November 22, 2019 Lunch – PPI Pasta Primavera Dinner roast duck, creamed Parsnips and a fresh salad with an apple and Quince glaze and a quince and apple tart

November 22, 2019 Lunch – PPI Pasta Primavera   Dinner roast duck, creamed Parsnips and a fresh salad with an apple and Quince glaze and a quince and apple tart

I did not eat breakfast.  I had a meeting at the building at 10:30.

After I came home and heated the small container of pasta Primavera.

I worked on my new divorce case, made the apple cider reduction for the glaze, and prepped the 2 lb. of parsnips and the duck until 4:00.

When Suzette came home I salted and peppered the duck and put it on a spandex frame.  Suzette pre-heated the oven and we put water in the bottom of a ceramic baking dish and put the duck into a 400 degree  oven for fifteen minutes and then turned down the heat to 350 degrees and baked the duck fir 1 ½ hours until its internal temperature was around 180 degrees.

Suzette basted the duck three times while it was roasting with the apple/quince glaze she made by adding quince syrup and sugar to the apple cider reduction I made during the day from 4 cups of apple cider and 1 tsp. of grated fresh ginger..

 

I sliced three large Parsnips having a total weight of around 2 lb. and five cloves of garlic and put it in the fridge.  When Suzette came home she simmered the sliced Parsnips with milk and half and half and 2 tsp of salt and then creamed them in a Kitchen Aid mixer.

We had finished our part of the meal except for the wine.  I found the bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that Doug and Crystal gave us for my 70th birthday and opened it at 6:00 to let it breath.  Doug and Crystal arrived at 7:00 carrying a lovely salad tray with a beautiful salad, of cucumber strips, several different types of tomatoes, toasted pumpkin seeds, lettuce and micro-greens.  She garnished the salad with a queso fresco and dressed it with a basil infused olive oil.

I put out Boursin and a wedge of Iberico with two types of crackers as an appetizer.

When they arrived we poured the Chateauneuf Du Pape.

It lasted most of the way through the meal.  When it ran out, we opened the bottle of Erath Pinot Noir  that Crystal and Doug brought.

We all enjoyed our simple meal.  Crystal said she had never had duck but she seemed to enjoy it.

After dinner we drank Pinot for a while and the Suzette served slices of her lovely and tasty quince and apple tart with whipped cream garnished with one of her homemade  maraschino  cherries and I poured Gruet 2012 Blanc de Blanc champagne (my favorite) for a fabulous finish to the meal.

Tonight’s meal was special because we served the wine in Baccarat glasses. When our family took its grand tour of Europe, my mother went shopping in a big way.  She bought Wedgwood Florentine in England, Baccarat crystal in France and a lace banquet clothes in Belgium.  My brother has the Wedgwood and I have the Baccarat Crystal and Belgium banquet cloth. Here is a picture of the dirty glasses.

We just kept talking until 11:00.

Bon Appetit