Read The Primal Blueprint Cookbook Online
Authors: Mark Sisson,Jennifer Meier
The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (17 page)
When stock is completed, preheat oven to 350°F.
Pat legs and wings dry and season with a dash of salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large, deep ovenproof pot. Add legs and wings and brown each side, about 8 minutes total cooking time. Remove from pot and set aside. Lower heat and add ginger, garlic, lime zest and remaining onion and sauté several minutes until onion is translucent. Add tamari, duck stock, legs and wings. Bring to a boil then cover the pot and put in the oven for 1 hour. After cooking, remove meat from pot and place in serving dish (left on the bone, or cut off). Save the broth.
Next, pat duck breasts dry and lightly salt. Over high heat, warm 1 tablespoon oil then add duck breasts, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden and as crisp as possible, 4–8 minutes. Pour oil out of pan and flip breasts skin side up. Cook 10–12 minutes more to desired doneness. Or, if the oven is still on you can put the pan in the oven after searing and roast the breasts uncovered to desired doneness. Duck breast is typically served fairly pink and medium rare, which registers around 135 on a thermometer. Add the duck to the serving dish, either whole or sliced.
To finish the dish, bring the broth to a simmer, Add bok choy and simmer with a lid for 4–6 minutes, lifting the lid once to rearrange bok choy so the ones on the top come in contact with the broth.
Arrange bok choy on the serving platter with meat. Drizzle the broth over the top if desired.
How to Cut a Whole Duck
If you ask, your butcher might cut up the duck for you, but with a little practice you’ll become quite good at it yourself.
As you cut, use your fingers to feel where joints connect; this will help determine where to cut when removing the wings and thighs. The combination of a sharp, thin knife and kitchen scissors works well for this job. The scissors can be used to trim the skin away from the meat and cut through tendons.
1. Lay the duck on its breast and feel where the wing joint attaches to the body. The joint should come off with the wing. This can be easier if you first pull the wing away from the body, snapping the joint so it pops loose. As you cut the wing off, be careful not to cut into the breast meat.
2. Turn the duck on its back and pull one thigh away from the body. Cut slowly through the skin between the thigh and the breast. When you reach the joint, pull on the thigh to snap it out of joint and then keep cutting, following the contours of the backbone. Detach the thigh. Repeat to cut off the other thigh. After removing) the thighs, the only meat that should remain on the carcass is the breasts.
3. With the tip of your knife, make a shallow cut running along one side of the breastplate, which is right in the middle of the two breasts. Slowly continue to cut, pulling the breast meat away from the body as you separate the meat from the carcass.
From flakey to buttery, and from slick and smooth to rich and meaty, seafood offers an astonishing array of textures that respond well to almost any method of cooking. Grilling, pan frying, baking and poaching are all suitable. As far as seasoning goes, seafood doesn’t demand much. Most types of fish and shellfish are perfectly happy with simple lemon and butter. But why not have a little fun and try something new? The mild flavor of most seafood makes it the perfect protein to pair with richly flavored broths and an array of fresh herbs and spices with a little bit of kick. Surrounding seafood with enticing flavors can coax even those who claim not to eat it much to take a bite.
Fish is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids and a whole spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Studies have shown that the benefits of eating seafood in moderation outweigh the risks of ingesting toxins from polluted waters. However, serving seafood these days comes with a certain amount of responsibility. Is the fish you’re serving farm raised or caught in the wild? Has it been fished in a way that does not threaten the environment and other species? Has it been exposed to toxins that you should avoid consuming regularly, if ever? Bringing home a simple fillet for dinner can be overwhelming until you commit to one simple thing: buy from a trusted source. Talk to the people you’re buying your seafood from, ask questions and if you don’t trust their answers, find a new place to shop. A little self-education also goes a long way. The list of the most sustainable and least contaminated seafood choices is always changing, but up-to-date information is available online on sites like The Monterey Bay Aquarium (
www.montereybayaquarium.org
) and the Environmental Defense Fund (
www.edf.org
).
ALMON
C
HOWDER
This hearty nod to New England clam chowder retains the creamy, almost stew-like character of the classic, yet contains no milk or excessive starch. This makes good use of thrifty wild caught canned salmon that is available year round and easy to stock in the pantry, but it’s also excellent made with leftover cooked wild caught salmon fillet. Either way, your omega-3 fatty acids are covered with both forms of wild caught salmon.
For added interest and a wider variety of seafood nutrients, use one 4 ounce can of salmon, but add chopped clams and smoked mussels, including the juices.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, until the bacon fat is released. Add onion, dill, bay leaf, black pepper, and cayenne and cook until the bacon is barely crispy.
Add the turnips or cauliflower and chicken broth and simmer until the vegetables are almost tender, about 5–7 minutes. Add salmon chunks and the juices and simmer a few more minutes to heat through.
Stir in the coconut milk. Bring to a slow boil, then simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Remove bay leaf.
INGREDIENTS:
3 slices of bacon or 3 ounces of pancetta, diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried dill or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
(optional)
1 bay leaf
Black pepper, to taste
teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
(optional)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 ½ to 2 cups finely chopped peeled turnips or small cauliflower florets
1 ½ cups chicken broth (see recipe on page 72)
1 7.5-ounce can red salmon, separated into chunks, reserve juices for soup
1 14-ounce can full fat coconut milk Extra minced dill for garnish
Serve soup very warm in pre-warmed bowls, garnished with dill.
Wild vs. Farm Raised Salmon
The majority of salmon on the market today is farm raised, some from traditional hatcheries and some in aquaculture or “open pen nets” just off shore. Farm raised salmon, rather than salmon caught in the wild, appears to deliver less protein and omega-3s per serving and tests have shown that farmed salmon can contain 16 times more cancer-linked PCBs than wild salmon. Add to that the waste routinely allowed to contaminate the waters around aqua farms and the choice is clear: even if the higher price of wild caught salmon means you’ll be buying less, it’s worth paying more to buy the real deal.