December 5, 2020 Brunch – Turkey and sausage Breakfast Burrito Dinner – Sautéed Duck Breast with Chestnut dressing and cranberry gravy with steamed green beans

 December 5, 2020 Brunch – Turkey and sausage Breakfast Burrito  Dinner – Sautéed Duck Breast with Chestnut dressing and cranberry gravy with steamed green beans

Today we decorated rhe Christmas tree and took a long walk in the Bosque. We saw our first Northern pintail Duck among the other ducks. The ducks are all elegant with gorgeous plumage.  I ate a slice of French baguette spread with butter, marmalade, and Manchego cheese that I melted in the microwave with a cup of hot chocolate coffee for breakfast.

Then we decorated the tree with white snow flake ornaments and plastic ice sickles. 

After decorating the tree Suzette made turkey and sausage burritos with the home fries from last night’s meal.

We then rested and I watched TCU beat 15th ranked OSU, which was amazing.  

We then walked around the two ponds in the Bosque where we saw the pintail ducks.

We rested in the afternoon and then at 5:00 I started shelling and peeling the chestnuts.  It was easy to shell them and boil them in water and easy to peel the skins because the nuts had shrunk and in many 

cases become infected with mold.  So out of about thirty Nuts we salvaged about seven or eight for about 

2/3 cup of pieces. We decided to cook the nuts and then add them to stuffings day make a gravy.

Suzette chopped onion and celery and sautéed the nut pieces with them and added Marsala.  She then added dressing to the nuts. In a separate skillet Suzette cooked a roux made o flour and butter and then added milk to create a cream sauce and cranberry sauce to flavor the gravy.

While we were sautéing the dressing and making the cream gravy, suzette was sautéing two duck breasts in oil and butter using the Bobby Flay method by which she weighed down the breasts with a smaller skillet filled with water.   

I also had snapped the rest of the green beans and steamed them and opened a bottle of 2018 Bois de Menge from Appellation Gigondas Controlle from France’s Rhone Valley that was 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah.  It was delicious with a slightly fruity flavor, just like the chestnuts in the dressing and the cranberry sauce in the gravy.

 

 

  

 

 

We enjoyed our meal.  Suzette said, “I am not a fan of chestnuts.”  

I had to agree because we can not get good fresh chestnuts in Texas or New Mexico.  

Mother used to tell me about how folks would sell roasted chestnuts on the street in N.Y.C. during her youth.  The comparable indigenous nut in Texas and New Mexico would be the pecan.

After dinner Suzette ate some chocolate ice cream with the rest of the whipped cream I made a couple of nights ago and I ate four Belgium chocolates with Calvados.

We had another great day of food.  Tomorrow we will make a Boeuf Bourguignon.

Bon Appetit