Pappardelle with Venetian Duck Ragù

Duck is fairly expensive, so I'm always nervous when it comes to trying a new recipe with it (plus, hard to resist making my favorite recipe for it every time).  I'm very pleased that I gave this recipe a shot--it's excellent!  I'm also pleased that I chose to modify with using an immersion blender to make the sauce smooth (my family doesn't like tomato chunks in sauces).  Tip: if you have never used an immersion blender, they are a really cool and handy device--just remember to start it AFTER placing in the sauce and to hold on tight.  It will naturally be drawn right to the bottom of the pot and happily cling there.
Link to original recipe:
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/pappardelle-venetian-duck-ragu.aspx

(I made 1 1/2 times the original recipe, which is reflected in the pictures.  Amounts listed below are original, not the increased.)

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil
4 skin-on, bone-in duck legs
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium celery stalks* chopped
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic*
1 small yellow onion* chopped
1 medium carrot* chopped
(*I chopped all of these together in the food processor)
1 T. chopped fresh sage
1 fresh or 1/2 dried bay leaf (I used the fresh)
1 c. dry Italian wine (I used Masciarelli, will use again next time)
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes (I used this plus 14 oz crushed tomatoes)
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 lb. pappardelle pasta
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in 5 to 6 qt. dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Season duck with salt and pepper and place skin side down in pot (I had to do mine in batches--don't crowd them!).  Sear until the skin in browned, around 7 minutes.  Turn over and cook for 2-3 minutes more.  Remove from pot and set aside.

2. Pour off all but 1 T. of the oil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add the chopped mixture, sage, and bay leaf.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 7 to 8 minutes.

3. Pour in the wine and increase heat to high.  Bring to lively simmer, keep simmer for 1 minute, then reduce heat to medium.

4. Stir in tomatoes (with their juice) and chicken broth.

5. Return duck to pot (with any accumulated juices), return heat to high, and bring liquid to a boil.  Reduce heat to low to maintain a gentle simmer.  Cover pot and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until meat is fork-tender (it was 2 hours for mine).

6. Remove duck from pot.  Shred the meat from the bone...tip: I used my tongs to pull the meat off of the bones and it worked great, much better than having to do so with bare hands and wait for meat to cool.  Discard chunks of skin.

7.  Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.

8. Remove bay leaf from the sauce, then use immersion blender to purée.

9. Add shredded duck to sauce, then toss with pasta.

10. Grate Parmigiano-Reggiano over top to garnish after dishing up.  Enjoy!

Italian Peasant Bread

Yay, another excuse to use my bread machine!  After having the duck ragù the day before, we commented that it would be even better with some bread to go with it.  Thus, with the leftovers, I decided to make some.  As it's an Italian dish, I figured to do something along those lines and remembered that I'd wanted to see if I could find a recipe to make something similar to the peasant bread served at Macaroni Grill restaurants.  And the Internet did not disappoint--this recipe seems to pretty much nail it, though I did have to modify slightly (thank goodness for the comments section, where I others had apparently thought as I did: 1 T. of salt is far too much for a recipe like this!).  Here is a link to the original:

http://www.food.com/recipe/italian-peasant-bread-for-bread-machine-62058

Ingredients:

3/4 c. room temperature water

2 T. olive oil, plus more to brush on at end

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 T. sugar

1 1/2 T. dried rosemary, plus more for garnish

1 T. bread machine yeast

kosher salt (for garnish)

grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Instructions:

1. Place ingredients in hopper according to manufacturer's recommendations (mine indicates to add liquids first, then drys, yeast last).

2. Set hopper in machine and run "dough" cycle (typically 1 1/2 hours).

3. Remove from machine when cycle is complete and spread dough into a rectangular shape on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Dough should be around 1" thick.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in warm area to allow to rise/double for 1 hour. (I set my oven to its lowest setting (170°F) and placed sheet near the heat vents on stovetop.)

5. When it is getting close to the hour being up, heat oven to 375°F.  Sprinkle additional rosemary on top of dough for garnish.  Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine was ready at 20).

6. After removing from oven, brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt and Parmesan cheese, to taste.  (I took pic before adding these and forgot to get another!)

7. Tear into pieces and enjoy!

Almond Bread

I have a bunch of cookbooks (I know, everyone's surprised lol), yet I forget about some of them or I find recipes while I'm out and about instead (meaning, online on my phone).  In this case, even though I've looked through this book many times and found recipes I wanted to make, somehow I didn't get to any of them.  Finally, here is the first one I tried and very pleased with the results!  As the name indicates, "650 Best Food Processor Recipes" by George Geary & Judith Finlayson means this recipe is to be made in the food processor.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. whole milk
2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 c. sliced almonds
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.  Spray 9"x 5" loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. Use metal blade on food processor.  Add butter and sugar to processor and process for about 20 seconds.

3. Add egg, milk, and almond extract (it says to do this with the motor running, but I really doubt that makes much difference--I added the milk first and pulsed a couple of times, then poured in the other two with it running.)  Process until combined.

4. Add remaining ingredients.  Pulse 10 times or until just incorporated (10 times worked perfectly for me).

5. Pour into prepared pan, smooth out top.

6. Bake for 50-60 minutes (I went 60 to be sure it was done, but I think it was overkill).

7. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

8. Slice off a piece and enjoy!

Molasses Spice Crinkles

a.k.a. you won't keep your hands out of the cookie jar with these on hand.  This is yet another of my favorite cookies.  The amounts here only make 3 dozen, which I should have known would not be near enough, yet I only made a single batch this time.  Such a great cookie--hope you enjoy!!

Link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/RTiCqQ-TYnw

Original recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/molasses-spice-crinkles

Recipe below contains my modifcations.

Ingredients:

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice

3/4 c. shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses

~1 c. sparkling/sanding sugar

Directions:

1. Combine flour and rest of ingredients (except sparkling sugar) in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat shortening with electric mixer until fluffy.

3. Add sugar, beat well.

4. Add egg and molasses, beat well.

5. Add flour mixture around a third at a time and mix well.

6. Refrigerate for 1 hour (or longer).

7. When ready to bake, heat oven to 375°F.  Form 1" balls and roll them in the sparkling sugar.

8. Place on baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes (I went 9 1/2).  Tops will be crackled.

9. Let rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to rack to cool completely.

10. Grab some milk and enjoy!

Mushroom & Potato Gratin

Wow, amazing how fast a week can fly by!  Sorry for not posting quite as frequently recently--my job is keeping me a bit busier these days, which means I don't get to cook as often (nor blog).  Anyhow, I'm still determined to post and cook most days (*fingers crossed*) and was delighted to make this a few nights ago.  It is really awesome and not a terrible amount of work, despite being two recipes in one.  The first part is that you have to make a mushroom sauté, which is basically cooking the mushrooms and seasoning them.  After that, you assemble the gratin and pop it in the oven.  It's not a quick recipe, but I still managed to get it in on a weeknight (because I'm crazy like that lol).  I chose it as a side to go with ham steak slices; it was quite good with them, but I think it would go even better with other meats.
Here is the link to the original (which contains a link to the mushroom part):
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/mushroom-potato-gratin.aspx?nterms=52830,53248

Ingredients:

--mushroom sauté--
1 T. olive oil
1 T. unsalted butter
1 lb. white/button mushrooms (or mixture of others), sliced
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
herbes de provence

--gratin--

1 T. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream
2 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
1 T. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 oz. Gruyère, finely grated

Instructions:

1. To make the mushroom sauté: Heat the oil and butter in a 12" sauté pan over medium heat until butter foams.

2. Add mushrooms and garlic to pan, and sprinkle with salt.  Cook mushrooms for around 2 minutes, until they begin to release their moisture.

3. Increase the heat to medium-high.  Once the mushrooms begin to sizzle, cook for 5 minutes, but only stir every one minute.

4. Cook additional 2 minutes with little to no stirring, or until mushrooms have started to brown nicely at the edges.

5. Remove from heat and add pepper and herbes de Provence to taste.  Reserve mushrooms for use in gratin.

6. To make gratin: heat oven to 375°F.  Use the softened butter to generously coat 9"x13" baking dish (I used glass).

7. Place sautéed mushrooms in a bowl.  Return sauté pan to stove and heat to medium-high.  Add chicken broth and cook just long enough to release the browned bits from the sauté.  (Since I used a non-stick pan, I just swirled the pan with the broth and did not bother heating.)

8. Pour broth into a glass measuring cup with a pour spout.  Add cream and sitr to combine.

9.  In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the thyme, salt, and several grinds of pepper.

10. Use half of potatoes to line bottom of the baking dish, overlapping (makes potatoes about 2 layers).

11. Top the half of potatoes with the sautéed mushrooms, spreading as evenly as possible.

12. Use remaining potatoes to make another double, overlapped layer.

13. Pour broth/cream mixture over potatoes.

14. Top with Gruyère.

15. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

16. Remove foil, use spatula to press down potatoes (mine didn't press much, so I'm not sure this was needed), then bake for additional 30 minutes.

17. After removing from oven, let gratin rest for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Rolled Sugar Cookies

I adore these cookies, but I don't make them often because they are a bit of a project and highly addictive.  Today was a cool and windy autumn day, a perfect one for staying inside and baking!  This recipe is special to me because it's one my late dad created.  He wanted the perfect rolled sugar cookie recipe, so he took a bunch of recipes and averaged them, then tweaked the amounts until he got this.  It really is wonderful and reminds of my childhood every time I make it :)  I often make 1 1/2 or 2 times the recipe so that I can share (and so that we can all pig out on them lol).  The pictures are of what it looks like for 1 1/2 times.  The frosting is my approximation of what my mom always made, which I use not only for these cookies, but cakes and other treats as well!

Ingredients:

1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
2 eggs
2 tsp. milk
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

additional flour for rolling

--frosting--

4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. butter flavored Crisco (or regular Crisco)
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
7 T. milk

sanding/decorating sugars and/or décors

Instructions:

1. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon extract together.

2. Add eggs and mix until combined.

3. Add milk and mix until combined.

4. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl.  Add mixture gradually (around a cup each time)--I advise switching to a dough hook either at the beginning of this or by the last addition.

5. Chill dough for at least 2 hours (have left it as long as overnight and was the same).

6. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Scoop out ball of dough around the size of 2 baseballs (this does not have to be exact--you just want to not have too much to roll out at once).  Return remaining dough to fridge until ready for more.

7. Generously flour a clean work surface as well as a rolling pin.  Roll dough in the flour to coat, then pat into a disc shape.

8. Place in center of flour and roll, checking occasionally with spatula/turner to make sure dough is not sticking to surface.  If it is, scrape dough up and start over.  (This is very dependent on temperature and humidity, I think.  It was a humid day here this time and the dough stuck the first two times I rolled it!).  Roll to 1/8" thickness.

9. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes and place them on nonstick cookie sheet.

10. Bake for 7-9 minutes (most of my batches were 7 or 8), until cookie edges are just starting to turn golden brown.

11. Let cookies cool on sheet for 3 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

12. Make frosting:  place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until smooth consistency is achieved.  If too thick, add milk 1 T. at a time until frosting is smooth but still holds shape.

13. Frost cookies and top with sanding sugar immediately afterward.

14. Grab some milk and enjoy!

Note: cookies will soften after being frosted and set (covered), so don't worry if they turn out a little crisp :)