Duck Confit Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Marsala Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes

I have circled back to make this dish again. And then made it AGAIN, just to be sure it is "blog worthy."  It's a recipe I can't let go of, even though I have had mixed results with it.  The first time it was fantastic.  So, I served it to guests and it bombed.  Perhaps the hostess was distracted?  So, this winter I have adapted it to the way I like to cook at home versus the way a restaurant chef would do it.   

In addition, I added more mushrooms and sauteed them in sweet Marsala and French thyme to add more flavor. And used less duck, which can be too rich and fatty.  A little goes a long way.  

Duck legs confit are available from D'Artangnon. We can get them at Wegman's or they can be ordered online at D'Artagnan.com.  They last a long time in the refrigerator, so you can buy them when you see them.  
---Barbara

Duck Confit Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Marsala Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes
(adapted from Chef Jimmy Rogova )

Serves 4

2 duck confit legs, warmed then meat removed, bones discarded
about 40 Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
olive oil
salt and pepper
8 ounces of sliced mushrooms, white or brown
4 ounces of sliced wild mushrooms
1 t. dried French thyme
2 T.  sweet Marsala wine
2 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
6 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 cup chicken stock
1 pint very ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
16 ounces bucatini pasta
1 T. salt for the pasta water

For the sprouts:

Prepare the Brussels sprouts.  Wash and remove the outer leaves, cut in half. Toss the Brussels sprouts with olive oil. Place them "faces" down,  in a single layer,  This can be done several hours in advance.

For the tomatoes:

Use very ripe cherry tomatoes.  Cut them in half and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.  This can be done in advance.

For the garlic sauce:

Remove the paper from 6 large whole cloves, the ends and smash them with the flat side of the knife.  Set aside.  Get the 2 T. of butter ready to go, too.  Set aside.

For the mushrooms:

In a large deep skillet with a lid on low heat, add some olive oil and all of the sliced mushrooms to the pan and a pinch of salt, cover with the lid and let them wilt for about 5 minutes.  There will be liquid in the pan when you open it.   Add the dried thyme, and sweet Marsala wine.  Cover and cook for a few more minutes.  Then, remove the lid and cook until most of the liquid evaporates.  This will concentrate the flavors.  Remove the mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.  This can be done in advance.

For the duck:

Warm the duck and pull meat off the bones.  Discard bones.

You can put the duck in the skillet and cover it and put the pan on extremely low for a few minutes, until the meat is warm enough to pull off the bone.  You could also do this in foil in the oven or toaster oven.  It doesn't take long until the meat comes off.  On a cutting board, run a knife along the bone of the legs, and the meat will come off, then you can chop it into pieces.  Set aside the meat.  This can be done in advance.

About 45 minutes before serving, get the water for pasta going on the back burner.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

30 minutes before serving:

Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to the Brussels sprouts and roast to caramelize (about 25 minutes).

Simultaneously, in the skillet where you have cooked the mushrooms, add 1 T. olive oil, and 2 T. butter on low heat, and gently cook the 6 whole garlic cloves until soft.  Do not let them burn.

With 20 minutes to go, make sure your water is boiling.   Add 1 T. salt and cook the bucatini, per the directions on the package to al dente.  9 minutes.

Coordinate your timing so you can drain the pasta and add it to the sauce you are about to create.

The garlic should be softening in the butter and olive oil in the pan.  Now add the 1 cup of chicken stock, turn up the heat and let it reduce.  Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock.  Which means you scrape up all of the browned bits from the olive oil and garlic.

Drain the pasta.

Add it to the reduced sauce in the big skillet and stir to coat all of the pasta.

Add the mushrooms and tomatoes and stir.

Remove the roasted Brussels sprouts from the oven. 

To the pasta, add roasted Brussels sprouts and shredded duck.

Toss everything together, so all of the pasta is coated with the sauce and the ingredients are mixed together evenly.

Serve.

Maple Flavored Stamped Christmas Shortbread Cookies by Tom

Frosted on the bottom

When the most recent holiday edition of the King Arthur Flour catalog arrived a few weeks before Christmas, on the cover was featured a maple flavored shortbread cookie.  They even bragged on the cover that it was really good.  That piqued my interest because I like shortbread cookies and I like maple syrup.  

The only problem that I foresaw was that I did not have cookie stamps nor did I have concentrated maple flavoring.  But I thought both of those problems could be overcome.  Barbara ordered both for me and they arrived a few days before Christmas.  Still time to make them and distribute to our neighbors along with other baked cookie delights.

This recipe was new to me as I had never used a cookie stamp before.  It is a little trickier than working with a cookie cutter.  With a cookie cutter you push it down into the dough and the shape is easily removed from the rolled dough sheet.  With a cookie stamp, you roll a ball of dough and then press down until the shape hits the baking sheet.  Then the trick is getting the pressed shape out of the stamp.  Easier said then done.

I tried several techniques for removing the stamped dough from the cookie stamp.  I sprayed with Baking Pam.  I put flour on the dough ball.  I sprinkled flour on the stamp itself.  None of these worked very well.  I finally found that if I dipped the actual stamp in a bowl of flour before pressing the dough ball, I could fairly easily release the dough by knocking the stamp on the side of the cookie sheet a couple of times until the pressed dough fell out.  A lot of pounding, but eventually the shaped dough would come out.

The original recipe called for putting two shaped cookies together using a maple icing to hold them together.  Because no two of my pressed cookie shapes were exactly the same, I decided to use the maple icing on the bottom of the cookie so that the design from the stamp could be seen on top.  Once the icing dried, I could easily place the icing side down without the icing coming off.  In my opinion this cookie needs the icing to add some sweetness to it.

I may have done something wrong when making the dough because my dough was very crumbly.  Maybe that is just a characteristic of shortbread dough.  I really do not know.  In any case, after refrigerating the dough for two hours, forming the dough into small balls for pressing with the stamp was at times a bit of a challenge.

But in the end I prevailed.  The cookies tasted like shortbread with maple flavoring.  The maple icing added the sweetness that I was looking for.  An effort to make, but well worth it.

---Tom

Maple Flavored Stamped Shortbread Cookies

(from King Artur Flour 2019 Holiday Catalog)

Makes approximately 36 - 2" cookies 

Cookies ingredients:

1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup maple sugar (I did not have this so I used all granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon maple flavor
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour

Icing/Filling ingredients:

2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon maple flavor
1 tablespoon milk, optional if needed to make the icing more spreadable (I did not use)

To make the cookies:

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugar, and maple flavor.

Add the two flours and mix just until the dough comes together.  Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap.  Chill in the refrigerator for two hours.  The box the stamps came in said to chill the stamps as well.  I put them in the freezer to get them really cold.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Have two ungreased baking sheets ready.  I used parchment paper on the baking sheets.

Remove one packet of dough from the refrigerator.  Scoop or break off scant to full tablespoonfuls of dough onto one of the baking sheets.  I found rolling the dough in my hands into a ball the easiest way to get the crumbly dough to hold together.

Lightly dip the tops of each piece of dough in flour and then dip the stamp into a bowl of flour.  Center the stamp over the ball of dough, and press down until the inside edge of the stamp makes contact with the cookie sheet.  Remove the stamp, tapping the edge firmly against the pan if the dough "happens" to stick.  It will!

Bake the cookies for 23-28 minutes until they have begun to brown a little bit.  Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the pan for a few minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.

To make the icing/filling:

Mix together all of the filling ingredients, except the milk, stirring until smooth.  If the icing/filling is not spreadable, add a bit of milk to soften its texture.  Spread about a teaspoonful onto the underside of the cookies and let air dry on a wire rack.  Once dry the cookies can be turned over to show the design from the cookie stamp.

Here you can see the stamped cookies under the plastic wrap along with other cookie delights that we gave to a few of our neighbors.

---Tom

Christine's Hugs and Kisses Cookies

Cocoa and chocolate chip dough with a Hershey's swirl kiss 

This is a go-to Christmas cookie recipe which Christine sent me back in 1998 via fax (pre-Internet). She would make them for her friends and family.  I still have the printed copy ---which is what I used, up until now ---but thought I'd put it on the blog for all to use.

Similar to Sunken Kisses from Colleen but made with "Hugs and Kisses" milk chocolate and white cream swirl Hershey's kisses.  Hugs and Kisses were introduced in 1993.

     ---Barbara

Hugs and Kisses Cookies

Makes 30 large cookies or 60 small cookies

1/2 cup butter
3/4  cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon milk
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 pkg. milk chocolate kisses
or white chocolate kisses

Remove foil wrappers from cookies (about 30). You will need 60 if you are making small cookies, like I did.

Beat butter, sugars and vanilla.  Add eggs and milk, beat well.  Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Roll into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Because my dough was too sticky, I scooped them out with a small cookie/ice cream scoop on to use parchment- lined baking sheets, 15 per sheet, 5 rows of 3.    Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes.  Press chocolate kiss into center of each cookie.  Cool 1 minute, Then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Notes:  Substituted pecans when I ran out of kisses.  Doubled the recipe easily.  This cookie also tastes good without the kiss or the pecan, just on its own.

Sunken Kisses from Colleen

Also know as Peanut Butter Blossoms

This is a regular in our mix of Christmas cookies. Very easy to make. I don’t use a mixer. I just cream the butter and peanut butter, sugar and then vanilla and eggs and add dry stuff. I roll the whole ball in sugar not just tops. Bake on parchment. 

ALSO THE WAY SHE WRITES THE RECIPE ITS EASY TO DUMP IN 3/4 cup WHITE SUGAR WHEN YOU'RE PUTTING IN THE SUGARS TO CREAM. I'VE MARKED UP MY COOK BOOK TO INDICATE ONLY 1/4 CUP WHITE SUGAR GOES IN THE DOUGH. THE OTHER HALF CUP IS FOR ROLLING.

The key to this is to not over bake or the kisses won’t easily sink into the cookie. And let them really cool before boxing up because the kisses get all melty and the chocolate needs to reharden. These are great kid participation cookies. Rolling balls. Unwrapping kisses with a few reward kisses thrown in. Pushing the kisses into the cookies. 🥰

---Colleen

Sunken Kisses
(from Judy Rosenberg's Baking Book)

Makes 48 cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (8 T) unsalted, at room temperature
3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for rolling
1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, at room temperature
48 chocolate kisses, removed from wrappers

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.

Cream together butter, brown sugar, 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Stop the mixer twice to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

Add the egg to the butter mixture and blend on medium speed until it is almost incorporated, about 10 seconds.  Scrape the bowl.

Add the dry ingredients on low speed and blend 15 seconds.  Stop the mixer to scrape down the bowl, then blend until the dough is smooth, about 5 seconds more.

Measure out 48 rounded teaspoons of the dough and roll them into balls with your hands.  Dip one side of each ball in the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, if desired, and place them 2 inches apart and sugar-side up on the parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake until just golden, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove the sheets from the oven.

Immediately top each cookie with a kiss, wide side down, and press it firmly into the center of the cookie to embed the kiss.

Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

---Colleen

Spelt Gallets from Peigi

Peigi sent me photos of her most recent effort of making gallets on her wood stove in a pizelle iron!  Very cool!  She used 100% whole spelt flour.

 

I asked how they taste.  And she said "We like them a lot.  However, we are used to 100% whole grain taste and texture.  If I was going to serve them to others, I would try them with white flour.---Peigi"  

Spelt Flour from Bob Red Mill

Spelt flour is a primitive relative of modern wheat, one of the oldest grains.  According to Bob's Red Mill, it can be used in practically any recipe calling for all-purpose or whole wheat flour.  

Gallets are a Belgium cookie recipe passed down from my Aunt Niece's Belgian family to our Hall family.  You can read about the origin of gallets here on my previous post:  https://feasteveryday.blogspot.com/2018/12/gallets-belgian-waffle-cookies.html

Make "Rounds" instead of "Fingers" if you are going to press them in a pizzelle iron

Here's the gallets recipe with the spelt and pizelle iron substitutions, in case you want to try them this way.    Not sure many people we be making them on a woodstove so the timing is for a regular stove! 

Spelt Gallets (Belgian Waffle Cookies)  (1/4 Original Recipe)

Makes 90 cookies

Plan on 3 hours for making them, if using a single stove-top iron.

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks), softened
12 ounces light brown sugar (1.5 cups)
3 eggs, at room temperature
4  cups spelt flour, up to 5 cups, as needed
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract

Cream together butter and sugar, on medium high, until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating them in, after each addition. Add vanilla and almonds extracts and stir until combined.  A little at a time, on medium-low, add the dry ingredients, starting with the salt and cinnamon before the flour, mixing until well-combined.  The batter will become very stiff.  It should not be too wet.  Add more flour if needed until the texture is dry enough to roll into small fingers if using a gallet iron, or rounds if using a pizelle iron, which hold their own shape.
A new iron might require seasoning, i.e., coating it with several light coats of vegetable oil or cooking spray before beginning to bake the cookies.  You don't want them to stick.  Once your iron is used it may not require coating with oil before using.  The first few might not be perfect, but will be perfect for feeding the cook.
Heat to medium high, and begin producing cookies.  Depending on your stove, they may take 30 - 60 seconds on each side.  You will have to make some tests to determine the ideal timing.
When perfectly browned, lift the iron, open it up and let the baked cookie fall out onto the counter or a rack to cool.
Ideally, you would have evenly browned cookies on both sides, crispy and cooked all the way through.  The cookie should break in two with a nice snap.
To keep your cookies crisp, store them in plastic bags, or airtight tins.

B

Pecan Puffs (Snowball Cookies) by Colleen

Snowball Cookies also know as Mexican Wedding Cookies

Most people call these Mexican Wedding Cookies.  This recipe is from some ancient cookbook of my mother’s with an editor that probably thought no one would eat something with a FOREIGN NAME.  I’m guessing  Pecan Puffs was the editor’s idea of something “safe.”  I personally would have gone with Snowball Cookies as I always make these at Christmas and that is what they make me think of..

---Colleen

Pecan Puffs

Makes about 32 cookies

½ cup butter, softened

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans, measure first then grind*

1 cup cake flour (or one cup sifted and measured regular flour minus 2 Tablespoons)

1 cup sifted powdered sugar (I usually put mine through a fine mesh sieve)

 Cream butter and sugar and add in vanilla.  Mix in flour and nuts.  Roll dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 300 degrees for about 35-45 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.  They should brown slightly but not be dark on the bottom.  You can tell when they are getting close by the amazing aroma of toasted pecans.

 As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven roll them in the powdered sugar and place on wax paper to cool.  Once they are cool, roll again in the sugar and store in an air tight container.  Sprinkle a little leftover powdered sugar on the cookies in the container.  When you go to serve them, roll them around in the sugar a bit to make them look pretty. 

Makes about 32 cookies (but this is such a bunch of work and a mess with the powdered sugar that I always double the recipe.  They freeze really well.)

  

*The KEYS to this recipe are 1) pecans – do not use walnuts and 2) a nut grinder.  Do not chop the nuts or put them in the food processor.  Well you can put them in a food processor if you absolutely must, but include a little of the sugar when you process them to keep the released oils from making the nuts clumpy.  The nut grinder produces the best result.  The texture and fluffiness of the ground nuts makes the cookies really smooth and delicate.

This is what I use:

It is marketed as a cheese grinder (for Parmesan, hard cheeses) which is great  if you are having pasta and want to get that fresh Parmesan on your dish.  But it is what I use for the pecans and you can also do chocolate in it.  It isn’t for soft cheeses.  Anyway, it produces a fine nut powder without releasing the nut oil as you might have happen in a food processor.  However, if you want to make the cookies and don’t have the Zyliss, then put a little of the granulated sugar from the recipe in the bowl of the food processor when you grind the nuts.  This will help prevent the nuts releasing too much oil.  And don’t overprocess.  You are not making nut butter.  Just trying to get a fine grind on the nuts.  Hand chopping will not get the nuts finely ground.  Most “Mexican Wedding Cakes” are basically a shortbread cookie with roughly chopped nuts.  And they tend to be a harder cookie.  This recipe makes for a soft buttery cookie. 

---Colleen

Halibut Sauteed in Brown Butter

We think this simple preparation for Alaskan halibut is the best:  sprinkled with lots of ground pepper and salt, and sauteed in a browned butter and olive oil, just until firm.

If you've wondered what a halibut looks like, here you go:

We fished off the back of our boat in the deep, cold waters of Frederick Sound in Southeast Alaska.  Halibut feed near the bottom so it takes a long time to reel one up. 

They are the largest flat fish in the ocean.  Some halibut exceed 400 pounds! We caught Pacific halibut, a member of the flounder family, a firm white delicate meat similar to tilapia or European turbot.

First Mate Stephanie with our catch

We were allowed 2 fish per person per charter, and there were 8 of us on the boat. 

We were limited to mid-size fish under 38 inches.  We released the jumbo ones over 100 pounds as well as the smallest ones to keep the fishery active and healthy.  Wild-caught Pacific halibut is considered a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.  You can read about Pacific halibut here on the NOAA site if you wish:  https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pacific-halibut

Our multi-talented first mate, Stephanie, cleaned the fish for us.

When back on shore, the fish were taken to a cannery where they were packaged and frozen.  Then we could take them with us on the plane or have them flown home.  We received about 20 fillets.   

I pull one out of the freezer and defrost it in the fridge overnight for a quick meal.  We usually have it with rice and broccoli.  Or sauteed greens and new potatoes. Wish I could share a bite with you.  It is so sweet and delicate!  

This method would work well with any firm white fish.

--Barbara

Halibut Sauteed in Brown Butter
Serves 2

1 10-12 ounce halibut filet

2 T. unsalted butter
1 T. olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Dry off the halibut well, using paper towels.  You do not want wet fish when sauteeing.

Cut into 2 portions.  Make the thicker part smaller than the thinner part, so they look like they weigh about the same.

Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper.

Note:  You will need to watch the fish the whole time it is cooking, so have everything else pretty much ready to serve, so you don't get distracted.

In a large non-stick skillet, on medium high, heat the butter and olive oil until the butter starts to foam.

You want your pan good and hot to be able to nicely brown the butter and the fish, but not so hot that the butter burns.  (The tablespoon of olive oil will also help keep the butter from burning. Be sure to include it.) So, medium high to start, and turn it down to medium if you think it is getting too hot.

Add the fish, and do not move for 2-3 minutes, until you see the meat of the fish becoming opaque about half way up and around the edges.  In the photo above, it is time to turn the fish, now that it is becoming opaque.

Flip the thinner piece sooner than the thicker.  It will cook faster.

Then flip the second piece and continue cooking until each piece is firm when pressed with a spatula, most likely 2 minutes more.

Remove the thinner piece as soon as it gets firm and place on the serving dish.  Finish cooking the second piece until it is firm to the touch, about 1 minute more.

Leave the butter and drippings in the pan to clean up later. The fish will be moist without needing any pan juices.

Serve immediately, or place on a warm dish, tent it with a piece of foil, and keep in the oven with heat off until ready to serve.

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries (Ottolenghi)

Ready to go in the oven

Chef Therese made us something similar on our Alaskan cruise. She had the Ottolenghi Simple cookbook on her workbench, so I assume she was inspired by his recipe which uses ground sumac as the finishing ingredient.  It adds a tangy lemony flavor.   

---Barbara

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries
(Adapted from Ottolenghi Simple)

2 large, or 2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and dry
1 T. sweet smoked paprika
1/2 t. cayenne
1 t. garlic powder
2 T. yellow cornmeal (optional)
flaked sea salt, about 2 t.
Sumac powder, about 1 T.


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, place the sliced sweet potatoes and coat them generously with olive oil.  (about 5-7 tablespoons)

In a small bowl, like a ramekin, combine 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1/2 t. cayenne, 1 t. garlic powder, 2 Tablespoons yellow cornmeal, and 1 t. flaked sea salt until well mixed.

Add to the oiled potatoes, and toss to coat evenly.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil).

Dump the sweet potatoes including the oil onto the lined baking sheet, and spread them out evenly, preferably in one layer, and not touching each other.

Roast for 25 - 35 minutes, stirring gently, once or twice, until the potatoes are cooked, crisp and golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven, and sprinkle them while still hot, with sumac and flaked salt.  Sprinkle them generously.

Serve at once.

Spiced Banana Bread (King Arthur) by Barbara

UPDATED 2024

Aromatic spices make this everyday banana bread special.

The riper the bananas the better the bread.  I put mine in the refrigerator once they start to blacken and then make bread with them when I find the time.  

---Barbara