Duck Breast with Red Wine Sauce

This was shockingly easy and very delicious.  My parents were in town this past weekend and I made some duck soup for them.  I pulled 2 of my Rouens from the freezer.  One of them had been very nicely plucked and there were no dark marks on the breast.  So, I cut those off and saved them. 
Tonight I sauteed them and drizzled them with red wine sauce.  You can make this as fancy or as simple as you'd like.  Since I'm eating alone tonight I went the simple route and served mine with ramen noodles and green beans. 

Of Chicks and Men...

"The best laid schemes of mice and men, often go awry." - John Steinbeck
And so it seems my carefully laid out plans for our poultry flock have been tossed out the window.  But, I am not upset.  It might be for the best.

When life gives you corned beef make Reubens!

I LOVE corned beef.  It's so easy to make and it's delicious in so many ways.  This year for St. Patrick's day I made 7.5 lbs worth of the stuff. 
I had plenty of leftovers which was my intent.  I wasn't feeling up to going to the store yesterday so I made Reuben tacos with homemade Thousand Island dressing.

For the corned beef I buy the premade stuff.  I get the square cut and not the triangle if I can help it.  The squares are less fatty and easier to slice. 
The tacos and Thousand Island were borne of necessity and/or laziness.  Whatever you want to call it.  I didn't want to go to the store so I found a recipe that would incorporate what I have on hand.

Shoemaker Chicken

I've made this recipe several times.  It's delicious every time.  Chicken Scarpariello  I've always had to add a little flour and water or cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce and a splash of lemon juice.
Last night I was craving this but was missing a lot of things and was in a hurry. So, I made some changes.

I was cooking for one so I halved everything.
3/4 c hot water and 1tsp of chicken bouillon instead of wine/broth mix.
Millionaire's splash of sherry
1tsp minced garlic from a jar

I tossed it with a ridiculous amount of pasta and It was fabulous.

Buffalo Chicken Strips

I made this tonight and I promised to write it down so I won't forget it.  It was pretty easy and delicious.  It still needs some tweaking though.

4 chicken breasts
1/4 C butter
3 Tbl Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 - 2 C flour
1 Tbl smoked paprika
2 Tbl ranch dip mix
2 Tbl garlic salt
oil

combine dry ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag.
Slice chicken breasts into strips and put in bag.  Shake to coat.
In a large frying pan put enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pan.  Heat until almost smoking.
Add flour coated chicken strips.
While chicken cooks melt butter and mix in hot sauce and vinegar.
When chicken is cooked through drain on paper towel lined plate.  Drain oil from frying pan.  Put chicken strips back in the pan and pour hot sauce mixtue over the top.  Toss to coat strips evenly.

*tweaks to try next time: coat chicken in egg before coating with flour.  Decrease flour and add bread or crumbs.
The sauce was pretty much perfect.  Not too hot and not too boring. 

Also whipped up some frozen corn that went over really well.
1 bag frozen corn
2 Tbl butter
Thyme
Parsley flakes
Garlic salt
While corn cooks put butter and herbs in serving dish.  When corn is done microwave dish of butter and herbs for 30 seconds.  Mix everything together. 

Typically, I prefer to use fresh garlic and it's considered a staple at our house.  It's quite rare that I don't use garlic in my dishes.  But, we were out. I try to avoid garlic salt as well as I really try to not add extra salt to our food but, we were out of garlic powder too.  I guess it's time to go to the grocery store!

For the birds

I've got birds on the brain. I'm preparing to book our poultry flocks for the spring.  This year we'd like to keep some laying hens and a rooster over the winter so we can have a steady supply of eggs and chicks. I'm very interested in the dual purpose breeds.  They tend to be heavier so they'll stand the winter better and a few of the breeds lay exceptionally well in winter.  I like the idea that we can keep some for eggs and the rest will still be fine fryers or roasters.  I'm interested in Buff Orpingtons and Brahmas mostly.  Dorkings sound nice too but they're harder to come by.
I'm really chomping at the bit to get some ducklings booked.  We've decided we would like to raise a rare breed this year.  Silver Appleyards.  They sound simply perfect.  They are a heavy breed yet they are very good layers.  They're good at foraging and they're supposed to be calm.  I'd like to over winter 2 hens and a drake.  That should give us a few eggs for eating and a few eggs for setting so we can propagate the breed.

Happy New Years

We didn't have a fancy New Years Eve supper.  We had a FABULOUS New Years Day supper. 

Stuffed beef tenderloin.  It was amazing.  I saw a picture of it on a cover of Cooks Illustrated a few years ago.  This year I finally tried it.  In this case I followed the recipe EXACTLY.  And, as a result my tenderloin looks almost identical to the one on the cover.  And it tasted even better than it looked.