Unpreposessing Brown Stuff

I'm really glad I don't cook for other people sometimes. This week was one of those - delicious meals made of brown gloop. But delicious! As of today, it looks like I really didn't catch covid on a validation visit, so cheers to freedom and to autumnal brown gloop of deliciousness.

This one is a bit of a cheat. It's meant to be bao filling, but I very much didn't feel like making bao midweek. So it's just the filling, with veg. Duck and plums, though: delicious. And if you're still at home, it's a cinch. THIS REQUIRES MARINATING THOUGH

Marinade: 1 tbsp 5 spice powder; strip of orange peel (keep the orange, you'll want the juice later); 1 tbsp runny honey; 3 tbsps light soy. Mix that and pour it over a couple of duck legs and leave for aaaaages. I did overnight, and that was good. 

Next day, in a medium oven (Gas 4/180 deg), put the duck legs in a roasting thing together with the peel (and I included all the marinade and didn't regret it). I say roasting thing cos you want to cover it - tinfoil if need be, a lid if you have something a suitable size in ovenproof. Give them an hour. 

 

After an hour, add the orange juice, plus 1 tbsp vinegar, some thin slices of fresh ginger and ideally some damsons but honestly who has damsons and if they do who can be faffed to stone them, which you will need to? A few quartered red plums was fine. Drop the oven temp to about 160 deg/Gas 2/3 and cook it for about another hour, uncovered. You might need a splash of water; less so if you've wanged all the marinade in. If you were going to use this as a bao filling you'd need many more hours of dough whatnot. OTOH, you could just shred the duck off and eat it with some potato wedges and broccoli. (The wedges will need 15 minutes on high after the duck comes out, else they are pallid.)

Here you are: half cooked duck, half demonstration shredded. See how it's falling apart? Is very good.

Otherwise this week, I made a katsu sauce for breaded fish. I never order katsu in eg Wagamama, so I'm surprised and pleased to discover it's full of veg. Hideous, especially if you don't blend it properly. But tasty. (This is a version without coconut milk, which I approve of. Love coconut milk but it's such a commitment when you open a tin, and the current weather doesn't feel like it's pina colada friendly.)

And I wound up the week with a brilliant recipe from the A-Z of Pasta, which Kate's recommendations made me buy and I'm now cooking out of it more often than is wise for someone whose kitchen sink isn't currently connected to a drain (I've not yet absently poured pasta water over the downstairs builders, possibly only a matter of time. My life is absolutely ridiculous). 

This is a resurgence of my love of cooking chicken livers, which has been relatively rarely displayed during the pandemic but is deep and true. With sage, pancetta and optional mince (not in this case). 

Fry the pancetta with a couple of chopped shallots, spring onions, half an onion, whatever allium you've got. Add lots of sage - recipe says 10 leaves chopped; your livers can stand up to them. Bung in the mince now if you're using it, and cook till not showing red. Then add chicken livers chopped into about 6 bits apiece, and cook them till they're not red any more. You'll then add a tbsp tomato puree dissolved in some booze - recipe asks for vermouth or Marsala, I'm sure white wine would be fine. Cook it off briefly, and use as a pasta sauce. With Parmesan, pepper, possibly even some extra butter.

It warms up fine if you're making a batch, since chicken livers tend to come in big packs. It also looks rather like dog food. But is delicious.

ANYWAY. It's nearly Halloween, which we will celebrate for Confined Cocktails tomorrow. And Kate's post note about measuring pandemic time in Ottolenghi cookbooks made me check - next weekend is 600 days in the Confined Kitchen. I think we need a drink now *and* then.