This was a slow day as I reintegrated int wotk. I ate a toasted slice of bagel spread with cream cheese and garnished with red onion rings and smoked white fish with a cup of chai for breakfast at 7:00 then at 7:30 I rode 5 miles with 1 sugar pill.
When I returned I rested and then showered and dressed. I caught up on mail and then at 11:30 I was hungry. I decided to make green chili enchiladas again. I diced 4 oz. of rib steak, 1/3 onion, I grated 1 cup of Jarlsberg cheese, and fetched the sour cream.
I softened five corn tortillas in a skillet filled with Tomatillo enchiladas sauce and olive oil. I spread a layer of Tomatillo sauce on the bottom of a pasta bowl and then a softened tortilla. Then diced beef, cheese, and onions, the two softened tortillas and a layer of sour cream and onions. Then finally two more softened tortillas topped with the rest of the beef, cheese, onion, and Tomatillo sauce.
I baked the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes until the edges bubbled and then I heated it in the microwave for an additional 2 minutes and 34 seconds.
I drank most of a beer with it. There’s enough left for breakfast with a fried egg.
We thawed out a chicken for Tuesday evening and I thawed out two duck leg quarters for tonight’s meal.
In the afternoon I worked on preparation of my 2019 tax return.
Suzette came home at 5:15.
Suzette checked the vegetable bin in the refrigerator and found several bags of vegetables in varying degrees of decay. Her response was to throw them out and clean and sanitize the Bin with Clorox water.
Vegetable Medley
Suzette decided that we should sauté 1 ½ zucchini, a potato, and a small bag of green beans after she washed off the green beans. I halved and sliced the squashes and sliced and a potato. She then sautéed the squash and potato pieces in butter and olive oil and after they browned a bit I added the green beans.
Roast Duck
There were only two smaller quarters so Suzette decided to cook them in the Bobby Flay manner. First, she fricasseed them in a skillet with butter weighted down with another slightly smaller skillet filled with water for about twenty minutes. Then she lay them on a cookie sheet and baked them in a 375 degree oven in which she reduced the heat to 275 / after five minutes and cooked the duck legs for twenty more minutes.
Orange sauce
I followed Julia Child’s recipe for Orange Sauce in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
I cut out one step and combined two steps by cooking the orange zest and chicken broth together, but otherwise followed the recipe. Also I cut the recipe in half.
I zested the peel of two navel oranges and put the zest in a 4 cup enameled sauce pan to which I added 1 cup of water and enough Knorr dehydrated chicken stock to make a strong broth and heated it to cook the threads of zest. While the zest and chicken stock was cooking I added 1 to 1 ½ T. of red wine vinegar and 1 ½ T. of sugar. I then peeled and sectioned the two oranges and added that to the sauce. I then blended ½ T. of cornstarch with1 ½ T. of Madeira and added it (I should have used
1 T. of cornstarch or arrowroot). I did not want to alter the flavor of the sauce and the sauce failed to thicken properly. We boiled the sauce but it still did not thicken, so I added 1 T. of Grande Marnier to finish the sauce and we had a runny sauce instead of a thick sauce. The flavor was still fabulous.
Dinner - When the vegetables, sauce, and duck were cooked we served.
The wine -
I prefer red Cotes du Rhône with roast duck so in the afternoon I fetched and chilled a bottle of 2012
Cotes du Rhône Villages produced by Pierre Henri Morel for Total Wine’s Winery direct program. It is generally of better quality. It is produced in Chateauneuf du Pape and instead of the usual cheaper Grenache and Syrah blends it is a more full bodied blend with the addition of 5% each of Mourvèdre and Carignan juices to 60% Grenache and 30% Syrah. I like this wine blend a lot and often buy it as I did this bottle when it is offered at a 20% discount to its usual price of $14.99. Its Chateauneuf big brother with more of the 13 grapes blending grapes allowed in Chateauneuf du Pape included in the blend starts at just under $30.00, so this the poor man’s Chateauneuf du Pape.
We have chilled every bottle of red wine we drank this summer and this one was no exception, especially on a hot day such as today when the temperature reached 100 degrees, although this wine tasted better as it warmed to closer to cool room temperature.
The duck was a bit tough but that issue was moderated by bathing bites of duck in sauce. The sautéed vegetables were wonderful especially when paired with Julia’s traditional orange sauce r I found it a delightful dinner in this time of less than perfectly fresh ingredients.
We all have our favorite birthday meal and mine one of two broiled lobster or roast duck with Orange sauce. I remember the years of my childhood when Mother would ask me, “Robbie, what do you want for dinner on your birthday?” It was hardly worth asking because the answer was always, “Duck L’ Orange.” Mother cooked the Julia Child recipe so it is genetically embedded in my taste memories.
The only difference between then and now is the addition of a superior bottle of Cotes Du Rhône.
We watched the Women’s Addition of Antiques Roadshow as we ate, but after it ended we soon tired and went to bed.
I did manage to finish my traditional birthday meal with a bowl of chocolate ice cream doused with chocolate syrup, and my adult addition of rum and Kahlua.
I awakened at 1:30 to finish the blog.
Tomorrow, roast chicken for dinner and if Suzette’s naturalist enthusiasm is to be believed , a visit to the beaver pond at 6:00 a.m.
One extra note. If you want to follow any Julia Child’s recipe, they are all on the Internet. Just google her name and the name of the recipe. This one is Caneton l’Orange or Duck in Orange Sauce.
Bon Appetit
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