Welcome Back

Christine went to the city, so Milo and I were alone this weekend. Yesterday, we made chicken stew with shiitakes, carrots, parsnip, celery root, moroccan lemon, and white wine, and today for lunch I added Lebanese couscous, the kabocha purée from salmon night, some red cabbage, and more roots, letting it simmer until all was soft. We'll have the rest for lunch tomorrow.

For her return, I defrosted 2 duck breasts, steamed a mixture of celery root and parsnip, boiled a couple of beets to make salad, and chiffonaded some kale. The beet salad is also for tomorrow, since it gets so much better after a day or two, but I used the cooking liquid (as before, an efficient substitute for juice) as the base for a sauce: some red wine, a splash of cider, a bit of agave syrup, and a handful of sliced kumquats reduced to a nice thick consistency. The kale I cooked in the same pan as the duck, with onions, after pouring off the excess rendered fat into a jar. We tried a 1997 Clos Mogador Priorat; these big Spanish wines are amazing for their depth and longevity, especially given their price; this had many Bordeaux-like characteristics, not least some tannins which could use another 5 years or so to relax.