Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Active Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 Pc (~ 1.5 Kg) Duck Breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds assorted wild mushrooms sliced (about 9 cups)
1 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
How to cook
Preheat oven to 300°F (~ 150°C). Using sharp knife, score skin of duck breasts diagonally to create 3/4-inch-wide diamond pattern; pat dry. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Heat heavy large skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down. Cook until skin is deep golden brown, about 8 minutes. Turn duck over; cook about 3 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in oven.
Pour all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add oil. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add mushrooms and shallots and sauté until mushrooms are tender, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add wine and stir until juices thicken, scraping up browned bits, about 1 minute.
Place 1 duck breast on each of 4 plates. Pour mushroom sauce over, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.
Wine Suggestion: a Merlot Red Wine from Corsica: a VDP Corsica - Merlot - Reserve du President Merlot 2004. The
Merlot is a delicious match with duck.
Bon Appetit
Brice
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Active Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
We often take black pepper for granted, grinding it onto every dish in sight. But the classic Roman dish cacio e pepe puts this distinctive spice front and center, which is exactly where we have
it in this heartier whole-wheat version. Make sure you keep the robust, rib-sticking pasta as hot as possible—it will not only help melt the salty Pecorino but will also intensify the pepper's
flavor.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 lb dried Organic whole-wheat spaghetti
1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino Romano (4 1/2 ounces), divided
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Garnish: extra-virgin olive oil
How to cook
Toast peppercorns in a dry small skillet over medium-high heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant and beginning to pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Coarsely crush peppercorns with a mortar and pestle or wrap
in a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and press with bottom of a heavy skillet.
Cook spaghetti in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente.
Meanwhile, fill a large ceramic bowl with hot water to warm it. Just before pasta is done cooking, drain bowl but do not dry.
Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then quickly drain pasta (do not shake off excess water) and add to warm bowl. Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups cheese and 1/2 cup cooking water evenly over pasta and toss
quickly. Toss in parsley (if using) and 2 teaspoons crushed pepper. If pasta seems dry, toss with some additional cooking water. Serve pasta immediately, sprinkled with remaining pepper and
cheese. Serve additional cheese on the side.
Wine
Suggestion: a Red French Wine with a medium body: a AOC Cotes du
Rhone - Syrah / Grenache - Domaine Bouche - L'Amandier 2004. Its suppleness and its Syrah-inspired spice aromas make it the good
match.
Bon Appetit
Brice
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Medium
Active Time: 2 hours
Start to Finish Time: 3 hours
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
For cannoli shells
1 cup all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sweet Marsala wine
1 large egg, separated
About 5 cups vegetable oil
For filling
1 lb fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 oz mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
1 tablespoon minced candied orange peel
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chocolate drops
2 oz bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped (1/2 cup)
Special equipment: a pasta maker; a 4- to 4 1/4-inch round cookie cutter; a deep-fat thermometer; 6 (roughly 5 5/8- by 5/8-inch) metal cannoli tubes; 2 heavy-duty oven mitts; a pastry bag fitted
with a 3/4-inch plain tip
Garnish: confectioners sugar
How to cook
Make dough for shells:
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons oil and blend in with your
fingertips until combined. Add wine and yolk and stir until a dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Form dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
Make filling while dough stands:
Beat together ricotta, mascarpone cheese, confectioners sugar, orange peel, and cinnamon in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed 1 minute (do not overbeat). Fold
in chocolate until combined and chill. When it's chilled, add the chocolate drops.
Make shells:
Set smooth rollers of pasta maker at widest setting. Unwrap dough and cut in half, then lightly flour 1 piece (keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap). Flatten floured dough into an oval
and feed through rollers. Turn dial down 2 notches and feed dough through rollers again. Continue to feed dough through rollers, making space between rollers narrower by 2 notches each time,
until narrowest setting is used.
Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Transfer rolled dough to a lightly floured surface and cut out 4 or 5 rounds with floured cutter. Transfer rounds to baking sheet and keep covered with more plastic wrap. Roll out remaining dough and cut rounds in same manner. Gather scraps and let stand 10 minutes. Roll out scraps and cut in same manner.
Heat 1 1/2 inches oil in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderate heat until it registers 350°F on thermometer.
Meanwhile, lightly oil cannoli tubes. Lightly beat egg white, then brush bottom edge of 1 dough round with egg white. Wrap dough around a tube, overlapping ends (egg-white edge should go on top), then press edges together to seal. Make 5 more shells in same manner (keep remaining rounds covered with plastic).
Fry dough on tubes 1 at a time, turning with metal tongs, until 1 shade darker, about 45 seconds. Wearing oven mitts, clamp end of hot tubes, 1 at a time, with tongs and, holding tube vertically, allow shell to slide off tube onto paper towels, gently shaking tube and wiggling shell as needed to loosen. (If you allow shell to cool it will stick to tube and shatter when you try to remove it.) Transfer shells to paper towels to drain and cool tubes before reusing. Wrap remaining dough around tubes and fry in same manner.
Spoon filling into pastry bag and pipe some into 1 end of a cannoli shell, filling shell halfway, then pipe into other end. Repeat with remaining shells.
Cooks' notes:
• Dough can be made 1 day before frying shells and chilled. Let dough stand at room temperature 1 hour before rolling.
• Shells can be fried 2 days ahead and cooled completely, then kept, layered between paper towels, in an airtight container at room temperature.
Wine
Suggestion: a Fresh & Sweet French Apple Cider: a AOC Normandy - Apreval - Cidre de la Cote
de Grace-Doux 2003
Bon Appetit
Brice
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1/3 cup soft goat cheese
16 nice dates, pitted
16 large basil leaves
4 wide, thin slices prosciutto di Parma, each cut into 4 long strips
16 toothpicks, soaked in water 10 minutes
How to cook
Heat broiler to low. Spoon 1 teaspoon cheese into each date; wrap with a basil leaf, then a prosciutto strip. Secure with a toothpick. Broil until cheese bubbles, about 3 minutes. Serve warm.
Wine Suggestion:
An Aperitf Wine: a AOC Pommeau de Normandie - Apreval -2/3 apple juice & 1/3 calvados
Bon Appetit
Brice
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 45 min.
Cook Time: 10 min.
Yield: 2 servings
This year, Thanksgiving will be on Thursday the 22nd of November. In the United States, Thanksgiving is a four day weekend which usually marks a pause in school and college calendars. Families and friends gather for a reunion, a day of thanks, and a festive meal. Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served. First and foremost, turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, turnips, yams and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. Often guests bring food items or help with cooking in the kitchen as part of a happy, communal meal. This recipe is an original alternative for your traditional roasted turkey recipe.
Ingredients
Ravioli: Gravy: Cranberry sauce: To make the ravioli: in a medium bowl, stir together the turkey, cranberry sauce, cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper. Place 10 wonton wrappers on a work surface. Brush lightly with water using a pastry brush. Place 1 tablespoon of the turkey mixture on each of the wonton wrappers. Top with another wonton wrapper. Push out any air bubbles and press the edges tightly to seal.
To make the gravy: in a medium, heavy skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir until cooked, about 1 minute. Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring quickly to avoid lumps. Add the cream, parley, salt, and pepper and cook, without boiling, for 2 minutes, stirring often. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook until tender but still firm to the bite and the turkey is cooked, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Drain the ravioli into the gravy and stir to coat. Serve immediately in individual dishes, drizzled with the remaining gravy. Wine Suggestion: a Chilean Light Red Wine: a Biplano - Carmenère 2004 - Central Valley Bon Appetit Brice
1/4 pound ground turkey
2 tablespoons cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
20 store-bought wonton wrappers
3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 jar (350g) of cranberry in water
1 orange, zest cut into stips and juiced
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Put all ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce thickens about 15 to 20 min. Serve at room temperature or cool and refrigerate. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.
How to cook
