Sweet and Sour Duck Breasts

It's duck hunting season in Southeast Alaska.  The season starts on September 15 and goes until the end of December.  Duck hunting is a favorite sport for my husband, our son Nick and our chocolate lab, Cessna.  They are members of Ducks Unlimited, an organization that preserves wetlands for duck habitat. 

Doug loves to hunt the ducks and he also loves to cook them.  This recipe is one of his latest creations.  It is delicious.


You will need

3 ducks for 6 duck breasts
3 Tbs rock salt
2 quarts water
1 Tbs. chopped garlic
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
1-1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup canola oil-seperated
1/2 onion
Worcestershire sauce
1# bag of frozen stir fry vegetables with or without noodles-or 4 cups fresh vegetables cut into bite size pieces.  
1/2 jar of Kikkoman sweet and sour sauce
1/2 can pineapple chunks, drained, juice reserved. (optional)

Beer

Prepare the duck breasts:

Ducks can have a strong gamy taste.  Some like this flavor but some of us do not.  You can remove this strong taste by following this recipe. (If you like the gamy flavor, don't do this step) Breast your ducks, soak the duck breasts in a mixture of 3 Tbs. rock salt to 2 quarts of water.  Soak for 2 hours. Rinse.  Make sure no blood or feathers remain on your breasts.  Mix your buttermilk and milk together.  Place breasts in a bowl and cover them with the milk mixture. Put them in the fridge and let them soak overnight or up to 2 days. 

To prepare the ducks for dinner:

Slice breasts lengthwise into 4 pieces then cut them in half.  You don't what the pieces to be too big.  Pat the duck breasts dry.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on your breasts.  Mix 1-1/2 cup flour with 1/3 cup cornstarch in a bag.  Place breast in the bag and shake them up to coat.

Heat 2 Tbs of canola oil in large frying pan.  Add 1 Tbs. of crushed garlic, and stir fry until golden.  Add 1/2 chopped onion, and stir fry until translucent.  Add the duck breast.  shake a little bit of Worcestershire sauce over the ducks in the pan.  Crack open a beer and pour a little of that into the pan with the ducks.  The rest is yours.  You can add a little of the pineapple juice too.  Cook until the ducks are just done.  Don't overcook.  Take the duck breasts out of the pan and set aside.  Scrape your pan and remove the large pieces.  Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, add frozen stir fry or bag or your own fresh cut stir fry vegetables.  You can add a combination of raw and frozen.  Just stir fry your raw veggies a little before putting the frozen in.  Add the duck back to the pan and pour a half bottle of stir fry sauce over the ingredients.  Add 1/2 can of pineapple chunks.  Serve over rice.  

Salmon Steaks

My husband brought home a nice King Salmon and because there's nothing like fresh King Salmon, we had to cook some right away.  The great thing about catching a big king salmon is that we have lots to share.

This recipe is for two half pound salmon steaks.

'Salt' your salmon.
Liberally sprinkle sea salt on both sides of the steak and let sit for 15 minutes and then wipe the salt off.  No matter how you cook your salmon, it's always a good idea to 'salt' it first.

Mix 2 Tablespoons melted butter with 1 clove of garlic.  Spread over both sides of the salmon steaks.  Sprinkle ground black pepper on both sides of the steak.

Cook on a George Forman grill for about 10 minutes.  Be sure not to overcook your salmon.
Serve with salad, rice and veggies.

Spiced Lingonberry Sauce

I am reposting this yummy lingonberry/cranberry sauce recipe because we've had such a banner cranberry year in Petersburg.  This is the best recipe!

A dolup of spiced lingonberries will add a bit of sweet and sour flavor to your holiday meat.  This condiment is a staple at our holiday table.  The recipe is very easy.  I've also included my method for preserving this sauce because I like to make it early in the season and enjoy it on my breakfast oats and all year long. 

You will need:

4 Cups of lingonberries (or cranberries)

1 Cup of water

3 Cups of sugar

2 Tablespoons of vinegar

1 cinnamon stick

4-6 small jelly jars with lids with rings

I pick my berries in the Fall when they are nice and red and ripe.  I put them in the freezer because I can rarely find enough of these little gems to make a full batch of sauce in one picking. 

 So,  Step 1, take the berries out of the freezer and measure 4 cups into a bowl.  (You can also use cranberries you buy at the store)

AND

Wash and dry your jars, lids and rings and place the lids and rings in a large pot and cover them with water.  Place your jars, right side up, on a cookie sheet

                          

Step 2

Place 4 cups of berries into a pot with 1 cup of water.

AND

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Put your pot of lids, rings and water on the stove and turn the burner onto medium/high.  While your berries are cooking the water will come to a full rolling boil.  You don't really want it to start boiling too soon, but if it does, no worries, it's just annoying.

Step 3

Bring your berries to a full rolling boil, turn them down to medium and let them boil for 15 minutes.  

It's fun to hear the berries pop.

Step 4

After your berries have softened and popped for 15 minutes, add 3 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 cinnamon stick to the pot.

AND 

Put your jars into the preheated oven (350F). Turn burner with the pot full of lids, rings and water up to high.  You want the water in this pot to be at a full rolling boil for 20 minutes.  You also want your jars to be in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes....so set your timer for 20 minutes.  I think 10 minutes is really all you need to sterilize your jars and lids, but I always do it for 20.

   

Step 5

Turn the berries down to medium and stir often. 

Step 6

When the timer rings, pull you jars out of the oven and put them on a cooling rack.  

Turn the burner with the pot full of water and lids off.  I 

leave the sauce on low so it stays warm while I am filling the jars.

                         

Step 7

Fill the jars using whatever method works for you.  I spoon the sauce into a measuring cup and pour it from the cup into the jar.  This seems to cut down some of the messy drips of red juice on my counter and everywhere else.  

          

Step 8

After filling each jar, put a lid on it, put the ring on and tighten it, not too tight, 

and turn the entire jar over.

Step 9

When the last jar has been filled and turned over, I set the timer for 5 minutes.  When the timer goes off, I turn the jars back upright and let the sauce cool.

This sauce is easy to make and it is a great holiday gift for the host or hostess of your holiday party.

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Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

Cranberries, cranberries everywhere!  What to do with the gallons of these ruby red berries, picked in the pouring rain.... put them in chocolate chip cookies of course.

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Pretzel Halibut

I come from a long line of halibut fishermen.  My dad's father was a halibut fisherman and he also sat on the International Halibut Commission. My father followed his dad into the industry and all three of my brothers continue the tradition to this day.  Both of my sons are commercial halibut fishermen but, while people in my grandfather's and my father's generation made a good living just fishing halibut, today's fishermen need to be more diversified.  My son's and brothers also fish for crab and salmon.  While I've never fished halibut commercially, I have lots of experience cooking and eating these flat, white-fleshed fish.  

Recently, my husband pulled this little beauty out of Fredrick Sound.  It was a keeper.  Just enough fish for a meal for us and some to share.  It made a lovely baked dish, which I am sharing in this post.

Pretzel Halibut

1# halibut fillet

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 egg

1 Tbs water

2 cups pretzels, coarsely ground

Preheat oven to 400F.  Mix your flour, salt and pepper together in a shallow bowl.  Beat egg and water together.  Dredge your halibut in the egg mixture, then coat it with the flour mixture. Coat again with the pretzels.  Bake on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes or until the halibut is flakey.  Serve with chipotle sauce.

Mix together flour, sea salt and pepper.

Chop pretzels

Coat your fish in egg, then flour mixture, then the pretzels.

Cook on high heat, 400F until just opaque, about 10 minutes for this small piece.  If you cook your fish too long it will be dry.

 Enjoy your fish with a sauce made from mayonnaise mixed with chipotle sauce to taste, and a caprese salad.

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Red Huckleberry Jelly

Red Huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium) are found in Southeast Alaska.  These berries ripen in the late summer, to early fall.  They are a tart little berry.  While there aren't a lot of recipes written for red huckleberries, I have found that you can use in recipes that call for blueberries.  While they are not as sweet as blueberries, they are also not as wormy.

Huckleberry Jelly

Important Tips for Jelly Making

Cook your berries down and pour them and their juice into a jelly bag or cheesecloth.  Let it hang until the juice has drained out of the berries.  

Always measure sugar into a bowl and then use the measuring cup to measure it again into the jelly pot.  It is easy to miscount the cups of sugar, so...measure twice.

 Cut the tops off of the Certo packs and put them in something so they don't fall over and spill.  You want the tops off so they are ready to pour when the jelly mixture comes to a full rolling boil.

 Boil your lids for 20 minutes so they are sure to be sterilized.

 You can sterilize your jars by baking them in a 350F oven for 20 minutes.

Turn your jars over after you put the lids on.  Set the timer for 5 minutes and then turn them right side up when the timer rings.  Listen to the lids pop.

Huckleberry Jelly

4-1/2 cups huckleberry or blueberry juices

7 cups sugar

2 pouches Certo pectin

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice (I use 1/2 Tbs concentrate if I don't have fresh)

1/2 tsp butter, optional

I follow the blueberry jam recipe in the Certo Pectin box when I make blueberry or huckleberry jelly.  The recipe calls for crushed berries, but I use berry juice.  Huckleberries and blueberries don't have a lot of pectin so you do need two pouches of pectin.  If you add unripe berries to your mix, you get more pectin in your juice but you still need the two pouches.

Place the exact amount of juice and sugar into a 6-8 quart pot.  Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil on a higher heat, stirring constantly.  Add the butter when the mixture warms up.  When the mixture boils so hard you can't stir it down, add the pectin.  Return the mixture to a rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove the mixture from heat and skim off the foam with a metal spoon.

Quickly ladle the jelly into prepared jars, leaving 1/8" at the top of each jar.  Wipe any excess jelly off of the rims.  Cover the jar with the two piece lids.  Screw bands tight.  Turn the jars upside-down for 5 minutes.  Then turn the jars right side up and let cool.

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Mooseburger Pie

In honor of the first day of moose hunting season in our region of Alaska, I am posting a yummy dinner recipe made with mooseburger. 

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds ground moose or any other meat you choose

1 can Rotel 

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 can black beans

1 cup small red, yellow and orange peppers, chopped

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 tsp ground cumin

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the burger, bread crumbs and Rotel together in a bowl.  Press into a pie pan like a crust.  

Top with a mixture of beans, peppers and cheese and cumin.  (You can add whatever veggies and cheese you like to the top of this meat crust.)   

Mix together the cornmeal, flour sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  In another bowl, mix together cup milk, vegetable oil and the egg.  Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until the dry ingredients are just moist.  Spread the cornbread mixture over the top of the pie.  Bake for 1 hour.  

Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream on top.

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Crab Quiche

A friend dropped off a half a King crab and I resisted the temptation to simply crack it and eat it then and there.  I decided to find a good recipe for my luscious gift.  I remembered reading a delicious looking recipe for Cajun Crawfish Quiche on Lamberts Lately Blog.  I dug it up from my Pinterest 'Dinner' board and began collecting the ingredients.  It turned out that I had most of the ingredients.  I always keep a couple cans of Rotel handy...don't you.  I love the stuff.  The only thing I had to purchase was the pie crust.  I should have made one....I generally don't like pie crust from the store but I just didn't want to take the time to make my own crust.  I bought a Marie Callendars double pie crust pack.  I will never make another crust!  Now I keep a package of these in my freezer at all times.

This is the best recipe for seafood!  If you have leftover salmon this is a quick and easy second day meal.  I bet you could add leftover halibut too.  That will be my next try.  The beauty of this recipe is that it takes about 5 minutes to put together.   It's that easy!  And it is delicious to boot.

Crab Quiche

Ingredients

1 frozen pie crust

1 clove garlic, minced

A cup or two of Alaska's fine seafood, crab, salmon, halibut.....cooked

8 oz cheddar cheese-your choice, sharp or regular

4 eggs

1 can Rotel, drained

2 Tbs hot sauce.  

You can also add chopped onion, corn, peppers, spinach....the list of veggies is limitless.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Cook the frozen pie crust in the oven for 5 minutes.  In a medium pan, sauté the garlic and any veggies you plan to add to your pie.  

In a large bowl, mix the garlic/veggie mixture with the crab, cheese, eggs, Rotel and hot sauce.  Pour into the pie crust.

Bake the pie for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the center of the pie is firm.  Serve immediately.

Linking To:

A Round Tuit Inspiration Monday Clever Chicks Blog Hop Take a Look Tuesday You're Gonna Love It Tuesday Anti Procrastination Tuesday Handmade Tuesdays Be Inspired Features and Linky Party Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party Creative Sparks Link Party