Being a bum

Haven't cooked anything more than a bowl of cereal in the last two weeks.  The Boy and I have plenty of ideas but not much gumption to get anything done.  The Boy has become really good at making tacos, which is a "throw down" meal for us when we want something fast.  We don't make it complicated, so meat (farm raised and grass fed) cooked with homemade chili powder, organic taco shells (we still have not got around to making our own) and a really good cheese.  I personally like Manchego in my tacos.  Somehow, he has got the baking of the taco shells down perfectly and they are always light and crunchy.  I like to add this really great sauce that you can get in every market in Costa Rica.  I am down to my last bottle, so if you are going let me know.

Anyway, we will get out of the no-cooking funk soon.  Plus we have a Daring Cooks challenge that needs to be done before the middle of the month.

Small Plates --Breakfast

The Boy and I have been talking a lot about making a small plates dinner and decided to start with a breakfast themed dinner.  We were hoping to try something simple - Melons, Vegetable Frittata, Chicken and Waffles, Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, finalized by Bacon Ice Cream and French Toast.
Come to find out, making that many different things is not that simple, but not terrible.  We did as much as possible prior to having to having to start all the important things.  See pictures below:

 Some lessons learned:

• Even though I had reduced the portions, it was still to much food.
• As much preparation prior to the main cooking is very important.
• Stay calm and methodical, it gets hectic.

Duck Prosciutto -- "Final"

Cut into one last weekend, very ducky taste, but good if you like duck.  Can't quite figure out what to do with it.  Seems like it would be very good shaved thin and put on an asian style pizza.  Anyway this was the first of I hope many experiments into curing meat.  The Boy want to try salami sometime.

Duck Prosciutto -- "Check Up"

Took them out and weighed them and they have lost approximately 20% of there weight and are coming along nicely.  Appearance is good and there is no odor at all other than the good smell of duck.  I think they will be done in another couple of days.

Horseradish Infused Vodka -- Part 2 (Final)

Check the Vodka after five days with the horseradish and decide it was plenty strong.  Removed the horseradish and placed back into the original bottle.  It tastes very good and got me thinking about making the ingredients to concoct a bloody mary martini with each common bloody mary ingredient being made into infused vodka.  Next on the list with be tomato vodka, olive vodka, celery vodka, and tobasco vodka.
Sounds interesting.

Horseradish Infused Vodka -- Part 1

Well this weekend, I am fairly time constrained, so I was looking for a project that would be interesting but not take much time.  I recently was at a russian bar in St. Paul, MN and had some wonderful horseradish infused vodka and decided to make some.  Now I have experimented with infusing vodka before making lemoncello, so I had an idea of how to start.  Peeled the horseradish and cut into "sticks" and placed in the vodka to set for 10 days.  Really did not have an idea on how much to put in, so that part is an experiment.

Duck Prosciutto -- "Making Duck Breast Mummys" (Happy Mothers Day)

The last post showed the salting of the duck breast which I didn't get to take out for about 36 hours.  I made a hanging contraption using a wire hanger.  It is not the best but seems to be working okay.  After weighing the breast (approximately 5 ounces) I wrapped them with cheese cloth and they are currently hanging in my refrigerator drying nicely.  The goal is to have them lose approximately 30% of there weight.

I think this is going to work very nicely.  TO BE CONTINUED..................................

Duck Prosciutto

So I have the duck breast from the confit project and really don't have time to do justice to by cooking it, so I am thinking prosciutto.  I didn't even know you good do that with duck so I am intrigued.  The procedure seems pretty simple.  Store in salt for a period of time (24 hours), wash and let dry/cure in the refrigerator.  I love proscuitto and I love duck so this has to be good.

Once the salt does its work, I will wrap it in cheesecloth and hang it in my refrigerator until it has lost approximately 30% of its weight.

Duck Confit - Part Two

The duck pieces where put into the oven at 9:30 this morning looking like this.  The oil is some leftover duck fat I had and a little bit of olive oil.  Baked this at 200 degrees for about seven hours when the meat literally fell off the bone.  Removed the meat and separated the oil.

The fat is culinary gold and can be used in place of butter in many dishes and is especially good for roasting potatoes and other vegetables.  I am storing the duck confit in a glass container in the refrigerator with some of the fat covering the meat.

The meat tastes very good, as good as any confit I have had in a restaurant.  Can't wait to make tacos.