Back in the kitchen again..

..where a man can experiment, take a few risks, and where failure isn't a threat to his masculinity. ;)

Success, however.. can be. :P

And this was definitely a successful experiment.

Dinner Saturday was an attempt to use the broth I made after Christmas from the carcass of the duck J1 and I made for Christmas Eve dinner. I had 6 cups of the brown stuff frozen, and.. wow, did I hit the mother-lode of recipes for duck broth. Two of them, in fact!

The homemade cream of mushroom soup turned out to be real high-end restaurant quality.. just the smell of it was spendid! And with the mix of mushroom types I got, some shallots, the duck broth, and the sour cream (and a little Potato Buds for thickening) - my goodness, it was creamy and tasty. And my new food processor made the fine chopping a breeze. A lot fewer tears. :)

Then, the fennel and onion risotto - oh! Oh, oh, oh. Wonderful. Lots of basil, some white wine, more duck broth, and toward the end (after a couple hours of reducing), shredded Italian hard cheeses (asagio, romano, parmesan) and some peas. Mm. Yummy. Not to mention the handy food processor again. :)

Plus, there's enough risotto left over to have for the next time the college kids come over for dinner and cards. I have this big hunk of uncooked veal in the freezer left over from Grandma's Christmas dinner to use up, so .. they will get a pretty nice dinner, indeed.

If I can figure out what to do with the veal. Never worked with it before. Hm. Suggestions from the readership are welcome.

Packer loss yesterday notwithstanding.. it felt good to get back in the kitchen again. It sure is fun, especially when it comes out right. :)