mashed potatoes

Recipe: Duck Confit Shepherd’s Pie With Kale

by Anne Maxfield on April 1, 2011

Accidental Locavore Duck Confit Shepherd's PieLast week, the Accidental Locavore was out with some friends testing a restaurant for a future party. After a horrific incident at the original restaurant (follow me on yelp.com if you want to see where), we escaped across the street to Les Enfants Terrible. We went from being four really cranky diners to a happy and well-fed gang within moments of getting drinks and appetizers. I decided to have their duck shepherd’s pie, not something I would normally order (too many awful public school versions) but the thought of duck, mashed potatoes and cheese worked, and it was delicious.

Later in the week, my friend and trusted guinea pig Laura came over for dinner. Having a couple of duck legs confit and some rendered duck fat from D’Artagnan, hanging out in the fridge, I thought they would make a great version of the shepherd’s pie. To be healthy (yeah, right, OK, how about local) kale would be the bottom layer, followed by the shredded duck confit, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. How bad could it be? It probably took about an hour or less from start to finish. Here’s how I did it to make 4 individual “pies”.

  • 5 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup or less milk, or chicken broth
  • Optional: crème fraiche or heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or rendered duck fat (if you have it)
  • 4 duck legs confit
  • 1 bunch kale, stems removed, and coarsely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced, or 1 tablespoon pureed garlic confit
  • ¼ pound Sonoma Dry Jack Cheese, grated (I was in the mood, use Gruyere, or what you like)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sauce pan over high heat, cook the potatoes in salted water until tender. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan. Add the butter, milk or chicken broth, and mash the potatoes. Finish with the heavy cream or crème fraiche and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add half the olive oil (or duck fat), and the duck legs, skin side down. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the skin has started to crisp up, and is dark golden brown. Flip them over, and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove from the pan.

Add the rest of the olive oil, garlic and kale to the pan. Toss the kale to coat with the olive oil. As the kale begins to wilt, cover with a lid and turn the heat down to medium, about 4 minutes.

While the kale is cooking, remove the skin from the duck legs and set aside. Remove the meat from the duck legs, shred into large pieces and set aside.

Assembling the shepherd’s pies:

Lightly grease a small oven-proof gratin pan, or 4 individual pans. Put an even layer of kale on the bottom of the pan, add the shredded duck confit and top with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Garnish with the reserved duck skin. Bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown about 40 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

My rating: 4 1/2 stars. Why not 5? A little more duck would have made it a 5, but this way my husband got one when he got home. What’s not to like about duck confit and mashed potatoes with cheese? Oh, and the kale for health. The genius move? Turning the duck skin into cracklings and using it as a garnish (see photo).

Frank’s rating: 3 1/2 stars. He thought it needed more duck and more potatoes but is highly anticipating me making it again. He thinks adding peas to it would make it better. What do you think?

 

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Cook-Along? Recipe for Coq Au Vin, Chicken Stew With a French Attitude

by Anne Maxfield on February 25, 2011

Accidental Locavore Coq au VinThis recipe for Coq au vin is one of  the Accidental Locavore’s husband’s favorite dishes. If you want to make it as part of the Cook-Along, check out either Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking or The Way to Cook. It’s basically a recipe for French chicken stew with bacon and red wine, and can be served over mashed potatoes or buttered noodles. It’s pretty easy to make, and the length of time it takes really depends on you. If you have the time and inclination, you can marinate the chicken overnight in the wine, and/or let it braise in a slow cooker. Or do it on the stove, only one pot to clean. You can easily make this for a crowd, just increase everything proportionately. This serves about 4 people. Cooking time 1 hour, plus optional marinating time.

  • 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
  • flour, salt and pepper for dredging the chicken
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 slices bacon (or use an end), cut into 1/2″ strips (lardons)
  • 1 bottle decent red wine (if you won’t drink it, don’t cook with it, we use a basic Cotes de Rhone)
  • 1-2 cups chicken broth
  • 1-2 tablespoons Cognac (optional, but use it)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste (buy the tubes, then you don’t wonder what to do with the rest of the can)
  • 8 ounces button or baby bella mushrooms, quartered
  • 1 bag frozen pearl onions (trust me it’s easier than peeling fresh ones)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon herbs de Provence (optional)

If you want to marinate the chicken, put it and enough red wine to cover it, in covered dish, or Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight. Don’t panic if it’s a weird shade of purple the next day, it’s just the wine. The next day, remove it from the marinade, toss the marinade, and pat the chicken dry.

If you’re not marinating the chicken,  pat it dry. Heat the olive oil in a big saute pan, or Dutch oven, over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until almost crispy about 5 minutes.  When the bacon is done, remove it from the pan, and put it on paper towels to drain. Raise the heat to medium high. While the bacon is cooking, pour enough flour to dredge the chicken into a shallow bowl, mix in salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, and shake off the excess. Brown it in the olive oil/bacon fat on both sides (start skin side down), about 5 minutes a side. Depending on your pan, you may have to do this in batches.

When the chicken is browned, add the rest of the wine, the cognac, and about a cup of chicken broth. You want the wine and broth to come about 2/3 of the way up the chicken. Stir in the tomato paste until mixed in. Add the bacon, mushrooms, onions, bay leaf, herbs de Provence, salt and pepper. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook over low heat for about an hour until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.

If you’re using a slow cooker, when the chicken is browned, add it, the bacon, mushrooms, onions, spices, wine, cognac, and chicken broth to the slow cooker. Cover and cook over low heat.

This is optional, but it intensifies the sauce. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan, and put it on a platter tented with aluminum foil to keep it warm. Turn the heat up to high, and bring the sauce to a boil. The longer you boil it, the more it will reduce, and intensify the flavor. When it gets to a consistency and taste you like, add the chicken back in, serve and enjoy.

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Recipe for Short Ribs Braised in Beer, Good for a Slow Cooker

by Anne Maxfield on December 31, 2010

Accidental Locavore Short RibsAs with the albondigas recipes, the Accidental Locavore has also worked and eaten my way through a lot of short rib recipes. This one is from Gordon Hammersley’s Bistro Cooking at Home. You can make them in the oven, or a slow cooker, your choice. This serves 6 but you can easily cut it back to 2 or 4. Figure two short ribs per person unless they’re huge. When I cut down the recipe, I usually just cut down on the vegetable oil, beer, and broth, everything else just adds flavor.  Serve them with your favorite mashed potatoes, I usually add a lot of horseradish to them when I serve them with these ribs, it really brings out the flavor and helps to cut some of the richness.

  • 6-8 pounds beef short ribs
  • Salt & pepper (I use kosher salt for everything)
  • About 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/2 pound bacon cut into 1″ pieces
  • 2 medium sized red onions sliced into 1/2″ rounds (cut across the onion to make rings)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste (if you buy it in a tube it costs more, but you always have it for weird amounts like this)
  • 2 bottles stout beer (I use Guinness, and the cans are fine too)
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 cups beef stock (1 can, and some water is fine)

If you’re using the oven, preheat to 350. Salt and pepper the short ribs. In a large heavy pot (ovenproof if you’re baking them) heat the oil until very hot. Sear the ribs in batches if you’ve got a lot of them, until brown on all sides. Remove the ribs from the pan, and pour off the excess oil, but don’t clean the pan. Add the bacon and cook until it’s rendered it’s fat, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Don’t worry if the onions start to fall apart, they will. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. Add the beer, vinegar, beef stock, and the ribs. Bring the liquid to a boil. At this point you can cover the pot and cook in the oven until they’re fork tender, about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Alternatively, just dump everything into the pot of a slow cooker, cover and cook on low while you’re at work. When you’re ready to serve, remove the ribs, and onions from the pot, and pour the remaining liquid into a wide saucepan. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook until it’s reduced by at least a third (your call as to how thick you want the sauce). Taste and check for seasoning. Add the ribs and onions back to the sauce, serve and enjoy!

Thanks to Michelle Girasole of the Sassy Ladies for suggesting more recipes for slow cookers, it reminded me about this great recipe.

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What I’ve Been Cooking: Short Ribs, Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

by Anne Maxfield on February 15, 2010

Accidental Locavore Short Ribs

Trying desperately not to miss sunny California, I threw myself into the kitchen, where the windows that look out on snow are limited. My parents came down for the weekend (that’s it’s own blog) so Saturday I cooked up a mess of short ribs from Gordon Hamersley’s Bistro Cooking at Home. They couldn’t be easier; you sear the ribs, let some bacon render its fat, brown big rings of red onion, and braise the whole thing in a slow oven with a couple of bottles (or in this case, cans) of Guinness. If you want the whole recipe, let me know. What was forgotten was the block of bittersweet chocolate from the chocolate show, to grate into the sauce, adding a different level of flavor. We had the ribs with some horseradish mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, and steamed broccoli (have to look healthy, n’est pas?).

As crazy as it might sound, I’ve been totally spoiled for potatoes. My farmer, Paul Wigsten, grows several heirloom varieties of potatoes, including the most luscious Corolla’s. They LOOK like Yukon Golds, but have so much more flavor, and are incredibly buttery. Paul says you don’t need butter when you eat them, and I agree, even though we all know butter makes everything better. Just one more thing to add to the list of why I love summer!

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