Orange Duck

Woooo another week of experimenting with foods! 

I picked up a couple pretty Muscovy breasts to test my new sous vide on, but there's going to be a shipping delay, so I was left with pan frying. Oh well!

For the breast I scored the skin and fat, and rubbed it with Chinese 5 Spice. You want to cook it skin side down first, on medium heat, for about 10 minutes. Then you flip it and continue for another 5-7 minutes, then rest it. I kept mine on the heat a smidge too long, but they still came out quite nicely. 

For the sauce I just mushed together a few a l'Orange recipes I found online, adjusting it as I went along. I think a coulis with the orange segments would have been nicer than just throwing them on a plate. Thoughts for next time I suppose!

Finally the carrot puree was made from carrots, ginger, garlic and onion. 

A++ would make again. Maybe with more veggies. 

Good news if you're a fan of my illustrations! I have a little shop on Redbubble now, so if you want the above design on a shirt, or a notebook, or as a print, head on over! I'll be adding other illustrations as I see fit, so stay tuned!

12 Carrot Soup

We're in the middle of a cold spell. The Polar Vortex is wooshing in and making it quite hard to illustrate or type. I'm wearing a fleece tunic and a knit hat and I'm terribly cold still. 

So it's time to make soup!

Carrot Soup is probably one of the simplest soups, but it's warm and delicious, and sometimes you're just too cold for elaborate recipes. 

Carrot Soup

• 1-1.5 lb carrots
• a medium to large white potato
• 4-6 cups of your prefered broth
• an onion
• thyme
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Peel your potato and carrots, and cut into even pieces, about an inch or so.
2. Dice your onion, then saute it in a big pot with olive oil on medium heat.
3. When the onion starts to soften, add the thyme.
4. When the thyme becomes aromatic, add the carrots and potato, and a little more olive oil.
5. Let everything sweat out for 5 minutes, or don't if you're in a hurry.
6. Cover with the broth and turn the heat up to Medium High. Cook until fork tender.
7. An immersion blender is clutch for this, but you can blend everything in a regular blender as long as you do small batches, holding the lid on with a towel. Or just stick your immersion blender in the pot and blitz til smooth. Add more broth if you want it thinner.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with grilled sandwiches or a good crusty bread.

You can take this super basic recipe and build on it. Instead of Thyme, use a tablespoon of curry, with a spot of coconut milk. Or a thumb's worth of lemongrass and an inch of fresh ginger. Or keep it basic and feed it to someone who has had their wisdom teeth extracted. 

I am, of course, speaking from experience with that last idea...

.