December 23, 2016 Brunch – Polish Dog at Costco, Lunch – Posole Dinner Roasted duck with Orange Sauce, PPI Kabocha Squash, and string beans

December 23, 2016  Brunch – Polish Dog at Costco, Lunch – Posole
Dinner Roasted duck with Orange Sauce, PPI Kabocha Squash, and string beans

We woke up and looked at Squawk on the street until a bit after 8:00.  Suzette baked another dessert and I made the negus for the mulled wine until 10:00 when we drove to Costco to shop for the party.  We bought beautiful large asparagus, napkins, forks, apple juice, Mexican cokes, and Kleenex and then ate a Polish Dog.  Around 10:00 we drove to the Crooked Kilt and tasted and bought growlers of IPA, Scottish Ale, Cream Ale, and Apple Cider (a growler holds 64 oz. of liquid).  We said goodbye to Mike and drove to Sprouts at San Mateo and Academy where bought fresh dill, carrots, two turnips, milk, sour cream, cream cheese, and zucchini.
 we arrived home at 1:00 and unloaded I chopped vegetables for the roasted vegetables, three carrots, 2 1/2 sweet potatoes, the two turnips, two parsnips, one large red onion, a handful of garlic cloves peeled and halved, and three golden beets.  When I finished chopping, Suzette tossed the vegetables with olive oil and salt and roasted them.

The weather kept improving, so at 3:00 I decided to ride to Montano.  Unfortunately there was a stiff 10 to 15 mph breeze out of the north, I stopped fighting my way north at Campbell Rd., turned around, and sped home wind aided.

I took a 45 minute nap until 5:00 when I returned home.  Suzette wanted to roast the small wild duck one of her employees had given to her.  We started cooking around 6:30.  Suzette stuffed the stomach cavity of the duck with orange wedges and put it into a small Pyrex baking dish and roasted it in the oven.  I took the green beans from the fridge and snapped the ends off them.  Suzette heated the PPI Kabocha squash with the green beans in a different Pyrex baking dish.
I made a Sauce L ‘ Orange with the PPI Grand Marnier Glaze Suzette had made with which she soaked one of her cakes.  To make the sauce I added 2 T. of Madeira, 2 T. butter, 2 tsp. of cornstarch, and the slices of one orange to the approximately ½ cup of glaze.

Suzette used the orange sauce to marinate the duck.  When we carved the duck it was rather rare, but tasted delicious with the addition of Sauce L’Orange, although slightly gamy.  Actually the breast was fine, but the thigh and leg were a little tough; probably from swimming so much.  I opened a bottle of Valreas Cotes du Rhone red wine ($5.99 at Trader Joe’s.

After dinner Willy made us a cup of tea with a lovely new tea he had bought us for Christmas called Lavender Grey that had both oil of bergamot and lavender in it.

I then made the Shed Red Chile Sauce in quantity following the recipe Janis Lafontaine gave us.  Here it is:


I love making the Shed Red Chili Sauce because it is an adaptation of a French Béchamel Sauce constructed with a roux.

After I finished making the Shed red chili sauce, I made a sour cream dill sauce for the smoked salmon, with ½ cup of sour cream, 2 T. Lemon juice, 1 T. of chopped capers, 2 T. of chopped fresh dill and ¼ tsp each of salt and pepper.  I improvised a bit and added about 1 T. of shallot and a few drops of Tabasco and set the sauce in the fridge.

After a lovely day of shopping and cooking, we soaked in the hot tub for a few minutes and the Suzette went to bed.

I stayed up and blogged.

Bon Appetit