Curried Duck Legs with Rhubarb

Filed under Duck + Game

The duck legs were $10 cheaper in Chinatown than at Whole Foods, but Chinatown doesn’t even sell rhubarb and five long stalks were on sale for $2 at Whole Foods. My wish is to just have one store to go to when I need to buy ingredients for cooking; a place with fresh and hard-to-find, yet affordable, produce. Until then, I’ll have to make long and separate trips all over the city.

This recipe from last week’s New York Times caught my eye because I haven’t cooked with duck in a long time and I’ve really only baked with rhubarb. Not to mention my recent kick with Indian flavors, I just wanted something I can reheat for next week’s lunches. I revised the recipe a little bit to avoid using a food processor for the spices–I was just too lazy to wash another gadget. The end result was duck meat that easily fell off the bone in thick sauce that was a balance of tart and sweet: perfect over warm basmati rice and some sautéed bok choy.

Ingredients:
4 duck legs
5 stalks rhubarb, chopped
1 small can coconut milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 small knob of ginger, peeled, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp hot paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
oil, salt, pepper

1. Toss salt with duck legs before cooking. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Brown duck legs, about 7 minutes per side. Turn and brown other side. Transfer to a bowl.
2. While duck browns, mash half of the onion with the ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a bowl and combine with all the spices. Season with salt.
3. When duck is done, spoon out all but about 2 tbsps of fat from skillet. Add remaining onions and a large pinch of salt. Sauté until soft, 5 minutes. Add seasoned ginger-garlic paste and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes.
4. Add coconut milk and 2 cups water, and bring to a simmer. Add rhubarb, brown sugar and duck legs. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 1 hour, turning duck pieces halfway through. Uncover pan, turn duck again, and let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Related post/s:
Rhubarb in one of my favorite desserts

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Watermelon Granita

Filed under Baked Goods + Desserts + Drinks

For our first barbecue, I wanted to serve a simple summer dessert that everyone would enjoy after eating all the pork belly and chicken. I don’t know how heavy watermelons are in your area, but in Harlem, a quarter of a melon is good enough for this recipe–it fed five people with second servings. And at 69 cents a pound, it’s also the least expensive dessert I can think of with minimal effort. The watermelon juice that didn’t fit in the glass dish went into three tall glasses spiked with Grey Goose.

Ingredients:
watermelon flesh, chopped in manageable pieces
1/4 cup sugar
juice from 1 lemon
mint leaves

1. Put all watermelon pieces in a large glass bowl and sprinkle all over with sugar. Let stand for an hour in room temperature. In the meantime, put a square baking glass dish in the freezer.
2. Using a blender, purée the sugared watermelon and their juices with 1/2 cup of water and a squirt of the lemon juice. Taste and add more lemon juice if necessary. There should be a perfect balance of light sweetness and some tart.
3. Remove the glass dish from the freezer and pour in blended watermelon juice. Return to the freezer and freeze.
4. After 30 minutes, the watermelon should begin to freeze. Scrape off frozen bits from the side of the glass dish and move them to the center. Return to the freezer. Repeat three more times before serving with mint leaves.

Related post/s:
I forgot I made celery granita before

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