Saturday Night Pickup
It was almost 5 before I got around to grabbing some groceries, and since both Linda and I have been traveling lately the cupboard was bare. Or, more precisely, it had some gaping holes and some science experiments.
I had some smoked duck left from Vermont, and some seedless black grapes from last week's grilled trout with crushed grapes. So that made a salad.
I wanted to do something rich and wintry, but was already too hungry to wait for a braise. So, I bought some short ribs to braise tomorrow and splurged tonight:
- salad: greens, red onion, black grapes, slices of smoked duck
- potato gratin, topped with some grated parmesan
- rack of lamb, crusted with mustard
- improvised sauce (deglaze pan with some leftover shiraz, reduce, add a cup of chicken stock, reduce to almost nothing)
- a cheap, unfashionable, but nice Bordeaux
The lamb is an indulgence, but everything else is staples and leftovers. The cream in the gratin is a caloric indulgence, but we don't need to have much. It makes a lovely foundation for the lamb, with a spoonful of that nice wine sauce ladled over everything.
I'm rusty and the kitchen is all ahoo, but it's still an hour meal. Lots of code to write: tempus fugit.
Know a good source for some inexpensive duck legs? Email me.