Roasted Duck Leg, with bacon chili brussles sprouts and potatoes in creamy wine sage sauce

As fall sets in and September starts off with rain and storms, summer salads seem to be over.  Now for the warm food. I have had the house to my self so I have been creating very nice meals for one the last few nights :)

This could be a great option for Sunday Roast or a cozy warm meal for rainy or winter nights.

 

 

Roast Duck with Crips Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes in a creamy wine sage sauce

 

 

1 Duck Leg

10 Baby Potatoes

Springs of Fresh Sage

12 Brussels Sprouts

1/2 C  Bacon Bits

Tsp Chile Flakes

1/2 Onion

3 cloves of Garlic

1 C Cream (I used whipping cream)

1 C Pinot Gris

 

 

*Heat oven to 350C

 

Sear the duck leg first before placing it in the oven just to crisp up the skin.

I placed the duck in tin foil and drizzled the fat from the pan over the duck. I cold poured a splash of pinot gris on top of the leg.

I fried onions and then garlic for the potatoes and took some and placed them in tin foil amongst duck.

Wrap duck in tin foil package

Place duck in oven for about 25-30 min.

 

I used the pan with rest of onions and garlic to fry the potatoes. 

I added some fresh sage and let that cook for a bit.

Towards the end I added some pinot gris and then 1 cup of cream and let them simmer until duck was finished. Place the Brussels sprouts in the pan I seared the duck on still having traces of duck fat add Chili flakes and chunks of bacon.

I had the pan on pretty high heat to let the Brussels sprouts get crisp.

When I plate it pour all duck gravy out of the tin foil over the whole plate so your crisp Brussels spouts and potatoes soak up the goodness as well :)

 

Grandmas beet leaf buns

I smelt something the other day that reminded me of a memory when I was young, but I couldn't place it right away.  Then I thought more about the smell and realized it was something my grandma would make with what I thought was grape leaves.  Then I asked my mom about it and it was beat leafs! She used to make these little buns and wrap them in beat tops.  Then she would make a delicious sour cream and onion sauce and the buns would become soggy bitter and sweat buns.  

I made them the other night, and they are amazing, probably something they made up in the old days when they couldn't afford much and had to use what they had. 

Added an egg to make it a fab breakfast

Empty the Fridge Event

This is what you call emptying the fridge event.

We had a left over homemade baguettes that was getting stale, a half cut tomato and some cut salami. I cut the baguette and made bocconcini melts with pesto, tomato, salami and fresh cut basil.

Then we had some Kale going yellow, I cut that up and drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper and made kale chips.

One Molding Sweet Potato, dressed it in nutmeg, olive oil and cayenne and dipped them in chipotle aioli.

I took the rest of the baguette and made little croutons sprinkled olive oil and herb de Provence and tossed them on top of a green salad, with apple and walnuts grilled in butter and brown sugar, some left over dried figs and the shavings of what was left of the medium gouda brick bought from a local farm.

Its very easy to put together a fantastic meal with things that are going off in the fridge. Waste tastes !!

Bangers & Mash

Bangers & Mash

Traditional English pub grub with a Swedish twist.

Spicy Sausages with a chive mash and Lingonberry Chutney,deep fried Sage leaves for the topping. Yum!

Ukrainian Easter

Ukrainian Easter at my grandmas house.  

Cabbage Rolls, Boiled eggs, Ham, Sausage, Paska and Babka, traditional Easter breads and grandmas homemade beat horseradish for eating with your meat and eggs.

Lemon jello cheesecake, a Soroka tradition.

Cinco de Mayo in Vernon

Cinco de Mayo celebrates in Vernon 

Potato Flautas with Crema and Feta. 
Sopés with Black Beans, Crema, Red Onion and Feta
Chipotle Prawn Tacos with Avocado, Cilantro and Onion
Cabbage Salad, with Radishes, Peppers, Jalepeños, Tomatos, Cilantro, Olive Oil & lime-juice
All with homemade Salsa Guajillo

Meringues

I made these lovely Meringues for our American/Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.

Recently visiting a farmers market close to Vernon I bought some duck eggs to try after hearing they worked well in baking.  They seemed to to work quite nicely, however did have a duck egg taste to me, which everyone else seemed not to notice.

8 Duck eggs and 1 yellow chicken egg

Swedish Chocolate Balls

Chokladbollar is the first Swedish Dessert kids learn how to make.  Perfect for an afternoon Fika.

 Recipe

7 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp strong coffee (liquid)

2 Tbsp cocoa

1 1/3 cups quick oats

1/2 cup coconut for coating