January 11, 2013 Dinner – Duck Salad

January 11, 2013 Dinner – Duck Salad

Friday nights are usually rough nights to cook because we usually want to decompress from our workweek and that does not bode well for cooking elaborate dinners.  This Friday neither one of us were particularly hungry because we had each snacked on the PPI eggplant and pork stir fry that we had made the night before.  We both agreed that it was the best eggplant and pork we had ever made and agreed that that the success of the eggplant and pork dish was mainly due to the fact that the BBQ pork was delicious and enhanced the flavor of the exceedingly fresh eggplant.

Anyway I had decided earlier in the day that it was time to use up the butter lettuce we had bought at Costco last Saturday and the roasted duck breasts that were still in our fridge from this week’s roasted duck dinner, so at around 4:00 p.m. I made a salad dressing with one pressed clove of garlic, about 1 or 2 tsp. of Praeger Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar, 1 tsp. of French seeded Dijon mustard, some Kirtland olive oil and a bit of grape seed oil and a generous dash of dried tarragon leaves from our garden.

At around 6:00 p.m. Suzette tore and spun the lettuce and heated the duck in the microwave while I sliced two Roma tomatoes into four wedges each and then sliced those wedges into bite sized slices and then thinly sliced 2 oz. (two slices) of red onion into quarters and sprinkled them onto the salad.
Suzette sliced an avocado to complete the garnishes on the salad.

I fetched a bottle of Valreas Côtes du Rhone (Trader Joes $5.99) from the cellar and we were ready to eat as soon as the duck was heated and the breast sliced and laid on the salad with the other garnishes in a composed manner and the salad dressed.

Sometimes it is wonderful to have a simple elegant, meal like salad that has the added benefit of being easy to digest.

Bon Appètit