Duck!

I regard Thanksgiving as the 'birthday' of my stepping up my cooking, so I'd been thinking for several weeks about what I might cook yesterday. I'm subject to periods of grayness in my life, however, and as the holiday approached, I just didn't feel up to a big project. I did buy a duck, however: I can get one this time of year, it's special enough to be festive, and I knew I could roast it without a lot of fuss. I also bought the makings for a side dish I've wanted to try that I didn't think would tax my somewhat-frayed nerves.

As it turned out, it was a better day cooking than I'd had in some time. I wound up doing three dishes, all of which were reasonably successful. This wasn't as much as I've often tried to do, and I didn't end the day frustrated or exhausted.

A Foul Deed

I roasted the duck according to Mark Bittman's recipe in the iPad version of "How to Cook Everything". The method is fairly similar to roasting a chicken, the biggest difference being piercing the skin to render off some of the bird's fat.  (Fat, after all is a big part of how it stays afloat. Duck is a very rich meat.) Basting with a little soy sauce provided both flavor and color.

I found the duck to be quite tasty. I had a leg and a breast with my meal. I used some of the leftovers in a salad this afternoon and plan to use the rest in a hash tonight.

The Root of the Matter

A couple of decades ago, I shared a holiday meal with the family of my brother-in-law. One of his aunts brought a dish of mashed carrots and parsnips. I was hesitant to try it, not even being sure what a parsnip was, but it was good. I've thought about that dish from time to time in recent years, and decided that it would be at my Thanksgiving meal yesterday.

I did look at a recipe online (I don't know where: my apologies to the author) and adopted the method. I chunked up roughly equal amounts of the carrots and parsnips and boiled them until quite tender. I then mashed them with butter, salt, and a little nutmeg.

As simple as it is, this dish is my favorite of the day. It is tasty, and has the warm, comforting feel of mashed potatoes at half the carbs. It's easy enough for a weeknight, and my stepmother  (who, as it turns out, grew up with the dish and used to make it regularly) says it reheats beautifully. (As part of my experiment, I only made enough for my meal.)

A Little Dessert

I haven't done any baking in a long time, and I decided yesterday afternoon that I'd try to find a recipe that seemed doable and didn't call for anything I didn't have on hand. I chose the "Easy Pound Cake" from the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book and used the recipe variation for "Ginger Pound Cake". (I did, after a bit of research online, substitute nutmeg for the mace I didn't have.)

It wasn't quite trouble free. I had almost all the flour incorporated into the batter when I started wondering when I was supposed to add salt. I checked the recipe and found that I had omitted not only the salt but baking powder. (Oops.) The out-of-order addition of the leavener may be why I didn't get all the rise I think I was supposed to. But it was delicious anyway, and felt quite light, in contrast to the heaviness I associate with pound cake.

(I'm sure the pound cake had nothing to do with a certain number I saw before bed. But most of the cake is now in my freezer, destined to be shared with my coworkers.)


As I said: it was a good day cooking.