Roast Duck sounds great, but like you, I haven't been able to really do it right and it gets too greasy, the has to be a way! In Germany roast goose is the traditional Christmas meat, I remember mother draining the fat and using it for cooking and spread on bread, I think she mixed it with some lard - that was what one ate, no one worried about cholesterol and no one gained a lot of weight. But then we walked everywhere and our apartments had no elevators, maybe that's what offset all that rich food.

This looks long, but it's really easy (the recipe that I made up and sent to Annette). It reheats (microwaves) great the next day, too. -------------- Here's what I think I did for the pasta sauce for 4 servings. I vary this as you probably will, depending upon how it looks/tastes to you and what you have on hand. I use a very large all-clad saute pan so that there is a lot of flat surface, but it has steep sides like a stock pot. I add my drained penne pasta (4 servings) to the pot of sauce. (When I'm out of penne, I always have thin spaghetti -- then I add the sauce to the pasta in the bowls instead of the pasta to the sauce). We use the Barrillo PLUS pasta products. 1 large shallot, chopped saute in EVOO (a few tablespoons) 1 package of fresh, mixed gourmet mushrooms (these are sold in our groceries, but you can use shitake or baby bellas) rough chopped. Add to pan and saute with the shallots. Add about 1 cup of red wine. I buy 1/4 lb of thinly sliced prosciutto de parma. I have the deli put the individual layers (4-5) between paper in a large ziplock. I can then use 2 layers for the recipe. I roll each layer into a pencil shape for easy slicing into small rounds. Add to the pan. Tomatoes: I've used 2 28-oz cans of diced (drained) roasted Muir Glen; or, I've used 1 14 oz can of diced and supplemented with 1 large jar of marinara sauce. Add basil and oregano to taste. Add red pepper flakes to taste. Let it simmer for an hour on low heat with the lid on. If it gets too dry, add a splash of red wine. After 1 hour, I add a large handful of crumbled gorgonzola. Gently stir over low heat until the gorgonzola is really soft and distributed. Add parsley to taste (preferably fresh, but if not available add dried parsley earlier with the basil and oregano) Add the drained penne pasta to the pot of sauce. (I usually add my Kosher salt to the pasta while it's boiling instead of to my sauce) Gently toss. Serve in pasta bowls; sprinkle with freshly grated parmeseano reggiano; drizzle a tiny amount of EVOO to each bowl. ------------ As for red wine, we typically use what we like to drink. For us, that's Liberty School or Sterling Vineyards Cabernet. I've also used merlot or pinot noir if we were out of the cab.

Mimi, your pork looks perfect. Neely, I love the look of your tuna salad. So refreshing. Annie, I'm so sorry about your yorkshires. Mine have never flubbed like that. As mentioned, maybe the batter was too cold. We had spaghetti and meatballs yesterday for New Years, and my goal was to have the more "fancy" dinner today. I'm not a clam virgin any longer. I never cook seafood, and today was my first foray cooking clams. I just try not to think of them being alive :-( This is a Portuguese dish, and one that I wanted to christen our new Lodge cast iron skillet, one of or presents to ourselves. Chicken, sausage, potatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, onions, clams and kale. I used baby kale, and added some white wine for additional flavour. Sopped up with homemade rolls and it's truly a keeper.

Bragu, you notice that many times my meals are not photographed, LOL. Some of them just aren't very pretty, but most of them are still edible, sometimes they are even good! (grin) Sleevendog, I'm so sorry about your Newfoundland trip, I remember the moose lasagna from your trip there. (sigh) Thanks in advance for the microgreen "kit", hooray! My current plants will be going into the garden the end of May, and I told Elery I was going to plant "salad" here at the house instead of in the farm garden. It's all one piece of property, but it's shaped like an "L" and the farm buildings/garden is at the top of the "L" and we're on the far other bottom of that "L". So, by road it's a mile to get to the farm buildings, only half a mile if we cut across the pasture. Too far to walk out the back door for a salad in any event, so I try to keep some things closer, like the asparagus patch and those new hoop houses. Having them actually IN the house will be even handier! In the meantime, I found this today while pulling the first few weeds, so I'm excited! Jasdip, those meatballs look pretty darned good, your photography is just getting better and better. I see that you're like me in that you will put the sauce on the rice. I always make extra sauce for that kind of meal, just so I can have enough for the rice. 2many, that egg salad and the microgreens wrapped in a crepe would be something that my oldest daughter would love, as long as I make cornstarch crepes for her, thanks for that idea! That setting the oven for "pizza" instead of "proof" sounds just like something I'd do too, I hope you can save that bowl. Neely, stay safe, I'll think good thoughts for your microgreens. What's for dinner? Last night I roasted a duck that had been hiding in the back corner of the freezer for over a year. I used Ina Garten's technique of boiling then high heat roasting and it turned out well. I splurged and had a baked potato with some fresh chives from the back yard. Elery had some cauliflower rice, I passed. I took the last of the whole wheat dough out of the refrigerator and made some bread to go with supper, baked it in a 8x8 pan, brushed the top with olive oil and sprinkled it with "Everything But the Bagel" seasoning from Trader Joe's. I did that with the last piece, and didn't think there was enough topping, so I did it again. The topping still didn't give it very much flavor, I probably should have used even more. Then tonight? I'm going to put Bragu/Dave to shame. It was beautiful here, sunny and in the 60s. We were outside all day, spraying deer repellent on my little fruit trees, working on the tiller getting ready to plant strawberries, working on a space for my new little laying hens. We came in and Elery had leftover duck and I had Frosted Mini Wheats, yes indeed, gourmet cooking at its finest. (snicker) No pictures, for obvious reasons. Annie