It's Ash Wednesday and we're not Catholic!

It takes my Methodist kids a couple of Lenten seasons to grasp the Catholic/non-Catholic modus operandi. They can’t participate in the Epiphany mass. They can’t even take communion, and where they come from everyone takes communion, whether they’re sorry or not. (See that’s one of the big differences…Protestants put all the burden on the sinner. Catholics just pass it off to the priest.) So yesterday, they come in and announce they’re giving up candy for Lent. Because.

While I did explain that it would be thoughtful to give up something for Lent, just as sort of a snuggle with God, I pointed out that because we’re not Catholic we don’t have to give up anything. Especially when it comes to food. And that’s how we got to…

Duck for dinner. Around here, wild game is a part of the culture. (Not a part of MY culture, but a part of everyone else’s.) There are Wild Game Cook-Off’s around here that bring in people from all sorts of interesting places, and spawn rivalries and competitions that go on year after year. (My little brother nearly SHOT a competitor once when the opposing dish showed up…straight from a restaurant kitchen.) And somehow a couple of years ago, I got caught up in cooking duck on a grill and saucing it. And this is what we ended up with.

Duck with Blackberry Sauce

25 ounce can blackberries
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 cubes beef bouillon
1 cube chicken bouillon
1-3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sherry

Drain blackberries, reserving syrup. In a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add wine, 1/3 cup blackberry syrup and vinegar. Add bouillion cubes and water and simmer until cubes are dissolved. Add drained blackberries and simmer for 25 minutes, crushing berries with the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in sherry.

To roast the duck:

Quarter a small onion, halve five or six cloves of garlic and cut up some kind of fruit…an apple is good. A pear is good. An orange works well. Rinse the duck, salt and pepper it inside and out and rub it with olive oil. Carefully prick the duck all over, piercing just the skin. (This lets the fat drain out and helps crisp the skin.) Stuff it with a couple of pieces of onion, garlic and fruit. Place on a rack on a roasting pan and cook at 450 degrees for 45 minutes. Baste with juices and/or butter, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for approximately another 45 minutes. I never HAVE found the thigh muscle with a thermometer, so go for a moveable drumstick.

This is the oven method. If you have the patience and a really good temperature-controlled grill, use that. But keep the duck on the rack over the roasting pan. You need those juices.

To serve, let stand for five minutes. Cut into quarters and serve with sauce and pan juices.

Wednesday night we had this with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, with extra roasted garlic cloves to squeeze on French baquettes. And salads, with bacon, blue cheese and Newman's Own...MY FAVORITE. And hot gingerbread for dessert. This doing penance stuff is rough.

Fish Pie

Our good friend, M, whose birthday was Saturday, went to boarding school in the UK. There, on a regular basis, she and the other girls were fed fish pie. The majority of girls hated it. She loved it. The ensuing nickname that's stuck with her to this day? Fishguts.

I, too, love fish pie. Unfortunately I attended public school in the good old nutritionally-bankrupt US of A, where the closest we got to pies were the Hostess fruit 'pies' in the cafeteria vending machine.

During cold, damp winter months I make fish pie for The Hubster. He loves it. It's just like Chicken Pot Pie only with silky chunks of cod and dill. What's not to love?!

This is a great cold-weather dish and it freezes well.

Cod Pot Pie
(Makes one deep dish or two average pies)

2 lbs cod fillets, cut into 2" cubes (they shrink)
1 russet potato, cut into 1" cubes, separated
2 Tbsps olive oil (not XV)
1 onion, chopped
2 large carrots, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 tsp butter
4 tsp flour
2 cups milk or cream (the heavier, the better) - warmed in microwave
1 Tbsp fresh dill or 2 tsps dried (warning - I love dill, be careful)

Pie crust (home made or refrigerated, I don't judge)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Season fish with a pinch of dill, kosher salt and pepper.
Boil potato, drain, set aside.

Saute carrots, celery and onion in oil until translucent. Transfer to seperate dish.
Add butter to pan, cook until lightly bubbly, add flour, wisk and cook until lightly tanned.
Add milk/cream SLOWLY, wisking constantly.
Add remaining dill, one tsp kosher salt and pepper to taste, wisking constantly.
Bring back to simmer.
Add fish and cook 2 minutes, wisking constantly (this'll scorch if you don't keep it moving).
Remove from heat, add back vegetables, stir it all up and put it in a pie pan.
Top with pie crust, pinch edges, vent, brush with milk and/or egg wash and bake according to your crust recipe/box instruction.

Alternate ending: Put filling in a souffle dish or large individual-serving ramekins, top with home made or refrigerated biscuits, bake until biscuits are brown.

Fishguts, fishguts, eat 'em up - YUM!

Jambalaya

If you notice, jambalaya seems to be a base and two meats/seafoods. Sure, you can put anything you have in the refrigerator in there, but it does seem to work best with two contrasting/complementary tastes. Up to you. Chicken/ham/smoked sausage. Shrimp/crawdads/lobster/scallops.

I prefer using crawdad tail meat to shrimp in most things...just a preference. If shrimp is easier to find where you are, have at it.

Last summer at a branch party one of our friends picked up a lobster on the way out. Turned it loose in one of the small pools in the creek and then just stood back. The kids thought Godzilla had come to Alabama! Even funnier was standing there, counting the college-educated ADULTS who fell for it!

Crawdad and Ham Jambalaya

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package frozen seasoning blend (onions, peppers & celery)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 bay leaves
1 pound ham, cubed
1 pound crawdad tails
1 14-1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes w/juice
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cayenne
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Heat the oil, add the seasoning blend and garlic and saute about five minutes or until soft. Add the ham and bay leaves, saute for 2-3 minutes. Add crawdads, tomatoes, water and spices and cook for ten minutes, stirring often. Add the rice, stir to mix, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the rice is tender. (Sometimes I have to add more water if it gets too thick before the rice is done.) Let stand about five minutes, stir in the green onions and serve.

Mardi Gras, continued

For 17 years, I had a Gingerbread House Party every year. Started out small, cookies and kids; ended up out-of-control when the newspaper covered it and the wire services picked up the story. I had friends and relatives coming OUT of the woodwork. Haven't had that party in...three?...years. But when I DID, this menu was what I served. Sure, it was Christmas time but hey, everyone else was cooking ham and turkey.
Red Beans & Rice
Jambalaya
Old Fashioned Bread Pudding (Preceding post)
French bread
That and cold beer is all you need, it can all be prepared ahead of time and there's something there for everyone.

Red Beans & Rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bag frozen seasoning blend
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 pound ham, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 package smoked sausage
1 pound dried red beans

Rinse and sort the beans, cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let stand , covered, for at least an hour...overnight is okay.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the seasoning blend and garlic for about five minutes. Add salt, cayenne, pepper, thyme and bay leaves, saute for another couple of minutes and then add the ham and sausage. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover and let everybody make friends, about ten minutes.

Drain the beans, add them to the pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about two hours. Stir occasionally and add water if needed. THEN, and this is how you get that texture, every time you wander past the pot, take a wooden spoon and mash some of the beans against the side of the pot...you're aiming to mash about half. Cook for about another hour, stirring occasionally, until the beans are soft.

Serve over rice. I like the boil-in-a-bag stuff; I have friends who swear by Zatarain's.