Saturday Duck!

Menu:

Soufflé Aux Épinards

Caneton a l'Orange

Gratin Dauphinois

Choux De Bruxelles Étuvés Au Beurre

Crème Plombières Pralinée

We can't eat like this more than once a week said the Le Gourmand. In fairness, this was his fifth Julia meal in 4 days and tonight he will have a break. And of course, we can't eat three courses of Julia, many nights a week. But this was a good night.

Pigeonne and Crevette were joining us with great enthusiasm for dinner (their adorable daughter slept in the next room). They enthusiastically assisted with duck turning and vegetable preparation, although Le Gourmand heroically dealt with most of the sous-chefing. They were also fantastic food stylists and photographers (and didn't mind that their duck was a bit cold as a result of my insistence that we take some good photos).

That morning Le Gourmand had valiantly found a free range duck at the local farmer markets with a beautiful long neck for making duck stock. Meanwhile I had completed the dessert using my sponge fingers, which I dried out in a very slow oven for an hour and then drizzled with a viennese coffee liqueur in the bottom of a nice bowl. On top of this I added creme patissiere, folded with stiffly beaten egg whites and pulverised praline. Into the fridge while I fiddled with my quiche for lunch.

When P&C arrived we were realising that duck a l'orange, Julia style, is quite complex - peel, julienne and blanch orange peel then create perfect segments of duck, boil down some duck stock (for an hour and a half! some short cuts were taken) and make a sauce base of red wine vinegar, sugar, duck stock, port, arrowroot and blanched orange peel. Season your duck with salt, pepper, thyme and orange peel then cook breast side up for half an hour. Then lean it on each side to cook for 15 minutes. We improvised with ramekins to allow the duck to sit on one side then the other and had to take the duck out half way for the souffle.

Mmm the souffle was yummy. Knock wood I have always been lucky with souffles rising and this was another success. Make your souffle base with milk and roux until thick, add egg yolks of the heat, then add blanched spinach that has been dried in a pan. Fold in egg whites, pour into a buttered souffle dish that has been dusted with grated parmesan and place in your oven.

Remove to great excitement 25 minutes later. Take photos quickly as souffles may sink at any second. Just like the inside of cheese and spinach triangles without the filo opined Piggeonne. For Le Gourmand on final round up - the hero of the meal.

Therein followed a bevy of main course activity - finishing the duck and its sauce and finishing the gratin and buttered brussels sprouts in the oven. The duck was beautifully presented with the orange segments, photos were taken and then Le Gourmand was faced with the difficult task of carving duck - our free range fellow didn't have a lot of meat on him. We still managed to get enough for four but we could not have fed more. The sauce - a reduction of pan juices and more port with the prepared base, some Cointreau and a splash of lemon - was beautiful. Perhaps a little less arrowroot next time, but this time we do it JC's way. Pigeonne and Crevette enjoyed the meal. Le Gourmand was impressed at the balance of the slight bitterness of the brussel sprouts with the sweetness of the duck sauce. The gratin, potatoes lovingly prepared by Le Gourmand on the mandoline, with milk, swiss cheese and a little butter, was beautiful and not overly rich.

We washed up a storm - great way to do it when you have hands on guests with a reward of dessert at the end. I proudly took the dessert out of the fridge and sprinkled it with more pulverised almonds. I am not looking forward to the version with canned pineapple instead of praline. Out of the bowl it was not the most aesthetically pleasing dish but it more than delivered on taste - Crevette noted that the swollen sponge fingers and crunchy praline were particularly good. All was right with the world!