This is also a busy weekend with both Halloween and a Ball my husband and I are attending out of town. I've had a lovely day getting my hair done, having lunch with hubbie and buying some va-va voom shoes (the blue ones) for the ball. If I remember I'll post a pic from the ball and the kid's cute halloween outfits next week.
Back to cooking, I completed two dishes: the Crackling "Peking" Duck and Chicken Pot Pie.
CRACKLING "PEKING" DUCK
You'll notice the scare quotes around Peking, that is because this version isn't exactly Peking Duck, according to Joy Of Cooking, where the recipe was found, "with its crispy, lacquered-looking skin, this is similar to the famous Pekin duck but requires much less time and effort."
Real Peking Duck have ducks specially raised for the dish and have air blown between the skin and fat to separate. They are also hung while cooked in a special oven. Real more in this Wikipedia entry.
For those that have the Joy Of Cooking cookbook, I used the recipe for Chinese Roast Duck, found on pg 448 of my 75th anniversary edition. I cannot find a recipe online the same as the one I used, but I'll give a brief outline, otherwise go buy the book or get it from the library.
Chinese Roast Duck:
Bring a pan of water with soy sauce and honey to the boil. Place duck in solution for 1 minute, ensuring to coat the whole duck. Remove, pat dry and place on a rack over a baking sheet, uncovered in the the fridge overnight. This dries it out.
The roasting process takes place on a V-rack over a roasting pan. Roast at 425 F for 20 min, turn over and roast again for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, reduce heat to 350 F. Prick duck skin all over, careful not to pierce the meat. Brush the duck with a mixture containing: orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey and 5-spice powder.
Roast again for 20 minutes, turn over and brush again. Repeat twice more turning, brushing and roasting.
Let rest and serve.
The mixture really gives the duck a fantastic flavour and the skin is crispy and the dish was overall very delicious. It was a huge hit, especially hubbie loved it....he'd turned down duck the night before in a great Quebec city restaurant, because I'd warned him I'd be making it. He said it was worth it.
CHICKEN POT PIE
I made this one the night before the election with the intent that the family could eat the leftovers when I was working election day and night. They ended up having cereal....silly boys, but thank goodness they had good pizza and pasta at the victory party later that night so they got some decent food in and I then didn't need to cook the next day when I was super tired. My James seemed to really like it as he requested it for breakfast and wanted some for school and told his teachers about it. He was really disappointed when it was done, I should make it again soon.
Recipe:
1 can condensed chicken broth (10 oz)
About 1 1/2 cups sliced carrot
1 1/2 cups diced red potato (I think it was 2 or 3)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups white mushrooms quartered
1 onion chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup flour
2 1/2 cups cooked diced chicken, 2 large breasts
1 defrosted unbaked piecrust/ puff pastry enough for a 10 inch piecrust
Preheat oven to 425F
Combine broth, 1 cup water and carrots and potatoes in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for about 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and saute onions and mushrooms until softened. Add to broth mixture. Add peas.
To thicken: whisk together flour with equal amount of water (1/3 cup) to form a paste. Whisk into vegetables. Turn up heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Add chicken.
Roll out piecrust on a floured surface. Roll it out to overhang the pie-dish using. I used a 10 inch pie-dish.
Transfer chicken and veg mixture to the pie-dish. Place crust over filling, trim and flute edge. Cut a hole in centre using a cookie cutter. (I used a cute pie crust cutter set, featuring Fall designs..my son chose the pumpkin for this pie)
Bake until filling is bubbly and the crust browned, about 20 minutes.
I had some leftover pie dough, so I like to roll it out, put some blobs of my favourite jam and fold it over and voila, a dessert too.
CAFE WORLD COOKBOOK ADDITIONS
I unlocked Caramel Corn after the Halloween catering event, so that will be added to my master list.
Up Next: I need some sweetness, so Angel Fruit Cake it will be.
Progress: 62/83
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