Mullard!

...Or more correctly, Mallard, is a wild duck which was the ancestor of most domestic ducks. It is less fatty, more meaty and less expensive than regular duck, making it a perfect option for preparing at home without spending too much. Today, I'll show you how to get a fantastic fancy looking meal for a fraction of what you would pay in a restaurant and the triple of what you would ever get. Each breast roughly weight between 300 and 400g and cost around 40 shekels each. One whole breast for each person makes a really large portion... but worry not, you won't hear any complaints... or see any leftovers. Only happy faces munching away.

So lets start with these two beautiful mallard breasts. They usually come frozen, so let them gently defrost in the fridge without removing from the plastic pouch.

Here they are, completely defrosted

With a sharp knife, slash the fat, just until reaching the meat. This will give the fat more surface to melt down and flavor the meat underneath.

Try not to reach the meat when slashing the fat!

Now, sprinkle the meat with coarse sea salt. Be generous, most of the salt will melt away with the fat and only a part of it will reach into the meat.

Here's our salted meat, nearly ready to be cooked!

Now, there are two ways to cook your mallard: On a heavy frying pan, skin down or under the oven grill, skin up. I prefer to do it in the oven, since the fat drips down and the skin crisps up far better than when frying in it's own fat.

Find yourself a griddle, like in the picture (this one is actually used for putting cookies and cakes to cool on). You can get one for around 30 shekels at any cooking store or improvise with the griddle from your barbecue. Put that griddle on top of any shallow pan (I usually line it with  foil to make cleaning easier). 

The main idea is to raise the meat so that the fat falls to the bottom and the meat stays out of the cooking juices.

Set your oven to around 250 degrees celcius (no need for turbo, just up and down heat).

Put your mallard breasts in the second top shelf of the oven and keep a close eye on the meat.

This is what it should look like after about 10 to 15 minutes later:

Don't worry about giving it another extra 5 minutes to have that super crispy skin . Any more than this, and your meat might start to overcook. You should aim for a slight tint of pink at the center of the meat. Practice makes perfect, so don't worry if you don't get it exactly right the first time. It will still be very tasty! If unsure, you can always use a meat thermometer.

And there we have it, oven roasted Mallard Breast:

A nice shade of pink on the inside

 Super crunchy salty skin...

More food porn...

Now, something like this is meant to be the star of the dinner, so you do not want to clutter your plate with too much things. This time, I decided to prepare a simple potato and apple medley  (I will write down the recipe at a later occasion) and serve the meat with a homemade berry sauce. You can always buy a good quality cherry or wild berry jam. Just try to pick something with a sour twist to it. Also, put it in a blender and add a little boiling water to give it a more sauce like texture.

So this is the time to keep you mallard breasts somewhere warm until ready to serve.

When your done with the side dishes of your choice, cut the breast into slices and make a pretty fan shape on the plate, add the side dishes and drizzle a bit of sauce over the meat. Leave on the table for anyone to add more. 

Here's my potato and apple spicy meddley:

And at last, but not the least, the berry sauce I made. Believe it or not, it was all gone at the end of the dinner!

Raspberry & blackcurrant sauce

Bon Appetit!

Afternoon Lunch at Nana's Resto Bar

Located in the beautiful rustic area of Neveh Tsedek, this restaurant might go by unnoticed, hidden away behind a lush vegetation. The inside is quite light and open aired and has that feel of old Tel Aviv, with black and white pictures and classic paintings all around. The center of the restaurant is dominated by a pretty patio, which brings yet more light to the entire place.

We were all quickly seated and our waitress tended to us very professionally.

On with the food!

Our starters:

Beef filet Carpaccio with a dressing of olive oil and balsamic with parmesan cheese and baby roquette

I love a good carpaccio and I wish this one could have lived to my expectations. Unfortunately, there were no surprises and a few disappointing notes about this no brainer of a dish.

The meat was completely unseasoned and not at it's prime condition, the roquette salad was so small I would rather describe it as a decoration and I could not understand why  I was served thick slabs of old parmesan on a side bowl. I was given another bowl with a tiny little bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, not early enough to season my bland carpaccio. We also ordered the bread, which was rather nice and crisp.  

Chicken Livers Pate with homemade jam
This was my partners starter. Though simple, it was quite tasty and the liver was done just right. The jam was a nice touch and complemented the tender livers.

Main Courses:
Baked Salmon Fillet on penne pasta in supreme sauce

A nice piece of well cooked salmon, nested in a bed of penne and covered in a cream and butter sauce. Here was an uncomplicated, delicious and well seasoned dish.  This was a very healthy and filling portion. Thumbs up!

Fillet of Mullard served with red wine sauce , mashed root-vegetables and asparagus

This dish was wrong in so many ways that I was starting to feel that someone hadn't put his ideas well together or was just experimenting as it went. The mullard was overcooked, but strangely enough, the skin on top, which should be golden, yummy and crispy, was white and mushy, which made it very unpleasant to eat. I would say that this was about 1/3 of a mullard's, so the portion was quite small (no more than a 100 g). On the other hand, the mashed root-vegetables took nearly the entire plate and didn't add anything good to the dish. The color was an unappetizing orange/green and the mass had already formed a thin dry film on top, like soup left on the stove. Two sad, cold and estranged spears of asparagus didn't make it any easier on the eye.  

Dessert: 
Chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream
We were presented with three pieces of fondant, milk chocolate, dark and white chocolate over a light vanilla custard and ice cream on the side. I'm not sure if eating squares of fondant counts as a true dessert, but it was nice ending to our meal.

Foodwise, there's a lot to be done. You can just feel that they are putting an effort, but it's just not there yet. The menu doesn't present anything new or particularly exciting and overall, it's quite expensive. Most dishes can easily be whisked up at home in 30 minutes at a fraction of the price and probably with better results (see my next post). Don't expect to come out of there for any less than 150 shekels per person.

Rating: 7/10

 

 

Dressed Up Salmon Futomaki

This is what happens when you both have a craving for sushi and have too much time on your hands. Sometimes... there's a sparkle.

This was by far one of the best sushi rolls I ever had, both in a restaurant and at home. And interestingly enough, it just took a little extra 5 minutes to make it so extra delicious. A simple tempura batter and panko created a crispy outside that was so irresistible that you will find yourself eating more than you think you could. I used teriyaki as a drizzling sauce, but a spicy mayonaise or even ponzu sauce might add the right kick. I will certainly try it on another occasion.

This particular roll contained salmon, grilled salmon skin (I never have the heart to throw it away!), tamago, cucumber and avocado.

After shaping the futomaki, I lightly rolled it in tempura batter and then panko. I carefully fried each side until just golden (I didn't want the contents to cook). I removed it from the hot oil and let it drain a little. Because of the crispy outside, I found it easier to slice with a bread knife.

The salmon at the center remained uncooked, but the pieces closer to the surface did. Far from being a bad thing, this was actually really nice. The tempura/panko layer was also quite thin and crispy, yet, more than enough to retain the teriyaki.

 

 Cheers all!

Black Bar 'n' Burger - Anyone feeling Nostalgic?

Having a bad cold can sometimes make us feel nostalgic, and being sick as a dog, thoughts of my mom rubbing Vics on my chest and giving me hot milk with ungodly amounts of honey pop into my mind. Ahh... it was good to be 5 or 6 years old. The world was rather forgiving.

I was just looking at some pictures and stumble upon this one:

That's me, with the blue MJ's style Thriller jacket

Yes, I grew up in Canada in the '80s, by the time Burger King and McDonalds still had that innocent charm and it was cool to do birthday parties there and bring the cake. The employees would put up balloons and even join in to sing Happy Birthday. 

It didn't seem all that bad then and I sometimes wonder what changed.

Today, I don't even like burgers all that much. Or so I thought.

I suddenly had a craving. Not just any craving, I wanted a big burger. Not a sad mushed up Whooper, no, no, no. I wanted a burger that would make me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. The moment I mumbled the word 'burger', my husband proposed me to go out and have one, so my friend (thanks Roni!) shook me around a bit and slapped some senses into me and dragged me to Azrieli.

We sat down at one of the booths at Black Bar 'n' Burger and were quickly attended. My  partner in crime ordered the "chicken burger" and I decided I wouldn't go for any less than the "Schwarzenegger" (220g of meat). For someone who usually takes "happy meal" portions, this was  fantastically big... but then again, so was my appetite.

The burger took a little long to arrive (around 20 minutes), but aside from the fact that the restaurant was packed at 9pm on a week day, I was feeling very forgiving and waited patiently. 
Both plates were very well presented and everything looked nice and fresh. We had an assortment of sauces on a table and when I picked the ketchup I suddenly realized that someone had carefully cleaned all the nozzles of the bottles. No greasy bottles, no bits of dried out ketchup. Nice!

I looked at my friend's chicken patty and wondered why on earth would someone pay 51 shekels for a chicken burger. 

Until I tasted. 
While most of us dread the thought of a  burger made out of anything but beef, this was delicious, moist and full of flavor. I dare to say it was nearly as good as the beef patty. I highly recommend it, specially if your looking for something a little lighter, yet still have that burger craving.

The OffBurger

As for my burger, it was frightening, in fact, I will not display the pictures where it actually looks bigger than my head. I managed to get hold of it and started to dig in as gracefully as I could.

The bread was lightly toasted and warm, as it should, the vegetables were fresh an crisp and the meat patty itself tasted amazing. Just the right amount of salt, not too greasy, yet juicy and medium rare, just like I asked.

I was one happy gal. Yum.

The Schwarzenegger

The dessert menu seemed interesting and we decided to try The Kremlin. Wonder why they call it that way? Take a look...

The Kremlin 

Lots of chocolate in the shape of brownies, mousse, truffles and nuts. Though it was really nice and chocolaty, we felt almost immediately that typical "left in the freezer for ages" taste.

The brownie at the bottom was still frozen and we struggled to break into it. This, in contrast with the soft chocolate mousse on top, made the whole "building" very unstable. Sadly, some of the nuts were also rancid. But aside from this (which is pretty bad in itself), the dessert was nicely presented and the different parts tasted pretty good (once defrosted).

This wasn't the perfect ending to our meal, true. But the burger was the star and ultimately, until I find something to top this, me and Schwarzenegger are going to see a lot of each other.

Score: 8/10

Cheers all!


EDIT: I have heard from several sources that these last weeks, the quality of Black Bar n' Burger has went downwards and the prices have just equally gone upwards. This deserves a second appreciation and perhaps a new rating.  

Jalebi - Golden Coils of Happiness

Admittedly, one of the prettiest little things I made in a long time, these sweets are not only an amazing display, they are also very tasty. Unlike other fried goodies, these remain crispy due to the light caramel coating that protects them.
After searching several recipes and tweaking the dough, I realized that there isn't a fixed recipe, so bear this in mind.
The original method calls for fermentation of the batter. Well, for one, I didn't have live curd and secondly, I felt slightly intimidated by the prospect of letting cheese ferment on my counter top. So yes, I cheated a bit. 
Instead of curd, I used what we call here "labane", which is in fact a yogurt based cheese. The problem is that bought "labane" doesn't have anymore live cultures and so, fermentation may not occur properly. So I gave the dough a helping hand and simply added a little baking powder and moved on to prepare them immediately..

Again, this requires individual adjustments!

Jalebi

250 ml of labane or curd
150 g flour
30 g corn flour
safran strands for coloring (or yellow food coloring)
5 g of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
vegetable oil for frying

Sugar syrup for dipping

Mix everything until there are no lumps and start heating the oil. The dough should have the consistency of pancake batter. If it's too hard, add more curd, if too liquid, add more flour.
Using a plastic bag with a cut corner or a funnel with a small opening, put the batter in and test the oil. Working in circles, try to make a small coil. It should first go to the bottom and them float to the surface seconds later. If the batter breaks off in the oil, either the oil is too hot or the batter is not consistent enough (both maybe).
Once you get the dough right, fry your jalebi on both sides, until pale golden.
Now that you have a heap of prepared jalebi, make the sugar syrup.
Mix 2 cups of water with 1 cup of sugar, let boil until it just starts to thicken. with a spoon, take a little bit, let it get cold on the spoon and touch it with the tip of your fingers. It should form a little strand, glue like.
Take each of your jalebi and dip in the warm caramel. Lay them on a griddle to cool. A delicious thin crust of caramel will form and keep you jalebi for days (if they last that long!).

Cheers!