When the Wife is Away the Foodie Will Play

Noel went to her mother's early last weekend for a surprise party for a friend and to have brunch with her mom on Mother's Day. I wasn't going until Sunday so that meant I was on my own for dinner Saturday night. I love being on my own for dinner, Noel is what we call a picky eater, while I am an adventurous eater. First I thought fish but real quick I changed my mind. I had bought a fig balsamic vinegar at Russo's a few weeks earlier but had not yet used it. It hit me like a ton of bricks....duck breast. Duck is my favorite foul and because Noel does not like it and it can be expensive in restaurants I don't get a lot of opportunity to eat the delectable bird.

I had gone to Russo's that day to do our weekly shopping. Usually Russo's has duck breast, that Saturday they did not. After my wine tasting I ran to Whole Foods but they too didn't have any duck breast. I called my friends at Bacco's Wine and Cheese, they are all foodies so they would know where I could get the sought after meal. The Cheese Wiz told me, "Duh Savenor's in Beacon Hill." I felt like such a dummy, I use to live down the street from this place and have bought some of the best meats from these guys. Savenor's Market is a really nice, high end butcher. They carry everything, I mean everything. Ever want to try lion, tigers or bears? Oh my, they have them all!! I found a great recipe online. It was a pretty simple recipe. Score the skin, heat up a skillet put some sea salt in the skillet before putting in the duck skin side down. Cook five minutes per side and l let it sit for 10 minutes covered in tin foil. While that was sitting I took 1/3 cup of my fig balsamic vinegar mixed it with 1/3 cup dry white wine and reduced it by half then added tablespoon butter. The sauce was amazing and when added to the duck I saw fireworks!!! I roasted some small potatoes for almost an hour at 500F. They cooked for so long they were small balls of mash potatoes and when dipped in the sauce were devilishly good. While the duck breast was resting I cooked carrots, brussel sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, shallot and garlic in the duck fat. There is nothing better than vegetables cooked in animal fat!!!!

Such a great meal needed a great wine. French Pinot Noir is a great wine, especially when it comes from Sancerre. Sancerre is a fantastic region in Lorie. It is now a region known for the world's best Sauvignon Blanc but historicly it was better known for Pinot Noir. Why not the region abuts Burgundy. I personally love red Sancerre's better than the wines from Burgundy. I opened a bottle of Henri Bourgeois Les Bonnes Bouches Sancerre. I had bought this once before from Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits in Beacon Hill and knew I loved. It was full of candied sour berries, tart acidity and as I drank it the earthy, dirty flavors that Pinot is known for came to the party. Perfect wine for my perfect meal!! I can't wait for the wife to go away again, I've wanted to cook a lamb dinner for a while!!

One Meal Two Sauces

In the past few months I have made so many meals using fresh figs. I am really starting to love figs. I also love making sauces. Sauces make boring meals more exciting. Plus they are so gourmet, and that's what it's all about. While at Russo's Sunday, I decided to buy fresh figs and ravioli. I knew I was going to make two sauces this week, but I didn't think it would be the same meal. The ravioli was ricotta and sweat pea. I knew I wanted to use them as a side and not as the main focus. I decided to buy thin steaks while at Shaws and figured they would pair well with ravioli. But how could I make the steak as good as the ravioli? The answer was easy FIGS.

I love buying these steaks, they are so easy to make and are a cheap, decent cut of meat. I use a little olive oil and sea salt to make a quick and easy marinade and pan fry them. I found an easy balsamic fig sauce on keyingredient.com. I knew this would pump up the cheap thin steaks, and boy did it ever!!! I did change the recipe up a little. It asked for fig preserves, but I used fresh figs. I chopped up two figs before adding it to the balsamic vinegar and port. I roasted some brussel sprouts with olive oil, sea salt and garlic at 500F for 20 minutes. I tossed a cask iron skillet in with the brussel sprouts. After 20 minutes the skillet is hot enough to evenly cook the steaks. Just two minutes a side and the steaks were perfect. I cut them up into strips and served the fig sauce.  While the brussel sprouts were roasting I also cooked the ravioli and a butter and sage sauce. The butter sauce was so good, it used fresh sage, lemon juice and Parmigiano cheese. My buddy Chef Timmy gave me the idea for the butter sauce and he was so right. The two sauces kind of mixed together on the plate so I used the brussel sprouts to sop up the mess. I was in pure flavor Heaven!!

The wine was an easy pick. I had a worked with the new rep to Cielo in Italy. They have good inexpensive estate wines. In 2008 they celebrated their 100 year anniversary by introducing a new wine, Cent'anni Valpolicella Ripasso. This wine is so good!! It retails around $15.99 which for a Ripasso is a good value. The wine is big, and robust with great cherry flavors. Valpolicella Ripasso wines are great. The grapes are harvested later in the year so that they over ripe on the vine and basically become raisins. The grapes are fermented, but later in the spring they are re-passed over the left over skin of it's bigger brother, Amarone. This helps add body, color and flavor and kicks it into a second fermentation that raises the alcohol. The wine went great with the steak and the figs!! Perfect pairing for a great meal.