Peking Duck Part 2

I took the preped duck (see part one) out of the fridge several hours before cooking so it could come to room temperature. The instructions are to cook the duck at 400 F (200 C) for 1.5 hours with out basting or turning. If the skin starts to get too dark, cover it with foil to keep it from browning any further. My oven is convection (do not know how to turn it off) and doesn't pass 350-375 (180) easily so I cooked it at 350. The higher temperature may have sealed the fat better, but the skin was still good.

While the duck was roasting we thinly slice green onions (Chinese onions?) and cucumbers. We put hoisin sauce in a bowl and cut up the thiniest tortillas we could fine. I highly recommend finding the Chinese tortillas. I am sure I have a recipe somewhere, but it is report writing season...
Slice the duck and skin. Put some hoisin on a tortilla, plus some green onion and cucumber then the meat of course. Roll up and enjoy!

Peking Duck- Part 1

Tomorrow I (we- Caroline will join us) are cooking the duck. Today was the prep of the bird.
Ducks (dead and ready to be cooked) are not easy to find here. Tuesday we went to a steack house to order the bird, and Thursday Caroline picked it up. About 40-50 dollars a bird that must be about 2 kilos- and there is a good amount of fat.

I cleaned out the inside- no head, but a heart and liver I think. Cut off the tail and the part of neck that was there. I put those in a pot with water to start the broth. (I try to make broth whenever I have pieces- much nicer than the dry store stuff).

Rinse the duck in water. Then boil a big pot of water. When it is good and boiling, put the duck in there and submerge it for about 2 1/2  minutes. This seals the skin (what ever that means).

Mix 2 tablespoons of honey and 2 tablespoons of water. Dry the duck, after it has cooled, and spread the honey/water mixture all over the bird. Then keep it in a cool dry place for at least 6 hours. Mine is in the fridge.

Hopkins Neolithic Eggnog

Hopkins Neolithic Egg Nog

I got this recipe from my brother Mark. I have cut it into a fourth as I do not have room in my fridge for any more. If you quadruple what I have written it would be enough to serve 15-20 people.

fresh eggs from the market

3 egg whites
25 grams sugar

3 egg yolks

50 grams sugar
1 pinch salt
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream, beaten
250 ml milk
250 ml bourbon- I use whiskey as I do not know what Bourbon to buy and always feel rushed to get out of duty free so have to pick quickly
65 ml rum, I use about ½ cup

Fresh nutmeg and more rum for later when you serve it

Beat egg whites until stiff, beat in 25 grams sugar.
Beat yolks and 50 grams sugar until very light, add salt.
Combine the two and stir.
Add cream, milk, then Bourbon/whiskey.
Beat well.
Add rum.

Store in a cold cellar (I don’t have one, so I use the fridge) for a week.

I gently stir the eggnog daily because I do not like the layers- your choice. When you serve it, add freshly grated nutmeg and a little rum. Enjoy!

Aji de Gallina

Aji de Gallina a Turquia

Adapted from The Art of Peruvian Cuisine, by Tony Custer

(a beautiful gift from the Lemleys)

This is one of Kelani’s favorite dishes. I was not sure if I could pull it off without all of the Peruvian spices available. It worked. Not certain how a Peruvian would have felt about the substitutions, but other than being more red than yellow in color, the results reminded of us our time in Peru.

• 1 chicken (about 2 kg, 4 pounds or 3 complete breasts)
• 1 medium chopped white onion
• 1 clove (3 really), crushed (I chopped instead)
• 7 tablespoons aji marisol paste (recipe below)
• ½ loaf sliced bread without the crust (I took a loaf of fresh bread, sliced it, and toasted it in the oven, then put it in the food processor), about 1 ½ cups of crumbs, I think
• 2 cups plus chicken stock (I made this as you have to boil the chicken and peel the meat off the bone, so I kept the chicken water, added the bones, salt, and cooked some more)
• 1 ½ cups evaporated milk- we do not have this, so I used whole milk, about 2 cups (I do not like the after taste of evaporated milk either)
• 100 grams chopped walnuts
• 125 grams grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 dozen black olives
• 6 – 8 yellow potatoes (I used rice instead)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Start making the aji marisol paste if you do not already have it.

In a pan of water boil the chicken gently. Cool. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return the bones and skin if you want to the pan, add salt and boil gently to make your chicken stock.

Add milk to bread crumbs.

In a large heavy based pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil. Sauté the onion until golden, add the garlic and aji marisol paste and fry them well.

Add the soaked bread mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes and then begin to add ladles of the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly. Each time the sauce thickens add the chicken stock. While stirring continually add the olive oil.

Finally, add the shredded chicken, parmesan cheese and nuts. If it is too thick add some more stock while stirring gently so as not to mash the chicken. Simmer gently until the oil comes to the surface.

Serve hot (accompanied by rice) and yellow potatoes. Garnish with olives and hard boiled eggs. (I do not serve rice and potatoes, also baked french fries are a good substitute).

Pasa de Aji Mirasol

Pasta de Aji Mirasol

Adapted from The Art of Peruvian Cuisine, by Tony Custer

I did not have the proper peppers. Aji Mirasol is a yellow or orange colored pepper.

I used my dried peppers from Mexico, California and New Mexico. Not certain what they were just various sizes of dark and light red chilies.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 lb (500 grams) dried aji marisol (I used about 1.5 handfuls of ? dried chilies, 2 big ones about 10 little ones)
• Water

Stem and seed the ajies. Toast them in a dry skillet over high heat for a few minutes (careful- the odor can be painful on the breathing and eyes), then put them in boiling water for a few minutes. If you are worried that the chilies will be too spicy, change the water and blanch the chilies again (a third time if necessary, but I found twice was just right). In a blender or food processor with steel blade, process the ajis with just enough vegetable oil and water to make a thick paste. Push the mixture through a sieve and discard remaining skins.

Tomato Sauce and Meatballs

Meatballs and Tomato Sauce


I have adjusted the recipe from a January 2009 Gourmet. It calls for canned tomatoes which are too heavy to carry home from the store, plus there are usually plenty of tomatoes year round here in Turkey.

For tomato sauce:

2.5 kilos or 5.5 pounds tomatoes
2 medium onions, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Boil water; add enough tomatoes so that you can still see them all. Boil until the skin starts to split, take those out and continue with the remaining. Peel tomatoes and cut out the top part. Now you can crush them with your hands, or put them in the food processor so they are not so lumpy (Kelani’s preference).

Make sauce: Cook onions in oil in pot over medium heat, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Simmer sauce uncovered stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, 45 minutes to an hour.



For meatballs:

1 medium onion finely chopped

¼ cup olive oil, maybe less

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1.5 cups torn day-old Italian bread

1.5 cups milk

3 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (cheese)
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup finely chopped oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried crumbled
½ tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 ¼ pounds or 1 kilo ground meat- I use lamb and beef, the recipe calls for veal, pork and not lean beef
1 cup olive or vegetable oil

We do not usually have day-old Italian bread lying around, so we take a nice loaf and slice it, then put it in a 180 C or 350 F oven for about 8-10 minutes to toast it. Then put it in the food processor to turn them into crumbs.

Cook onions in oil in skillet over medium heat until soft, about ten minutes. Add garlic and cook about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

Soak bread in milk in another bowl until soft, about 5 minutes. Squeeze bread to remove milk and discard milk.

Stir together cooled onion mixture, bread, eggs, parmesan, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add meats to bread mixture gently mixing with your hands until just combined.

Form meat mixture into meat balls and arrange on cookie sheets.

Heat 1 cup olive or vegetable oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking, then brown meatballs in batches (without crowding), turning frequently, about 5 minutes per batch. Return to cookie sheets.

Add meatballs to sauce and gently simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes.

Lemon Squares

Today Kelani made Lemon Squares. She did not want the butter crust, so she substituted sweet crackers (biscuits?) put in the food processor and one half cup melted butter. Pressed all into the pan (9 by 13 as we doubled the recipe), and baked about 7 minutes.

I prefer the crust in the recipe as the sweet cracker crust absorbed most of the liquid.

Lemon Squares
From: Portfolio: Culinary Art; Denver Art Museum, 1974. Pg. 36
I usually double the recipe and put it in a 9 by 13 inch pan.

180 C or 350 F oven

Crust:
1 cup flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup powdered sugar

Cut butter into flour and sugar until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Pat firmly into 9 inch square pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at . Do not brown.

2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons lemon juice (Peruvian or Hawaiian limes are great)
Grated rind of one lemon (or lime)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder

Stir lemon juice into eggs. Add grated lemon rind, sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder all at once and mix only until well blended. Pour over the baked srust and return to oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at . Watch closely so top doesn’t brown. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar immediately after removing from oven. Cool and cut into squares after several hours.