Cooking class # 8--Chutneys and duck in orange sauce

Today's class consisted of a lot of chopping in order to make the chutneys. The final product was both beautiful and very tasty.

All of them follow a basic pattern: chopped veggies, a vinegar (red wine, white balsamic, raspberry), a sweetener (honey, white sugar, brown sugar or a combination) and spices. The red onion chutney and the fruit (mango, pineapple and kiwi) chutney go well with foie gras (duck liver paste) or chicken and the mint/carrot/shallot/white and green pepper/ginger chutney goes very well with lamb or duck. Slowly cooking these combinations of ingredients over a low heat allows the vinegar to boil off, the chutney to thicken and the sugars to caramelize.

Cooking down the fruit chutney. The dark spot in the pan is not a spider but some star anise.

I took home three jars and since I wasn't serving foie gras --a specialty at Christmas time--Otto and I sampled them with some cheese and crackers. This turned out to be a nice combination.

From left to right: mint chutney, fruit chutney, red onion chutney

Canard à l'orange (duck in orange sauce)--if you like duck, this is a classic French dish. Normally an entire duck is cooked for this dish. We simplified things by using portions of the breast. The meat is seared and then a sauce is made of red wine/white balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, fresh squeezed orange juice and orange zest. The sauce is reduced and then orange segments and the seared duck portions are added at the end.

Our kids are not too keen on duck, so this became a dish for the parents! It is typically served with rice or steamed potatoes.