Duck a l'orange, Revised Multicultural Edition

We return to the works of Nigella Lawson this time, with a rather nice way to deal with a duck breast. Several stores in my area carry frozen duck breasts, and although they’re not cheap, they’re affordable enough that I can indulge in them from time to time. However, the duck breast isn’t mandatory by any means—indeed, before I lived in a locale where duck was readily available, I used to make this recipe with a nice little strip steak, which works beautifully. A tuna steak will also suffice should you prefer to avoid red meat altogether. If you wish to avoid animal protein entirely, I suspect that a Portobello mushroom, marinated and grilled/broiled would work reasonably well, although I confess I haven’t tried it myself.

Pan Bagnat

 

I decided it would be nice to make something a bit more summery this time, since we are finally starting to get warmer weather around here. This is my take on Pan Bagnat (sometimes spelled Pan Bagna), a meal-size sandwich from Provence. There are a lot of different versions of this sandwich, some of which involve potatoes, or green beans, or olives, or hard-boiled eggs, and various other elements native to the south of France.

I don’t remember exactly where I first came across a recipe for Pan Bagnat; I do know that it was from a magazine article rather than from a sojourn in Provence. Tant pis. But this is the version I’ve been making for years, and it suits my taste, even if I can’t verify its authenticity. But to paraphrase something JC once said, the thing to do is serve it forth and proclaim that yours is the one and only true version. So once again, no “original” recipe here, but you can head over to Epicurious or other recipe websites if you want to learn of other versions. Mine is the only true one, though. 

Pasta with Gorgonzola

This is a little something I dreamed up while visiting my local Italian deli. As I am prone to impulse buying where food is concerned, I picked up some Gorgonzola Dolce (a softer, creamier take on the standard, more aged Gorgonzola cheese), some pancetta, and some pasta. This was combined with some cream and some asparagus (health!) for a fairly quick little dinner. It’s not light fare, but the nights are still chilly here in the mountains, so hearty fare is not unwelcome. 

English Roast Potatoes

I’m back. Let’s pretend y’all are excited by this.

April is the cruelest month where my day job is concerned, so I’m just now coming up for air. Although I’ve cooked a few interesting things here and there, I haven’t had the time or the energy to write about them.

Until now.