 1 large chicken
• 3 carrots
• 4 tomatoes
• 4 onions
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• 24 whole cloves
• 1 cup white wine
• butter and olive oil for searing
• ½ teaspoon tarragon
• ½ teaspoon basil
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder or a garlic clove
• salt & pepper

Onions with cloves

Directions: 

Peal the carrots and the onions and wash the tomatoes. Cut the carrots into 1 inch pieces. Press the cloves in the onions, 6-8 in each.

Clean and pad the chicken dry. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add butter and oil to a large pot. It should fit the chicken and all the vegetables. I use a 6.5 liter (6.8 QT) pot. Brown the chicken in the butter/oil. Get a good sear on it for flavor and color. Take the chicken out of the pot again.

Put the tomatoes, carrots and the onions in the bottom of the pot with all the spices. Add garlic, bay leaves and the wine and the chicken on top and put the lid on. Let it simmer for 45-60 until tender (170° F) 

Carefully take up the chicken and vegetables. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch in cold water, and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Carve the chicken and serve it with the vegetables and boiled potatoes.

The Danish version:

Poularde au Bayard - Kylling i hvidvin

Ingredienser:

• 1 stor kylling 
• 3 gulerødder
• 4 tomater
• 4 løg
• 2 laurbærblade 
• 1 fed hvidløg
• 24 hele nelliker
• 2,5 dl hvidvin (jeg brugte næsten en hel flaske)
• Smør og olie til stegning
• ½ tsk estragon
• ½ tsp basilikum 
• ½ tsk paprika
• ½ tsk rosemarin
• ½ tsp timian
• ½ tsp hvidløgspulver eller 1 fed hvidløg
• salt & peber

Kyllingen rengøres og tørres godt og drysses med salt. Derefter brunes kyllingen, i smør/olie og tages op igen. Nu kommes de hele tomater og gulerødderne skåret i skiver med i bunden af gryden sammen med laurbærblade, hvidløg og løgene, der har fået stukket nelliker i sig. Hvidvinen tilsættes. Kyllingen lægges ligeledes ned i gryden og steges mør med låg over. Dryp tit med skyen. Saucen jævnes med maizena og evt. Lidt fløde. Kyllingen parteres og serveres med små kartofler

Chicken with preserved lemons & green olives

Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Green Olives

I love simmer food. We often had simmer food back home. Best of all is one-pot-meals they are easy to prepare,  just not as fast as I sometimes would like. 

I like to try out different cuisines, and getting “Mourad: New Moroccan” cookbook, I had to have a a Moroccan clay Tagine. Well I bought it because I wanted to make a lamb dish I once had. I never got that far, because I stumbled over this chicken dish, and I had to try this.

You get the best flavours if you roast and grind you own spices, but even though I have a spice grinder, I alway end up using the store bought ground spices - I don't know what I'm missing out on. 

You can make this dish in a tagine or in a ovenproof skillet with a lid. When using a tagine, be sure to use a diffuser over the burner, so the tagine won't break. 

This is my take on the dish.

Serves 3

Ingredients: 

• 2 teaspoons fat (duck or olive oil)
• 6 chicken thighs (I use boneless, skinless thigh filets)
• salt
• 3 onions (finely sliced)
• 2 tablespoons (11 g) ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons white pepper
• 1 teaspoon saffron treads
• 1 tablespoon chicken base (Better than Bouillon reduced sodium)
• 1 - 2 cups water
• 100 g green olives
• 4 - 6 quarters preserved lemons
• Italian parsley
• cilantro
• salt to taste

Directions: 

Salt the chicken and let sit for about an hour at room temperature.

Preheat you oven to 350 ℉ (175 ℃). 

Heat the fat in the tagine over medium heat. Add the chicken and sear it on both sides. Work in batches, so the chicken won't steam instead of browning. Remove the chicken from tagine. Discard the fat, and add a teaspoon new fat to tagine. Add onions and sauté for about 15 minutes or until they are tender and golden brown. 

Sautéing onions.

Add the spices and a pinch of salt to the onions and stir constantly for about 1,5 minutes to lightly toast the spices. Return the chicken legs to the tagine, add the chicken base and water, bring to a boil. 

Cover the tagine and put it in the oven, and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. Remove tagine from oven and remove the chicken from the tagine.  

Return the tagine to the burner, and let simmer for about 3 minutes to reduce the sauce. I thicken the sauce with some cornstarch diluted in cold water.

Add diced preserved lemon and green olives, let them heat through. Add herbs and season with sat. 

Serve the chicken with rice or couscous. 

Perfectly Roasted Chicken

Perfectly roasted chicken.

Everyone can roast a chicken, the only thing you need is a oven and a chicken.

But getting a moist chicken with a crispy golden brown skin is more difficult. One option is a beer can chicken - roasting the chicken while is't sitting on a beer can (or roaster) filled with beer or wine. We always do this on the BBQ, but some days are not BBQ-ing days, at least not in Denmark. 

I wanted to try out Thomas Kellers way to roast a chicken in the oven. And to be honest I didn't read the recipe before the afternoon of making it. That was a mistake, a big mistake. I had to brine the chicken in the refrigerator for 6 hours. Well this didn't happen with this bird, but it turned out great. I don't think I've had a roasted chicken this moist ever. But some day I have to try to brine a chicken, I'll keep you posted.

This is how I made the roasted chicken. 

Serves 4-5 people. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 chicken  ( 2,24-2,50 lb)
• coarse sea salt (a fair amount)
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons thyme leaves

Directions: 

Clean the chicken, removing the layer of fat from the opening. Remove the giblets. I never rinse the chicken under water, this will spread bacteria such as salmonella. 

Preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C).
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken inside with salt and pepper. I always take a handful of salt in a cup, and add some pepper, and use this for seasoning. If there is any salt left I discard it. There's no need to spread bacteria all over.

From Thomas Keller:  "Truss the chicken by placing the chicken on a tray with the legs towards you. Tuck the wing tips under the chicken. Cut a piece of cooking twine about 3 feet (1 meter), and center it on top of the neck end of the breast. Lift the neck end of the chicken and pull the twine down around the wings and under the chicken, then bring the ends up over the breast, towards you, and knot the twine, pulling it tight to plump the breast. Bring the ends of the twine around the ends of the drumsticks and straight up. Tie as before to pull the drumsticks together and form a compact bird; tie again to secure knot."

 I did it my way, and tried my best to get the compact chicken. Let the chicken rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Season the chicken with salt - you have to use a lot.

Heat a ovenproof skillet and heat the oil before placing the chicken breast side up in the skillet. This way the skin won't stick to the skillet.  Put the skillet in the hot oven, with the chicken legs facing the back of the oven.

Roast for about 40 minutes, rotate the skillet if the chicken is browning unevenly. Check the temperature by inserting an instant-read thermometer between the bird and the thigh. When the temperature is about  155°F (69°C), remove it from the oven. The chicken will continue to cook as it sits, and reach a temperature of about 165°F (75°C). Add the thyme leaves to the skillet, and baste the chicken several times with the juices and thyme leaves. Let it sit and rest for about 10 minutes.

Remove the twine and carve the chicken, and serve with your favorite starchy side or vegetables. 

Chicken breasts with Harissa

Chicken breasts in harissa.

Harissa is a Tunisian spicy sauce made with different chili peppers and other spices. It's great sauce for fries and for meats. In this recipe I marinade chicken breasts in Harissa.

It's super easy and tasty. 

serves 4

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 glass Harissa (I use Mourad's Morrocan Harissa from Williams-sonoma)

Directions:

Chicken breasts in harissa.

Trim the fat of the chicken breasts. Put them in a ziplock bag with half of the Harissa. Let is marinade for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator. 

Preheat the gas grill to 400 °F. Using tongs, dip a folded paper towel into some canola oil and use the oiled towel to grease the grill grates. Set the chicken breasts on the oiled grates and grill until both sides are grill marked and golden-brown, and the center of each reach 170 °F.

Serve with rice, roasted potatoes or a fresh salad, and the rest of the Harissa.

This time I roasted the chicken breasts in the oven at 400 °F until a center temperature at 170 °F. I added some cherub tomatoes and some kalamata olives in the mix.