AN INDULGENCE

 Not one of these silly things that nearly scuppered the Catholic Church back in the sixteenth century.

The Old Girl cooked duck risotto last night.

She makes this by slow cooking duck pieces (breast, legs) in a slow-cooker. She then drains off the juices and fat and shreds the meat to mix in with risotto she makes from arborio rice. Yummy.

She uses the juices to make duck stock which we freeze and use later in soups, stews and casseroles.

We used to pour off the fat but recently she's taken to separating this and using for duck-fat chips. Duck-fat chips, if you are unfamiliar with them are a must-have delicacy in restaurants and well worth trying. Today for lunch I used some left-over cooked potatoes which I cut into small chunks and sautéed in the duck fat. I also fried an egg in the fat and had this on a thick slice of toast from the home-made wholemeal bread  that I had baked yesterday. Wowee!

I don't recommend eating like this too often as the calorie intake is whopping but as a treat, as an indulgence if you will, it's a wonder that Martin Luther doesn't come knocking at the door.

"I smell duck fat. Let me in."

A WORD FROM THE WISE(GUY)

 The other day I made a pasta sauce that was so delicious it will become my 'go to' sauce in the future.

It was from Annabel Langbein's cooking book More Taste Than Time which we've had for many years. The dish was named simply 'Pasta Siciliana'

I've never met Annabel but I did know her sister Prue at university.

As you can see the recipe is simple and the cooking time very short but the explosion of flavour from the combination of kumara, orange juice and the herbs is outstanding. The orange cuts through the otherwise heaviness of the tomato flavour.  One orange was all iI needed and I only used half of a medium sized golden kumara which was enough when cubed. I grated Colby cheese together with Parmesan for the topping. While the kumara, orange juice and pureed tomatoes were simmering I quickly sautéed some pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pine-nuts in a pan with some orange and chilli oil. These were crunchy and added the 'wow; factor to the dish.I really recommend this as it's fresh, flavoursome and healthy and any fool can make it.

I know that Richard will like it and Robert could slaughter a pig or a lamb or something to add to it.