Smoked Duck Breast with Green Garden Salad and Mango-Orange Chutney

Saturday April 30

This was the first full sunny day we've had in all this rainy month. Time for some outdoor activities. While Barbara gardened, Holt got out the smoker, which he'd been longing to do for weeks. He fired it up with charcoal, put in some mesquite chips and lots of clippings from our thyme plants, and smoked a turkey breast and a whole duck, one above the other - the duck fat dripped on the turkey, which kept it moist. So the day passed pleasantly, with an occasional sip of wine and some intermittent lounging on the patio.

We had the duck breast for dinner that night, and broke the rest up for various meals.

We had gotten some mangoes at Findlay Market, so made a chutney to go along with the savory duck - using half a jalapeno from our homemade escabeche, which made it plenty hot.

As for the salad, it was just the new little leaves of lettuce from the garden, dressed simply with olive oil and white balsamic.

Spanish Potato Salad

Friday April 29

We did this much as we've done it before, but tried to use Russet potatoes. No good - they break down and fall into mash. Still tasty, though.

Stuffed Mushrooms in a Zucchini Nest

Thursday April 28

Holt had bought ten large stuffin' mushrooms, and then Barbara had a Vision: what if we had the stuffed mushrooms as eggs in a zucchini "pasta" nest? This was the result.

Clean mushrooms, remove stems and mince, also mince half an onion fine.

Sauté mushroom and onion bits in oil and butter; drizzle mushroom caps with oil and put sprigs of fresh thyme in them, bake in oven at 375 for 10 mins.

In the meantime, grind up 2 slices of Holt's tsoureki (or other good bread) in the robot-coupe. Meld 4 oz. goat cheese, ca. 2 oz. grated parmesan, a handful of toasted pine nuts, 2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, and (eventually) the fried mushrooms and onions in a bowl. Add breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper. Make 10 small balls out of this cheezy stuff.

When mushrooms have baked 10 minutes, put one ball of cheese mixture into each, bake 10 more minutes. When the mushrooms look tender, put the pan under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until browned.

In the meantime, run a big zucchini through the square-pasta making blade of the Benriner. Salt and let the green ribbons drain, as here.

To serve, use zucchini pasta around edges of warm plate as "nest," nestle mushrooms in center. Prettier than a pretty thing, and tasty to boot!

Stir-fried Shrimp with Asparagus

Tuesday April 26

This is an excellent quick stirfry, especially when asparagus is in season and cheap (like now). We always keep a bag of shrimp in the freezer just in case.

Defrost the shrimp by dumping them into cold water, and when they are pliable, remove their shells. Marinate them with a teaspoon of grated ginger, a tablespoon of Shaoxing wine, a grind of white pepper, a little sesame oil, and salt. Chop up the asparagus in slanting slices, separating stems from tips; stir fry the former, then the latter, in oil with a sprinkle of salt, until bright green. Lower heat, cover, and let steam with a dribble of water or chicken broth; remove. Reheat and oil wok, stir fry shrimp on high, add oyster sauce and stir in center to thicken, put asparagus back in, and reheat. Serve with a drizzle more sesame oil, for the tastiest and simplest Chinese style meal.

Chicken Salad with Caramelized Onions

Monday April 25

This time, the chicken version of Steve Matter's recipe, made from the scraps from Saturday's broth.

Easter Dinner at Eleni's

Sunday April 24

Eleni kindly invited us (and Junko and Daniel) to come over for a traditional Greek Easter dinner. She is an expert chef (even her apron says so), and served forth all the traditional foods.

We started with mageiritsa, the thick Easter soup that usually contains the innards of the lamb who is roasting on a spit outside. Luckily, this one was made of lambshanks and rice with lots of lovely dill.

Then, of course, the centerpiece - a succulent roast leg of lamb. Accompanying it were potatoes with lemon and rosemary, two kinds of tzaziki - one with sour cherries and walnuts, the other dill - and a giant, refreshing salad. And of course there were red eggs for tsougrisma, the battle of egg-tapping, which Eleni won.

Holt baked tsoureki, Greek Easter bread, which he braided like a giant challah; it sometimes has a red dyed egg embedded in the top, though not this time. It's flavored with exotic things like orange peel and mahlepi, an aromatic made from inner kernels of the pits of St Lucie Cherry; it smells like a combination of bitter almond and cherry. We got the spice suggestions from the blog of Sam Sotiropoulos.

though the recipe itself came from Holt's classic Best of Baking cookbook, by Wolter and Teubner. It was not as sweet and moist as the tsoureki of Eleni's memories, but more like a Christopsomo, which is also traditional. Maybe we'll try the other type next time.

Dessert was just chocolate eggs, which is all we could absorb, and at the end we staggered home and collapsed, which is an Easter tradition as well.

Lois Kain Memorial Chicken and Rice

Saturday April 23

We made this while cooking up a big pot of chicken soup and baking tsoureki. Did we mention the coriander forest out in the garden?