Duck Breast

The technique here is very simple. I use a similar one for my Chicken Fajita recipe (https://alpharaposashearth.wordpress.com/2018/02/28/simple-chicken-fajitas/). If you have cast iron, or a steel skillet with an oven-safe handle, it’s the best way to cook many different kinds of meats.

For duck breast, set the oven for 400 degrees F.

Rinse and pat the breasts dry. Carefully score the skin side- you want to cut through the skin and some of the fat, but not quite all the way to the meat. Simple slashes are enough. You can do a criss-cross (diamond) pattern if you want to do more.

Warm up some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Salt your duck breasts.

When the oil shimmers, lay the breasts, skin side down, into the skillet. Leave (don’t move) for 5-8 minutes, while the fat under the skin renders out.

This is a good place to use a spatter screen if you have one.

Once most of the fat is rendered out, flip the breasts over and cook on the other side just two minutes.

Remove most of the rendered fat, leaving a thin layer at the bottom, before placing the skillet in the hot oven. Cook until the internal temperature reaches at least 135 degrees (medium rare), another 15-20 minutes.

Remove from pan and let rest 7-10 minutes. Slice thinly. Serve with a sweet fruit sauce, such as cranberry sauce, or Cherry BBQ Sauce (https://alpharaposashearth.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/cherry-bbq-sauce/)

Bacon in the Oven

I’m cook bacon in the oven because it’s a little less time consuming. I use a broiler pan, because it comes with a drip pan already attached. You can also use a cooling rack over a half sheet pan, or a half sheet pan lined with foil, or parchment paper, or even just bare.

Set the oven for 400 degrees fahrenheit. Spread the bacon so the strips are just touching. Put them in and set a timer for 12 minutes. The bacon probably won’t be done by then, but you’ll want to start checking it. The strips at the end often finish first, so have a fork or pair of tongs handy for removing those as soon as they’re done. Check every couple of minutes until all the bacon is finished. Drain the grease while it’s still warm (I keep a jar for bacon grease- it’s very stable in the fridge).

You’ll probably want to soak any messy surfaces.

Roasted Bell Peppers

I like bell peppers, especially the brightly colored ones. Roasting them brings out their peppery qualities and adds some smokey flavor. It softens the flesh without turning it into mush. So! While I don’t do it every day, I like it for certain recipes.

You’ll need

• Bell peppers (Do several at once)
• Tongs and/or heat resistant gloves
• An oven that can broil and a pan (or a gas burner)
• A bowl with a lid
• Some tolerance to hot fingertips

Wash the bell peppers. Remove any stickers. Leave the stems, though. If you’re lucky enough to have a gas range, you can turn on a burner and place the bell peppers right over the flame. However, I don’t, so I turn my oven to its Broil setting and place the bell peppers on a metal sheet.

(I used a Pyrex baking pan once, then rinsed it when it was still hot. Thermal dynamics decreed that it became a mess of shards in my sink. Oops. At least nobody was hurt.)

It’ll take a few minutes for there to be a noticeable effect, but soon the skin of the bell peppers will begin to bubble and spit juices on the side facing the heat, and then it’ll blacken. You want it to blacken as much as possible without charring off. (Some charring is okay.) Turn the peppers with tongs or really well insulated gloves, until all the sides are blackened.

Transfer bell peppers to the bowl as soon as they’re done (the others will catch up). Close the lid and let them steam for at least five minutes, then carefully remove and use your fingers to peel the blackened skin away and remove the stem and seeds. This will probably take a while, and you may need to stop and rinse your hands a few times to cool them off or get rid itchy pieces of charred pepper skin.

Chop up any way you want.  You can put roasted bell peppers directly on sandwiches, use them in sauces, or make soup out of them. (Soup recipe also available on this site!)

How to Make Tahini

This is very simple. You need sesame seeds and a mild oil (blended olive oil or safflower oil or similar).

You also need a food processor-type object with the s-shaped blade, or a mortar and pestle of significant size. I’m assuming that most people who are going to try this will opt for the first.

So. Start with 1 cup of sesame seeds. This is about the same as 2 2.8 oz jars from my grocery store. Not cheap!

If they are raw, toast them. Heat your oven to 350 degrees and spread the seeds out in a baking pan with a lip. Put them in the oven for 2-3 minutes, then stir, then put them in for 2-3 minutes more. They’ll smell nutty and toasty and some of them will be brown (not all of them).

Take all the sesame seeds and pour them into your food processor. Blitz them in 30 second bursts until they smash down into slightly clumpy powder.

Add in 2 tablespoons of the oil. Blitz them again until it’s all mixed together.

You can add more oil at this point to get the consistency you want. This batch shown ended up needing 3 tablespoons to get to a nice, peanut butter sort of consistency, which is what I wanted for cooking purposes.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.