What’s the best compliment one can bestow upon an avid home cook? A good ole’ fashioned plate-lick. A plate-lick of the two-fisted, full tongue extension variety.
A moan of pleasure is always good too, as is a squeal of delight followed by a recipe request, but not much beats an exuberant plate-lick.
Needless to say, I was overjoyed when my Supper Club dish was met with a hearty tongue swipe of the plate. Yeah! Who knew a fennel and avocado salad with candied kumquats and horseradish dressing could inspire such delight? I do think it was the dressing, so if you haven’t yet made it, what are you waiting for?
The salad was just the start of what turned out to be a delicious parade of food during our 10th Supper Club dinner. We were all so busy laughing, chatting and licking plates, that nobody bothered to take any photos of the gorgeous dishes. Bummer for my blog.
Our hosts for this particular dinner chose a theme similar to that of the foodie TV show Chopped. The hosts gave each of us three ingredients, which we then had to use to create our given course for the meal. Ingredients and courses as follows:

• First Course Mystery Basket: horseradish, avocado, mascarpone cheese
• Main Course Mystery Basket: duck, chocolate, rosemary
• Side Dish Mystery Basket: eggplant, walnuts, capers
• Dessert Mystery Basket: lemons, tomatoes, ginger

The results? Succulent, perfectly cooked duck breasts paired with a mole-type sauce. A chunky eggplant dish topped with a flavorful parmesan crust. And a silky lemon panna cotta paired with a tomato jam and a tomato-ginger chutney. In other words, a complete success! I look forward to the next Supper Club event, which we are hosting this spring. Theme to be determined.

Red-Wine Braised Duck

Crunchy skin.
Tender, melty meat.
Silky sauce packed with vegetables.
And a final, vibrant punch of gremolata.
This duck dish is everything it’s supposed to be, without all of that greasy, scary duck fat. Going into this I was afraid my stomach would have to handle a fatty grease bomb, but not even close. The trick, it seems, is roasting the duck legs separately until the skin is crispy and most of the fat rendered. The juicy legs do get a final bath in the sauce, but then you can pull out trick number two: skim the sauce with a slice or two of bread to soak up any fat pooling on the surface. Works like magic. The only change I made to this recipe was to substitute chopped fennel for the celery as that is all I had on hand. Served it over brown rice and paired it with a Napa cabernet.

Gremolata

Duck Up Close

A refreshing citrus salad paired beautifully with the duck and I look forward to making this all summer long to pair with BBQ.

Citrus & Chickpea Salad