Happy 'Ducken' Day

Herb roasted duck.  Cinnamon and spice roasted chicken. Mashed fingerling potatoes with creme fraische and chives. Roasted beet salad.  "Ducken" gravy (duck and chicken - for those who have not caught onto our lame sense of humor). Pomegranate Cranberry sauce.  Pumpkin Gingersnap Tiramisu. Wine, home brewed beer, home brewed kombucha. Happiness. Love.  Fun.  Frustrating cooking moments.  Laughing. Snorting. Geeky boys and their pipes.  'Nourishing' obsessed girls in the kitchen.  A True "Piscibert-Holbelli" (another reference to our geeky humor) Family Event.

  

We celebrated a Pre-Thanksgiving Feast with our good friends, the Holberts, this past weekend.  They are family to us.  Lacey and I share the same passions in the kitchen (and for the home) and so we attempted to create a gourmet feast, 'Nourishing-Style' - but mainly focused on fresh, organic, local and seasonal foods.

Here's some of the stuff we did:

I tried to prepare some fermented gingered carrots, as instructed in Nourishing Traditions...unfortunately, we found that the carrots were just not ready for our 

meal on Saturday night so we will enjoy (hopefully) them another time.  Supposedly, this recipe is one of the best for introducing fermented foods into your diet.  Check out this site to learn more about implementing fermented foods into your diet.  I'm assuming these turn out like a carrot sauerkraut.  It was super easy to make....here's the recipe:

4 cps.  grated carrots, tightly packed

1 TB fresh grated ginger root

1 TB sea salt

4 TB whey (if not available, use an additional 1 TB salt)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pound with a wooden pounder or meat hammer to release the juices.  Place in a quart-sized jar and press down firmly until juices cover the carrots. The top of the carrots should be at least 1" below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly and leave at room temp. about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

For the chicken, I used this recipe.

The roasted beet salad was my favorite dish.  Here's what we did:

About 6 small red beets

2 crushed garlic cloves

Dash of olive oil, S&P

Bunch of rainbow chard - enough to fill your salad bowl

About a cup+ of candied walnuts or pecans

About a cup of goat cheese

Dressing:

3 TB olive oil

1 TB honey

S&P

Mix dressing ingredients together. Scrub and peel the beets.   

Slice them thin.  Toss them in the olive oil, garlic, and S&P. Lay them out on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, checking to see that they are getting soft.  When you can pierce a fork through, remove them and let cool for a few minutes.  Toss the rest of the ingredients together in salad bowl, along with the dressing and top off w/the beets.

I found the Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce in 'Food & Wine' magazine.

1 1/2 lbs. fresh or frozen cranberries

2 cups sugar (I used Rapadura)

1 cup pomegranate juice

2 cups fresh pomegranate seeds

In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, and juice.  Bring to a simmer and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the cranberries have burst (10 min). Scrape the sauce into a bowl and let cool.  Fold in pomegranate seeds and serve.

And, finally, for dessert!  Pumpkin Gingersnap Tiramisu.  For the gingersnaps, I made my secret family recipe...so I cannot share that part! ;)  We replaced the sugar with Rapadura and topped it with eggnog whipped cream. This was a creative alternative to pumpkin pie.

We had a grand time and enjoyed every morsel.  Now for the real Thanksgiving....just a few short days away!