It’s that time of the year. The time when you cash in the remaining paid sick days you’ve accumulated at work and find yourself suffering from some miserable virus your coworkers/roomates/significant other has bestowed upon you. It is times like these that call for two things: someone to graciously listen to you whine about how awful you feel AND something spicy enough to knock your virus clear into next winter. For the latter I choose dishes with either gallons of hot sauce or mounds of chiles.

Last week, I was battling a vicious cold of epidemic proportions, and needed something cheap and quick that
1) made me feel better
2) could be made effortlessly on my meager amount of energy
3) capitalize ingredients I already had in my fridge.

While chicken noodle soup is fine and all, it doesn’t have the spice I require. I tend to order take-out Pho when I’m sick because of the abundance of broth and because the flavor goes so well with both jalapenos and rooster sauce.
After a recent trip to the asian market with George, however, I found Pho bouillion cubes that I’ve been wanting to try out. They look like this:

I can’t actually read the packaging, but it was vegetarian and seemed like you could estimate the water to cube ratio based off of what you would do with normal bouillion.

Rare steak pho is my poison of choice when I order vietnamese take-out, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea of trying it out at home. So this was a vegetarian dish all around. I already had baby bok choy in my fridge, as well as some thai basil, and a lime. Even though you would normally use a lemon, I chose to stick with my on-hand goods.

I did end up picking up fresh bean sprouts, some rice noodles and a jalapeno, totalling all of $2 at my neigborhood asian market. These places are gems. Locate one near you, if you can.

I estimated four cups of water to one pho cube and brought it to a boil. This seemed to be about right. You can add more or less depending on the concentration you want. After that I threw in the baby bok choy (I usually just cut the very ends off and let the stalks separate from there) and rice noodles. Both of these ingredients cook up quick.

Once cooked, I transfered them to a large bowl (in my case this was a large pyrex baking dish- all of my kitchen supplies play double duty) and garnished with lime slices, bean spouts and an entire diced jalapeno. I let the jalapeno soak into the broth for a while before I eat it. (IF you do choose to use meat, this would be the point where you throw in the raw meat and let it cook in the broth).

It made a huge 10 minute meal for under $5 and knocked my cold out like a heavyweight punch in the first round.

Finish with a grapefruit for dessert. YUM.

Filed under: Technique, Recipes, Meal Reports
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There comes a point in every fashionistas busy schedule when s(he) decides to host a most personal affair.

Enter the dinner party.

And at said dinner party you need a dish that wows. Something that will impress and astound your guests. A twist on an old dish is often fine, but wouldn’t you like to add something extra to your arsenal? An entrée that will win you five stars and have your dinner companions impressed at your culinary expertise?

Might I suggest forgoing chicken for another feathered friend? Duck, perhaps?

Seriously? I cannot get enough duck. Some of you may have never tried it. Some of you might be afraid to try it… but I’m here to calm your fears. Duck is not only easy to cook, but it tastes great. Crossing that line from average poultry to extraordinary poultry, it should be tender and slightly sweet. Duck is notoriously a fatty bird, but if that concerns you, you can try my personal favorite: Muscovy duck. It’s a less fatty duck that you can find at most Whole Foods and other upscale grocery stores. Two duck breasts is enough for four people. You can pick any sort of sauce, depending on the meal you’re going for. Balsamic cherry reduction is great, but I’ve also experimented with a thai chili duck over a bed of chili onions. Select your cuisine, pick wines accordingly and go to town.

Purchase your duck breasts and bring them home. To cook them you need nothing more than a frying pan and a glass dish for the oven. a little salt and pepper for seasoning is fine… lightly rub it in on each side.

You’ll want to leave the fat on the duck breast for cooking. Score the fat with a knife, just cutting through it. Don’t pierce the flesh. It should be one long cut with three cross hatch cuts per breast, exposing the meat below.

Now that your breasts are ready (insert collective snicker here) heat the frying pan over medium high heat. You don’t need any oil, but place the breasts fat side down (ALWAYS fat side down) in the pan. You’ll want to cook it for 10-12 minutes. Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees while you are doing this. When you are finished cooking in the pan, flip the breast flesh side down in the glass dish and bake for an additional 12 minutes in the oven.

Whatever sauce you’ve prepared for duck should already be reduced and ready to go. Cherry balsamic reduction is one of my favorites, but feel free to experiment with brandy, huckleberries, etc.

Balsamic Cherry Reduction is:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
11/2 cups rich duck or chicken stock
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon cold butter
Salt and black pepper

Get as saucy as you want! My girlfriends and I love getting saucy with our food. Many stone fruits make good reductions and the sweetness really complements the duck.

Now that your guests are properly loose from the lovely wine you’ve served them and are anticipating the meal that will follow the cheese they’ve been noshing on (Roaring 40’s with a baguette or perhaps Humbolt Fog with some rosemary crackers?) you can deliver the goods.

Slice each breast into medalions and arrange them on plate over your vegetable of choice. Spoon sauce over the duck and serve.

Donald would approve.

Filed under: Technique, Recipes, Meal Reports, Ingredients
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