Farmers Market Christmas Eve Dinner – Duck & Winter Vegetables

We generally don’t eat meat, sometimes a bit of fish, but decided to do something special for Christmas. We ventured to St Lawrence market and returned with duck breast and various winter vegetables. I was also surprised to find cherries (obviously not local)! The menu below serves 2 people (although 2 usually non-meat eating people, so you may wish to adjust the vegetable – duck ratio to suit your taste). I’ve tried to list the dishes in the order you should prepare them – start with the beets, and prepare the other 2 vegetable dishes while they’re roasting. You can keep them all warming in a low heat oven while you make the duck and wine reduction.

Cherries made our Christmas meal special!]

Roast Beets

•       2-3 lbs beets
•       olive oil
•       salt and pepper

1.     Heat oven to 400 F.

2.     Peel and trim beets. Cut to desired size (quarter if small beets, slice if larger).

3.     In an oven safe dish, mix beets with some olive oil. Salt and pepper beets and cover with tin foil.

4.     Roast for approximately 45 minutes. Remove foil and finish roasting, approximately another 10 minutes. Beets are done when they are soft when a fork is inserted into them. They should be sweet to taste.

Mustard Green Beans

•       1 lb green beans
•       1 shallot, finely diced
•       2 tbsp butter
•       2 tsp mustard (preferably Dijon – we got ours from Kozlik’s in the market)
•       1 tbsp white wine vinegar
•       1 lemon wedge (to squeeze juice over beans)

Stop here in the market!

1.     Bring water to a boil in saucepan large enough to hold beans. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until beans are softened. Remove from heat.

2.     Melt butter in skillet over low heat.

3.     Add shallot, cook for several minutes or until translucent.

4.     Remove from heat and stir in mustard and vinegar. Add beans and toss to combine.

5.     Finish with salt and pepper and lemon wedge to your taste.

Pureed Celeriac Root

Celery root looks scary. It isn't. 

•       1 celery root
•       3 tbsp goat cheese
•       ¼ cup heavy cream (lukewarm)
•       1 bay leaf

1.     Peel and remove ends of celery root. Chop into squares.

2.     Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add celery root and bay leaf and reduce heat to medium and cook until soft, resembling cooked potato.

3.     Strain water. Add goat cheese and cream and puree in a food processor or hand blender.

Duck & Cherry Pinot Noir Reduction

•       1 large duck breast
•       1 cup Pinot Noir (250 ml, or roughly 1/3 of a wine bottle)
•       1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
•       olive oil
•       salt and pepper

Score the duck comme ca

1.     To make the sauce, heat a saucepan over medium heat and bring Pinot Noir to a boil. Decrease heat to low and simmer until the wine is reduced by half (15-20 minutes). Set aside.

2.     Score the duck breast skin in a cris-cross pattern. Rub salt and pepper on skin. Place skin side down in a fry pan over medium-high heat, with a bit of olive oil (duck will produce it’s own fat while cooking, so use oil sparingly).

3.     Cook until crisp and browned, several minutes.

4.     Flip sides and cook until medium rare. There should be fat accumulating in the pan now.

5.     Remove duck from pan, but keep the fat. Now cook the cherries in the fat for a few minutes over low heat. Add the cherries and fat to the Pinot Noir reduction and stir over low heat.

6.     Slice the duck into 1½ inch pieces to serve.

To assemble the plates, place the celeriac puree in the centre of the plate and arrange the sliced duck breast on top, then finish with the wine reduction. Serve the beans and beets on the side.

Cherries, cooking in duck fat

The wine pairing for this meal is a no brainer – pinot noir! Apart from the fact that I put pinot in the meal, it’s a natural fit with duck. The earth yet fruity wine is a nice compliment to medium meats (duck, roast salmon, etc), and the acidity is high enough to balance out the fatty duck. It’s important to have high acid wines with fatty foods because they cleanse the palate between bites. Likewise, it’s important to have high fat foods with high acid wines because the wine will overpower something low fat. We had some stinky cheese for dessert (Stilton among others, which apparently is a British Christmas tradition), so the wine was a good fit with dessert as well.

The completed meal

Happy holiday cooking and baking!

Lentil Bourguinion

Lentil Bourguinon, with onion "bowl"

My favourite cuisine by far is French. The cheese, wine, delicate sauces and freshly baked pastries are amazing, but what I enjoy most is the rustic flavours a lot of French cooking retains. Unfortunately for me, most French cooking is decidedly meat oriented. So this is my vegetarian take on a classic French dish - Beef Bourguinion. It's easy enough to eat for Sunday night dinner, like we did, but polished enough to serve to guests (especially with a presentation like the one I suggest below instead of the traditional stew-like serving). Even your carnivorous friends will enjoy it (mine did!).

You probably have this in your cupboards already!

  Ingredients: 
 1 large yellow or vidallia onion
 2 handfuls of mushrooms (use white or mix
 portobellos & porcini - gives it a beefy taste)
 1 can lentils
 2 tbsp soya sauce
 1/3 cup red wine
 1 tbsp olive oil
 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
 1/2 tsp onion salt
 1 tsp sage
 1 tbsp fresh thyme (remove leaves from sprig)
 1 bay leaf


 salt and pepper
 fresh baguette to serve on the side


Instructions: 
1. Cut onion in half. Chop off the end of each onion. Pop out the centre layers of the onion so 3 outside layers remain - this will form the "bowl" for your lentil/mushroom mix.
2. Roast the outside layer onion bowl (with a splash of olive oil and cracked pepper and salt) in the oven at 400 F for approx. 10 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Chop the centre layers of the onion and set aside.

Make sure the "bowls" are thick enough to maintain shape

4. Finely slice (or quarter) the mushrooms. Fry on medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan in a splash of olive oil.
5. Once the mushrooms are sweating (emitting their own liquid) add sliced onions and garlic. Fry until onions are translucent, approx. 2-3 minutes.

These mushrooms are "sweating"

6. Add lentils and spices. Cook for 3 more minutes.
7. Add wine and soya sauce (if you want extra sauce to soak bread in, double the amount for both wine and soya sauce). Simmer for 5 minutes or until you're done slicing bread and setting the table.
8. To serve, place onion bowl in centre of plate and spoon the mushroom/lentil mixture on top so it's spilling over the sides. Serve with french bread and wine.

All ingredients. Double the liquid ingredients for extra sauce. 

We paired this with a Malbec, which we promptly recycled and I can't recall the name of. Regardless, this dish calls for red wine, something a bit earthy, and mild tannin. French Pinot is an obvious choice given the name of the dish, but Merlot or Syrah could be enjoyable as well.

In other exciting news - I  have a friend that is looking to get into food photography and would like to take pictures for The Truth About Grapes! Poor quality iPhone photos will end with the next posting.

Big Green Salad

Big Green Salad (sorry for the poor quality iPhone photo)

Greetings! Firstly, sorry it's been so long. There's no excuse! Secondly, new look to the blog. Let me know how it's working for you. Thirdly, and most importantly, my team at work is doing a weight loss challenge. While my coworkers spend the next 10 weeks swapping theories on carbs, trading cabbage soup recipes and fasting, I plan to post an update a week in the hopes of proving you can actually enjoy food and be healthy! 

I made this salad a few weeks ago and Jo loved it. So we experimented last week and wrote down all the ingredients. And for lack of a better name, it became Big Green Salad. I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Salad ingredients: 

Quinoa (like rice, but more weird)

- 1 bunch spinach

- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa

- 2 carrots, peeled and grated

- 1 cup dried cranberries

- 1 red pepper, sliced

- 1 zucchini, chopped and quartered

- 1 avocado, sliced (optional)

- handful of fresh mint, shredded

- 1/2 cup reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled

- 1/3 cup pine nuts

- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

Dressing: 

- 2 tbsp miso paste

- 1 tbsp maple syrup

- 2 tbsp lemon juice

- dash of Worcestershire sauce

- dash of hot sauce (optional)

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions (usually 1.5 units water / 1 unit quinoa - bring to a boil in a saucepan and then simmer 10-12 minutes or until light and translucent). Remove from heat, fluff with a fork and set aside. 

2. Wash all vegetables and slice, shred, grate etc. Combine in large salad bowl. 

3. Top with mint, feta, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds. 

4. Combine all ingredients for dressing and mix until smooth. 

5. Pour dressing over salad. Toss and serve. 

Miso paste - you can get this at all health stores

I realize it's not the most ground breaking recipe, but I guarantee the quinoa will help fill you up and the quinoa, nuts, seeds, and feta will provide sufficient protein. The avocado is optional depending on the desired fat content (remember though, avocados contain the healthy fats, and there's no oil in this dressing!). You should have enough for 2 dinners and 2 lunches the next day (we agreed it tastes better as a leftover!). 

I won't blog about the wine pairing, as I'm pretty sure we actually have this with a dirty martini pre-Wine Stage, but I will update on a delicious Zinfandel I must give Jo credit for. Turley, from Napa, is a full bodied Zinfandel with a velvety texture. The aromas of chocolate and raspberries followed through on the palate - it was like drinking dessert! I reduced some of it and served it on top of roast duck breast, beets,  brussels sprouts, and fennel mashed potatoes (I know - diet fail, but you make exceptions for birthdays). 

 Oh, and sorry for the poor quality iPhone photos - I got sand in my camera in Costa Rica. I hope to get a new camera soon (with a special setting for food if I get my way). I would consider monetizing my blog so my followers can donate to the cause, but it would be more direct to just ask my parents to buy me a camera (yes parentals, this is a test to see if you're reading my blog!)