CutandBaste.com » Traditions

Duck & Sausage Chili

Thomas Kelly — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:26:51 +0000

D’Artagnan has these great duck legs confit and smoked duck breasts, which you can now find at most supermarkets. And if not, order them online. They are already cooked, so all you have to do is warm them up and you’ve saved some time. I started this chili by scoring the skin of the breasts and cooking those over high heat in a large pot and then cooked the duck legs over lower heat. Shred/chop all the meat, set aside, and reserve bones for a stock.

The fat rendered from warming the duck provides an ideal base for the chili. Create a paste out of 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, 3-4 tablespoons of chili powder, garam masala, and whatever other spices you have on hand and like in chili (cumin, nutmeg, etc). Cook this paste in the duck fat until the mixture becomes slightly rusty in color. Add a large can of whole peeled tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of bbq sauce, 1 or 2 canned chipotles, and a head of roasted garlic. Cook for 20 minutes or so and puree with hand held blender.

Separately, saute the sausage over high heat, remove and add a mixture of chopped onions/shallots and peppers (we used poblano, jalepeno, and habanero this time) to the saute pan.

Add everything to the pot with a few cups of stock and simmer for a few hours (adjusting with stock and spice as necessary).

Garnish with some cheese and serve with a pickleback shot of Jameson.

Mr. Lucas Giokas prepares the picklebacks.

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The Annual Chili Cook-Off

Thomas Kelly — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:02:50 +0000

This was by far and away our most diverse and impressive Super Bowl Chili Cook-Off yet. Unclear as to which one came out on top due to a strange voting system (the pastry chef technically won), but they were all fantastic in their own way.

Top left: Classic meat chili by our hosts Nash, Carolyn and Taylor (see pics below)

Top right: Duck and sausage chili by TK

Bottom right: Chicken & sweet pepper chili by the defending champion, Colleen Sanders

Bottom left: Green chili with pork by our friend Todd, who generously sent chili even though he wasn’t able to make it. Best green chili I’ve ever tasted.

Recipes to follow…

The chef at work!

Taylor suited up for the game and doing a little half time Crayola magic.

Nash, also suited up for the game and doing a Nash trick.

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Inauguration Night: Meat & Potatoes

Thomas Kelly — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:10:44 +0000

To celebrate the inauguration the other night, we did a classic American “meat & potatoes” dinner: thick cut sirloin steaks basted in butter, roasted fingerling potatoes with a ton of rosemary and garlic, and a simple salad. To add a bit more flavor to the meal, I did an interesting vinaigrette with blood orange and roasted garlic. In a blender, start by pureeing the juice of one blood orange, a few tablespoons of blood orange vinegar, a small amount of spicy mustard, and the a whole head of roasted garlic. Drizzle in olive oil while blending and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with lettuce, some slivers of blood orange, radish, and avocado.

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Traditions: Christmas Quiche

Thomas Kelly — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:10:05 +0000

A few years ago, my mom started a tradition of doing three different quiches on Christmas morning. She’s taught me most of what I know about cooking, so its fun to be able to go back home and assist her with this ambitious breakfast. We start with recipes from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon and deviate as we see fit. This year we did a classic quiche lorraine, a wild mushroom quiche, and a spinach quiche. I’ll post the recipes at some point, but we’ll start with the photos…

Chopped shallots, criminis, and chanterelles for the wild mushroom quiche:

Bacon and caramelized onion for the quiche lorraine:

The empty tart shell pre-baked:

Spinach quiche layer one:

Ready for a final layer of egg and cheese:

Finished Products:

And desert… Coffee Cake, another Andrus Xmas tradition:

Dutch Chocolate Shoes:

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