December 10, 2004
MarkBernstein.org
 

Confit

We're still ovenless. Our kitchen, as Buffy would say, is dusted.

It's been that way since Vienna; that's a long time to be cooking on hot plates.

Friday night, we tried some smoked scallops with a commercially packaged (but tasty) Balinese/Indonesian sauce, made better with lots of scallions and a melange of tasty (though expensive) mushrooms. (We had a Mas Carlot syrah-grenache, which I think has some bryttomyces, or perhaps was corked)

Saturday night, I tried some store-bought (Grimaud) duck confit, crisped, with garlicky potatoes. That worked really well; I like my confit better because I can use more herbs, but this was good -- and I don't have an oven so it's the only game in town. I wasn't that eager to finish the Mas Carlot, so we opened an inexpensive Minervois.

It's surprising how much you can do with a hot plate -- and how indulgent you can get with the groceries before you come close the damage a trip to the diner will do.