Duck & Pancakes....

Well, turned out that the ducks weren't whole ducks at all, but only duck-breasts. So I also took out two cornish hens that'd been languishing our our freezer for quite some time. Here's the recipe I used for the birds.

Honey & Spice Duckling (from BH&G's New Cookbook)

1 3- to 5- pound domestic duckling (did not use this, obviously)
2 tsp szechwan pepper, coarsely ground or 1 tsp whole pepper coarsely ground
1 tsp salt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp oriental five-spice blend
1/4 c honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce

Rinse duck (bird, as this would taste great on chicken); pat dry. In a bowl, combine pepper, salt, ginger, and five spice blend. Sprinkle body cavity with some of the salt mixture; rub remaining mixture onto skin of duck. Skewer neck skin to back; tie legs to tail. Twist wing-tips under back. Prick skin all over with fork.

Place duckling, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast in a 375 deg. oven for 1-3/4 to 2-1/4 hours or till the drumsticks move easily in their sockets and duck is no longer pink, spooning off fat occasionally. Meanwhile, mix honey and soy sauce; baste duck with honey mixture once or twice during the last 10 minutes of roasting. Makes 3 or 4 servings.

As the duckling was just the breasts, I first followed the directions above with the cornish hens, then tossed the duck-breasts into the remaining spice blend and coated well before placing in fridge for a while. With the cornish hens I followed the directions directly as above. With the duck breasts, I wound up sauteeing them in a little olive oil till they were almost done cooking (or, so I thought), then brushed a little of the honey-soy mix over, only to find out that the duck wasn't quite done when I cut into it a couple of minutes later. *sigh* So, the honey really caramelized on the duck-breasts. And the spices wound up being too strong for the flavor of the breasts, though it was great on the cornish hens. I definitely think I'll reuse this recipe with chicken sometime, though.


DH went out hunting again this morning. One last attempt at getting a moose during rifle season. No luck. *sigh* Though I think he's got till Nov. to continue bow hunting. So, we may get a moose yet. DD and I got up around 9, and I made sourdough pancakes for breakfast before heading out to the farmer's market one last time. Here's my favorite pancake recipe.


Sourdough Pancakes (from Pat's Sourdough & Favorite Recipes by Patricia A. Duncan)

3 c sourdough starter sponge
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
dash of baking powder
dash of salt
1 Tbsp melted butter
(I always add a bit of sugar, as well.)

Heat griddle. Mix the sourdough sponge, egg, salt, baking powder, and butter (and sugar, if you're using it). Mix well. Add the soda last, right before cooking. Pour pancake batter onto griddle. Cook till bubbles form & outter edge starts solidifying. Turn over. Cook till done.


I always try to make enough of these to put the extra in the fridge for DD's school-morning breakfasts. If you make small griddle-cakes, just pop them into a plastic bag & freeze as they are. To serve, take the desired number out, put them on a plate & slather with a bit of butter, and pop into the microwave for 30 seconds at at time, till heated & butter melting. Serve with cinnamon sugar or syrup. Sometimes I deliberately make the batter kind of thin, to form more crepe-like pancakes, then while they're still warm I slather them with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, and roll into "cigars" and stack carefully in a plastic bag before placing in freezer. I do the same sort of thing with sourdough waffles, making enough to freeze the extra for weekday mornings. Much tastier than the Eggo variety.


After our breakfast of pancakes, we headed to the farmer's market where I FINALLY got my jar of chokecherry jelly. I also picked up a quarter each of Honey Bakery's Very Berry filled cake, and Pina Colada filled cake. And DD and I shared one of their lemon "cream rolls", which are essentially waffles (the kind waffle cones are made of) formed into a "cigar" shape and filled with lemon flavored (REAL) whipped cream. FREAKING YUM!!!!! Dang. Makes me wish I'd gotten one all to myself. Also makes me wish I'd tried them before now. I mean, next week is the last week this year for the farmer's market, so it'll be NEXT summer before I get another one of those!!!!!


We stopped into Gulliver's before heading back out of town. Picked up a couple of kids books that I loved when I was younger, and thought DD might be interested in now. We got John Campbell's _The White Mountains_, Katherine Paterson's _The Great Gilly Hopkins_ and Molly Hunter's _A Stranger Came Ashore_. Yesterday I also bought DD the first book in a new American Girl series. It's about a little girl who's nine in 1974. The book's title is _Meet Julie_. Tay's finally totally into the American Girl books, so when I saw that one while doing my grocery shopping, I just had to pick it up for her. She's already about 1/2 way through with it. I cannot tell you how happy I am to see her interested in reading finally. Though she seems pretty proud to be the only one in her class who's only interested in one specific genre of book (The American Girl books). *sigh* I keep hoping that by providing her a great variety, she'll develope a real love of reading. I'm on the lookout for a used copy of _Hatchet_ by Gary Paulson, and I've already purchased _My Side of the Mountain_ and _The Far Side of the Mountain_ by Jean Craighead George, as I know Tay's a rather rough&tumble kid.


Anyway, now I'm just catching up online, since it's drizzly out & there's not a heck of a lot to do. Tay's alternately begging me to let her go play with her friends, or play on the computer (nevermind that I'm currently online on our only computer) and screaming at me about how mean I am, how much she hates her life, and how miserable our house is. *sigh* I just remind her that if she'd not been a total PITA last night when I denied her request to spend the night at her best friend's house, she COULD be playing with the girl today, and maybe even spending tonight there. (I wouldn't let her sleep over last night because she needed a good long soak in the tub to clean out some dirt she'd embedded in her knee & hand when she took a nasty little fall off her bike while watching last night's NP Patriot's football game. But, of course, that automatically made me "mean" and I got all sorts of screamed accusations of how I treat her like a baby and NEVER let her do ANYTHING. *rolling eyes*)


For supper tonight I'll be making Southern Fried Chicken, but as I don't follow one specific recipe, there's no recipe to share. I was hoping to find some swiss chard at the farmer's market this morning to make with the chicken, but no such luck. So I'll probably do some ranch mashed potatoes & some canned collards instead.


Have a Blessed Day!