11/26 leek, olive, and duck tart

The photo here is of a half-eaten tart. You should take that as a fair indication of the results from this relatively easy recipe. I made a yeasted tart dough in advance (Sunday) and stuck in in the freezer, so the only thing that needed to be prepared night of was sauteing leeks, chopping olives and herbs, grating parmesan, and whisking eggs and cream.

PLUS chopping leftover duck. I picked this recipe precisely because it seemed it would take to duck leftovers so well - and this time, instincts did not disappoint. I think I could have eaten the whole thing if I was properly motivated (although I'm sure I would have regretted it).

11/23 My first duck

The first time is always difficult. I was nervous, especially since I never make meats in general. Plus duck needs a little bit of extra special care to make sure you render the fat out from under the skin during the cooking process. It only took me two different days of two different roasting sessions to get it right - and I learned a lot in the process. I was supposed to be eating/serving duck on thanksgiving day, but instead I had a little post-thanksgiving feast.

The duck is served with one of my favorite recipes: marjoram pesto with beets and their greens, with thinly sliced onions marinated in red wine vinegar (it's supposed to be red onions - but I didn
t have any. A small sweet white onion worked fine). I thought this might need a little extra starch to round out, so I roasted some potatoes (boiled whole in advance to speed up the cooking) in a bit of the duck fat still left in the roasting pan.