October 30, 2011 Brunch – Frittata of Leftovers and Dinner – Duck with Baked Brussels Sprouts

October 30, 2011 Brunch – Frittata of Leftovers and Dinner – Duck with Baked Brussels Sprouts

I had my weekly Chai as I watched the Sunday morning news shows and then afterwards tried the pastries from the Greenhouse Bakery.  The apple and raisin spiced muffin was lovely and moist.

 

After a bike ride, we went home.  When I looked in the fridge I was confronted by containers of leftovers.

So I opened the leftover Italian Sausage pasta sauce, a container of vegetables from the week before and a small container with a bit of sautéed Kale and Spinach from several nights ago.  I then halved about a dozen grape tomatoes and minced 1/6 onion and chopped the left over garlic greens, one half chanterelle mushroom and stalk of parsley taken from the vegetable bin in the fridge.  Suzette sautéed the fresh vegetables and then added the cooked vegetables while I made tea, broke and stirred 4 eggs and toasted two pieces of bread and slathered them with raspberry jam.

I then shredded a handful (1/2 cup loosely mounded) of Swiss Gruyere cheese and after the bottom of the Frittata stiffened, Suzette sprinkled the cheese onto the top and then put the Frittata into the oven on a broil setting until the cheese melted and browned.  The frittata filled one of our large pans and there was enough left for another meal for one of us.  We ate by the pond in the sunlight.

Dinner - I am remembering from our trip to Hungary and Chezkoslovakia that Duck is the traditional Sunday evening meal in Chezkoslovakia.  So, perhaps to start a tradition,  I thawed out a double pack of duck halves, while Suzette was making a large pot of green tomato chutney.  I helped cut apples and onions for the chutney and then while I did some work and watched football on TV, Suzette put together the meal of the leftover half of the stuffed delicata squash,  baked Brussels sprouts and Roasted Duck.

Suzette made a lovely casserole with halved Brussels Sprouts, a thinly sliced Cipollini onion, pinon nuts tossed in Spanish olive oil, salt and pepper.  The casserole was well balanced with a symphony of dominant flavors coming through: the bitterness of the Brussels Sprouts, the sweetness of the onion and the lack of flavor of the olive oil and the roasted nuttiness of the pinons. A nice complement to the fatty duck and sweet L’Orange Sauce, but it was not until I ate it as a leftover Monday, October 31, with a slice of the blander Gourmet Mac and Cheese, that the casserole’s lovely balance of dominant flavors became noticeable.  Again, I adjusted the duck sauce from the packet with the duck halves by adding Madeira, orange slices and orange peel, but this time we used two packets of the prepared sauce, instead of one as for last Sunday’s meal, and the result was a sweeter and not so elegant sauce.  An elegant meal, without much effort.

Bon Apetit