The start of a New Year and the opportunity to throw in a few more culinary challenges. Although I did begin the New Year with a different type of challenge - open water swimming. Similar to cooking, I am not a natural, throw myself in the deep end, surround myself with able people to strengthen the feeling of inadequacy and keep going. This open swim was conducted in the beautiful Lake Taupo - although at the time I was too focused on keeping alive then appreciating the wonderful landscape I was in. On reaching the shoreline my fellow participants were long ago dressed and ready for prize- giving, although my faithful family and a few staff members cheered me across. Now safe from the deluge of swimmers a group of ducks were also there to greet me .... hmm what wonderful inspiration for my next Julia dish.
I love the taste of duck and Julia did provide a range of variations of Caneton Roti. However I found the recipes rather confusing with a number of cross references which meant I was flicking back and forth in my book all over the place. I choose Roast Duck with peaches over the cheeries and orange sauce, mainly due to the shorter length of instructions to navigate through. I felt slightly guilty that I sourced tinned peach halves from Spain being surrounded by fresh fruit living in the Hawke's Bay - but they were perfect looking specimens and were right there in the specialist food shops when we were getting the duck. In preparation for cooking, the duck was seasoned, with thyme being the chosen herb, and I conducted some simple trussing to keep everything all tucked in and neat. Close to serving time I engaged the assistance of husband Jamie to assist with the sauce whilst I arranged the peaches and presented the duck. Julia states that the French taste for duck is roasted to a medium rare. Overcooked duck meat is brown, dry and disappointing! I am pleased to report that although more medium than rare, the duck was lovely and succulent and did not disappoint.
The preparing of the Crepes Suzette was another team activity. I had made the batter in advance for the crepe sucree - a more delicate crepe and also the orange butter was ready to go. The orange butter consisted of orange peel, butter orange juice, orange liqueur and sugar. I don't know if Julia was rather tipsy on writing up this recipe as there was way too much orange butter. Anyway we had crepe team on hand with Jamie being the crepe maker, Mum specialising in the crepe folding, dunking the crepe in the melted orange butter and arranging on the chafing dish. I performed the easiest job of preparing the orange liqueur and brandy and taking the photo of that impressive time when you set your food on fire! The adults enjoyed the crepes but daughters found the taste too intensive with a report of "you have ruined the pancakes". Note to self ...will add to the challenge of navigating rough seas, overcoming overdoses of salt water oral hydration and possible shark attacks with making desserts that daughters enjoy!
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| Into the challenge |
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| The duck that did not disappoint |
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| Expert crepe folder in action |
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| Voila! |
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| The scene of inspiration |
