Cherry Cheese Cake

Hello again all my foodie friends, tonight I was inspired to add another post because my Herb Encrusted Lamb recipe was chosen to be published by the people from The Urban Liaison magazine. So I decided to make one of my favorite desserts tonight to celebrate, No Bake Cheesecake. I always have a problem with this recipe though, I will explain that after the details. This recipe calls for,

• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl; add condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour mixture into the pie crust. Chill for 5 hours. DO NOT FREEZE!!!

Now this is where I always have the problem, 5 hours, are your kidding me, you want me to just sit here for 5 hours knowing there is a cheesecake just waiting to be eaten. So as you can tell by my picture of the finished product I made it about 3 1/2 hours so it is not completely set up yet. I leave mine topping free until after it is dished up just because Tanya does not like anything on hers, I always open up a can of cherry pie filling and throw a few spoonfuls on top, you can also do chocolate syrup or any other topping you can think of that goes well on cheesecake. Well that is it tonight I will be back soon with another post.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Duck Breast

Welcome back everyone, well after trying every way of pan searing a Duck Breast I decided I would like to try another way to make it. One of the ways I have tried game bird before is a bacon wrapped Dove Breast, now not being much of a Dove hunter I thought that I could wrap a Duck Breast, but then I thought Duck is much thicker than a Dove so I can also butterfly a breast and stuff it too. For this you will need:
4 skinless Duck Breast halves
1 pound Bacon
1 Yellow Onion
1 bunch Celery
2 cloves Minced Garlic
1 14.5 oz can of Vegetable Stock
6 oz. Dry Seasoned Breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
I started by taking all but four pieces of bacon and dicing it, I put that in a large pot on medium high heat until the bacon had turned a little crunchy, then I added the Onion, Celery, and Garlic and reduced the heat to medium and let that saute until the veggies were soft.
After that I added the vegetable stock and let that come to a boil, then removed from heat and added the Bread Crumbs. Mix the Bread Crumbs in and add salt and pepper to taste fluff with a fork and set aside.Next step is to butterfly the Duck Breasts and stuff with the stuffing.
Then I closed up the Breasts and wrapped with the remaining four pieces of bacon.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes depending how rare you like your meat. I was really impressed how this turned out, I have read a lot of recipe sites that say to use bacon to tame down the gamey taste of waterfowl, but I did not think that it took anything away from the Duck itself. Well until next time...

Asian Style Duck with Stirfried Veggies

Merry Christmas all, today I got to go out and get a hunt in. I ended up getting a Goldeneye so for dinner I decided to try an Asian style dish. I started by marinating the breasts in a mixture of:
1 cup soy sauce
2 gloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons Teriyaki sauce
1 Tablespoon Siracha
I let that sit for about an hour then pan seared them, I also sauteed some green beans and carrots in Teriyaki sauce and for a final touch made some quick rice.
I would also like to take this time to welcome any new followers from my friends at Snake River Waterfowl. And for those of you who are just casual visitors check out their fan page, and like them, their custom duck and goose calls are beautiful and sound great. Well that's it for now enjoy your holiday and eat well.

Lemon Herb Duck Breast

With the second couple of Ducks that we harvested I wanted to try an encrusted breast, so I looked around and found a recipe that I could work with. I found one called Lemon Herb Duck Breast online that I changed to meet my personal preferences, the recipe originally called for Rosemary, but since I don't car for that taste I left it out. The way I prepared it is as follows.
1 cup fresh chopped Parsley
2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
2 Tablespoons Grated Lemon Zest
4 Tablespoons Crushed Black Peppercorns
4 Tablespoons Dried Thyme
2 Whole Duck Breasts Split and Skinned
Salt

Combine parsley, garlic, lemon zest, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. Roll duck pieces in herb mixture to coat all over. Put oil in a large sauté pan, and turn heat to medium-high. When oil shimmers add duck, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, turning once, until coating browns and duck is medium-rare to medium, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Season meat with salt, and let it rest for a few minutes. Slice and serve.
I was asked why do I slice it before serving and the best answer I could come up with is for dental safety, trust me it hurts biting into a piece of steel shot. That and it looks nice I think.
I went out again this morning and have a couple more ducks to try a different recipe on, so I will be talking to you all again soon.

Pan Seared Duck Breast Salad with Feta

Hello again all, well since my last post I have been trying to learn how to hunt for waterfowl, last weekend Rex took me out for my first Duck Hunt and I had a great time. I think I may have found a new favorite pass time for late Autumn and early winter, heck I even went out a bought a brand new shot gun so I don't have to keep borrowing a gun. So after my first hunt I wanted to try a Pan Seared Duck Breast recipe, after I seared them they looked a little lonely on the plate, to fix that I added a small green salad topped off with some Feta Cheese. The recipe is really quick and easy to get the Duck Breast done, you will need:
1 stick of butter
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 sprig of Rosemary
A pinch of salt
I started the butter melting in a regular frying pan then added the garlic to the butter and let saute for just a moment, be careful when sauteing garlic if it burns it gets really bitter and is just not edible. After the butter is completely melted, sprinkle a little salt on the breast and add to the pan. Then add the Rosemary.
You can cook the duck two ways either all the way through or to medium rare, I prefer the medium rare way, I tried both and the well done piece was not only not as nice looking as the medium rare, but was a bit dry and chewy. That reminds me of a joke: A waiter asks a Stormtrooper how his Wookie Steak is and he replies, Chewie. Anyway I will keep posting new duck recipes as I get more chances to make them, Rex says he will show me how to make jerky out of Duck, and I also think we may be going Goose hunting as well.

Irish Stew

So as I was trying to find something to make for dinner yesterday, I was thinking about some of the foods that I really like and have not had for a long time. I remembered the Irish Stew from the Ha' Penny Irish Pub when I worked at the Knitting Factory, one of my best friends Justine and I used to get a couple bowls and enjoy before the night of drunken douche-bagery that was about to crash down on us. So I had two options, first drive to Boise and pay a whole lot of money to get seven servings of stew, or second learn to make it myself, and well I am a cheap son of a gun so make it myself it is. The recipe I used goes like this:

• 1 1/2 pounds thickly sliced bacon, diced
• 6 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces(I could not find this, so I used Lamb shoulder chops and removed the bones)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 4 cups diced carrots
• 2 large onions, cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 potatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup white wine

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly. Brown meat in frying pan with bacon fat.
3. Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 cup of fat in frying pan). Add the garlic and yellow onion and saute till onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 cup water and add the garlic-onion mixture to the stock pot with bacon pieces, beef stock, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Add carrots, onions, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and wine to pot. Reduce heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Now this was not the same as the one I used to eat but t was good, the Ha' Penny's stew is thicker, and that could be just a result of sitting in a pot longer and the potatoes breaking down, and mine had a little bit of the wine flavor on the back end of each bite, I might change this to add a rue to it to thicken it up depending on if it changes the taste I will let you know. Well Tanya has class tonight and usually I go with quick and easy but who knows I really have been enjoying cooking the last couple nights. Oh yeah date night last night Tanya brought home a move called "The Music Never Stopped" highly recommend watching this movie it was great.

Crab Nachos

Hey all I know its been a long time since my last post, but I have been busy with work really not that much time to cook. The other night Tanya wanted some Crab Nachos like they make at Joe's Crab Shack, so I tried my best to make them. According to their menu its chips with cheese, warm crab dip and black beans. I found a recipe online and while those of you who know me well know this is killing me I took a recipe from Paula Deen and modified it. To be honest I did not even see who the recipe was from until after I had finished preparing it, and there is not a stick of butter in the recipe so I had no clue it was hers. But any way I had to change the recipe because Tanya does not like cilantro and she does not like spicy food so I left out the Jalapenos. Her recipe is as follows:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper, plus slices for garnish, optional
• 1/2 cup light beer
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 (8-ounce) block pasteurized prepared cheese product
• 1 pound lump crabmeat, drained and picked for shells
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, (about 2 limes)
• 1/4 cup minced green onion
  
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno pepper, and garlic and cook stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Stir in the beer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the cream, cream cheese, and processed cheese, whisking until melted and smooth.

Stir in crabmeat, lime juice, green onion, cilantro, and chili powder and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the salt, black pepper, cayenne, and cumin. The jalapeno can be used as a garnish if desired.

I then took a layer of tortilla chips and spread a layer of shredded cheese over the top, then put a layer of the warm crab dip over that, that will melt the cheese making a great plate of nachos. Sprinkle with black beans and diced tomatoes.

Well it is my weekend maybe I can come up with some thing to night, i have the All Recipes app on my phone now, so lets see what is for dinner, well the app came up with pineapple bacon burgers, not sure that will go over here so I guess i will go to the grocery store and see what they have.