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Food for when I am
alone...
Whenever my better half goes
away for the weekend — the better half who eats salads, drinks alcohol
in moderation and believes red meat does not a complete meal make —
whenever I know she'll be away I start thinking about food sometime
around Tuesday.
Say she’s going away from Friday evening until Sunday
evening — I start thinking about new things I want to try and old
favorites I want to make over and over again. I construct absurd
shopping lists that cost too much. I make multiple trips to the wine
store.
I think of bacon-wrapped filets, duck breast grilled
rare, orange-ginger sauces, risotto with spicy chorizo. I think of black
coffee, huge omelets and under-cooked bacon. Roasted red peppers.
Garlic. Pepper steak with a cognac sauce. Pastas with rich cream and
parmesan. Several bottles of wine.
I am not thinking about green leafy things. I do not
make salads. There are never any leftovers.
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Don’t get me wrong: I love to
cook for my girlfriend. And, so she claims, she loves to eat the food I
make. But there’s always that twinge of guilt when she asks “are you
making anything green,” and I give her a confused, blank stare. Then she
runs back to her apartment for a bag of baby spinach while I try not to
burn the red wine reduction.
So her weekend absences, for work or trips with
friends, become my time to cook whatever I want – as rich as I can make
it, as much of it as I care to eat. On the menu for this weekend:
Grilled duck breast with black pepper crust,
orange-ginger sauce and garlic potatoes. For the sauce:
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1/2 cup fresh orange
juice
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1-1/2 cups no-salt
chicken or veal stock
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3 tablespoons
balsamic vinegar
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2 teaspoons freshly
grated ginger
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4 tablespoons
unsalted butter
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1/2 teaspoon salt
(optional)
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1 teaspoon cracked
black peppercorns
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zest from one small
orange
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