Production Eats - No. 10

Now that I've got all the Thanksgiving stuff out of the way I can move on to other meals and dishes. Last week, I worked on the set of CSI: Miami. David Caruso was there from the cast. It was pretty cold that day as we were near the ocean and it was pretty cloudy. I love winter weather. Ok, here's what we were served.

Of course, I need my salad with some fresh mushrooms and pineapple slices. I must have my salad. Funny thing is that I used to HATE salads like it was the plague. Now i love them. I guess tastes change over the years as I began to appreciate more diverse foods.

On the main plate (from top clockwise): Grilled almond crusted halibut with mango salsa, cornbread, steamed corn on the cob, white rice, beans, grilled squash and zucchini.

I enjoyed the fish quite a bit. There were also ribs that look to die for and some chicken, but i heard that wasn't as good as the fish or ribs.

For dessert, a nice slice of traditional cheesecake topped with a piece of blackberry and a chocolate chip cookie.

Cheesecake Cookie Cups

Finally we've come to the end of the feast. Dish #7. No meal can't be complete with the dessert. A family friend had given us a pumpkin pie the day before, so that scratched out my idea for a pecan pie tart. I was pretty bummed about that as I love pecan pie on Thanksgiving. Oh, well. I'll just have to make it on Christmas.

That meant I went for the backup plan. Cheesecake. Rather than making a whole cake-sized round, I decided on individual portions.I remember seeing something about combining cookies and cheesecake somewhere. I wrote the idea down on a piece of post it, but I can't remember where I had seen it from.

Rather than making a graham cracker base for these, I chose some premade sugar cookie dough instead. You can use you favorite choice of cookie. The precut style works best as you don't need to measure anything. Just place the dough in the cupcake liner and bake. While that did its thing in the oven, I made the cream cheese filling. I went the traditional route. I brought out the cookies from the oven and let it cool before topping it with the filling. I also made a small dip in cookie while it cooled to give it a cup shape. Baked it once more, then in the fridge it went.

When I was ready to serve, I topped it with some of the cranberry sauce. So good, so delicious. You just can't have one.

Makes 12

Cheesecake Cookie Cups

12 cookie dough pieces - your choice
8 oz cream cheese
4 Tbsp condensed milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 cupcake/muffin liners

Preheat your oven 350˚F

Place a piece of cookie dough in each cupcake liner and bake for 10-15 minutes.

While the cookies bake, combine the cream cheese, condensed milk, egg, vanilla extract.

When the cookies are done. let them cook and slightly press the cookie with your thumb or round end of a measuring spoon making a small dip shape. Spoon the filling over each and bake for another 15 minutes.

Let it cool completely then place in the fridge for at least an hour. This may be done in advance.

Herb Roasted Duck

So here's my main dish. The pièce de résistance. Dish #6. Last year, I had roasted cornish hen. This year I went for something a little more adventurous. Roast duck. I was a little nervous going into this as I've never really roasted anything outside the chicken family. Sure, duck is a kind of poultry, but I was really nervous as heck. Duck doesn't come cheap and I couldn't afford mess this one up. Though, I'd still eat it either way. Anyway, I was determined to make the attempt.

At first, I was thinking Peking duck, but upon researching on how to make it, I find out that it's a bit of a process. Something that I didn't have much patience for at the moment. So I stuck with a simple roasting. There's just something about duck that makes it so good.  I made a simple herb butter that I slathered all over prior to cooking. I also stuffed half of a sweet onion, one lemon, a couple garlic cloves as well as a couple sprigs of fresh herbs. I only used fresh rosemary and thyme for stuffing and the butter.

Roasted the duck for a good 2 hours, while basting it after 45 to 60 minutes with it's own juices to help get the skin nice and crispy. It also helps bring out more of the fat from the bird. Now I don't have a roasting rack and I didn't want the duck to be sitting in it own liquids. So in situations like these you'll just have to improvise. I took 2 tin cookie cutters and rested the bird over them. You can also use a couple of cans with both ends cut out. I had to be a little gentle in placing it in the oven for fear of toppling over, but it worked like a charm! After a couple hours and voila. Roast ducky. 

I'm so happy with how this came out. Tender and juices. The herbs really blended into the meat really well. I was literally all nerves with making this one. Next time I'll make some steamed buns to go with it.

Herb Roasted Duck

1 5 lbs duck
1/2 medium sweet onion - halved
1 lemon - halved
1 large garlic cloves - peeled
fresh herb bundle - 1 thyme, 2 rosemary
1 Tbsp fresh thyme - chopped
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary - chopped
5 Tbsp unsalted butter - softened
salt
pepper


Preheat your oven to 375˚F

Combine the butter and chopped thyme and rosemary. Set aside.

Wash the duck with running cold tap water, inside and out. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Remove an excess fat from the neck and butt area.

Season the duck all over with salt and pepper including the cavity.

Stuff the onion, lemon, garlic and bundled herbs into the cavity of the duck. Then spread the herb butter mixture all over.

Place on a roasting rack and onto a roasting pan. Roast for 2 hours. Baste the duck occasionally with its own juices to get the skin crisp. If you have a meat thermometer the temo should be 170˚F on the breast and around 180˚for the thigh.

Let the duck sit for 10 minutes to let the juices inside redistribute before serving.

Note: if you don't have a roasting rack use 2 aluminum or tin cookie cutters or 2 cans with both ends cut off to balance the duck on top.

 

Roasted Carroccobean

Ok we're just about getting to the main dishes and I swear 'll be done with Thanksgiving.  So onto dish #5. Carroccobean. Carrots, broccoli, and green beans. I think I'm getting good at this combing words thing.

For this, I just did a simple roast and seasoning. I was still in a roasting kick, it's also a good excuse not to lug out any pot, pans, or steamers. I didn't want to make any complicated veggie dish. I think veggies are meant to be made into simple dishes. Just a simple seasoning on salt, pepper and paprika is all that I need. Tomorrow is the main event, so be sure to come back. You won't be disappointed.

Roasted Carroccobean
2 heads broccoli - chopped
1/2 lbs green beans - ends removed
2 carrots - peeled and chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika


Preheat your oven to 375˚F

Toss all the veggies in a bowl and season with some olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika.

Place on a baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes. Until carrots are still slightly firm, but tender.

Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce

Dish #4. The cranberry sauce. It brings a nice tart flavor saltiness of the turkey or poultry. It balances it out perfectly. In my version,  I decided to add another flavor. My favorite POM juice. I still had some homemade grenadine in the fridge and felt that this was the perfect opportunity to jazz up the traditional sauce. I made this the day before along with the Sweet Potato Bread and Kabocha Biscuits This gave me a little more time to focus on the main dish for the next day, which will be coming very very very soon. You won't want to miss that. Trust me.

Oh, sorry for the other two photos being a little blown out. I had forgotten that I had changed the settings to my camera when I was taking pictures at an event.

Makes roughly 3 cups.

Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce

12 oz fresh cranberries
2 c POM juice
1 1/2 c sugar
    (Or 2 c grenadine in place of the POM juice and sugar)

Place the the cranberries, pom juice and sugar in sauce pan. On a medium to high heat until sugar has melted and cranberries begin to pop and release their juices. Stir occassionally. Bring the mixture to a boil. once boiling lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thick.

Stuffed Crisp Potato Skins

Dish #3. Here's another way to eat the baked potato. As an added treat why not have it with a tasty crisp potato skin as well. Two for the price of one. Can't get any better than that, right? I basically took the same concept as my Baked Potato Casserole and rather than boiling it, I just straight up baked it in the oven. Mashed the insides and baked the skins again to get it nice and crisp. I mashed the insides and mixed in the fix-ins you'd usually find with a baked potato. Sour cream, cheese, green onions, and bacon bits. The last is optional if you don't want any meat in it.  I also spiked the potato with a dash of tobasco to give it a little kick. It was just enough to say "hello" then immediatly go "goodbye". I kept it slightly chunky this time around, too. Add a little more sour cream on top and you're ready to roll.

Makes 4

Stuffed Baked Potato Skins

2 Large russet potatoes - halved
extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tobasco
1 tbsp paprika
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp sour cream - plus extra for topping
1/2 c shredded cheese (your choice) - plus extra for topping
4-5 bacon strips
3 green onions - chopped

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

Lightly coat the potato halves with olive oil place on a baking sheet and bake until tender. Roughly 60 minutes.

Let the potatoes cool before scooping out the flesh. Once the inside has been scooped out. Lightly coat the skins with olive oil once again and backe for another 15 minutes. While that bakes, mash the scoop potatoes and season with some salt and pepper. Mix in the sour cream, paprika, tobasco, cheese and green onions.

When the potato skins are done scoop the potato mixture into the skins. Top with some shredded cheese and place in the oven once more for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Sweet Potato Bread

Dish #2. No Thanksgiving would not be complete without something made of sweet potatoes. I was debating whether or not to serve them mashed or some other way. I didn't really finalize my menu until the very last minutes. Ah, procrastination. Something I'm still working on. But then I decided to go for the bread route.  Besides, rather than making the usual dinner rolls, for a special occasion like a holiday, it calls for something a little more different than the norm.

I like to have this warm with a little bit of cranberry sauce spread on top.Drizzle on some cranberry sauce or gravy or butter or jam or, or...you name it, you can pair it. Well, almost anything.

Makes 1 loaf

Sweet Potato Bread

1 cup unsalted butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
4 cups flour
3 small sweet potatoes (peeled)

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

Cut the sweet potatoes into quarters. Toss them in a tiny drizzle extra virgin olive oil and season with some salt and pepper. Place them in the baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.  When finished mash the sweet potatoes in a bowl and set aside

In a bowl, sift together the flour salt, baking soda, cinnamon.

In another bow, cream together the butter and sugar. Then beat in each egg. Slowly pour in the flour mixture constantly stirring. Then add the sweet potatoes. Blend well.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf dish. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Let the loaf cool slightly before removing from the pan.