Sauteed Duck Breast with Cajun Mustard Sauce

I saw duck in the store the other day, a very rare find, so I immediately squealed with excitement and grabbed at it, probably scaring the shoppers around me. As soon as I made my way out to the car, I immediately knew this was going to be a pan seared savory duck. I always see sweet sauces poured over duck, and while I do love and adore them, I wanted something different. So when I got home, I started googling and came up with..... absolutely nothing. Apparently, this is a unique idea. Who knew?! ha! Anyway, I was on my own, I had to be creative and wing it. Since duck can stand up to just about anything, I thought a cream sauce with mustard would be good. At the last minute I decided to add Cajun seasoning for extra flavor. It was a hit!

Sauteed Duck Breast with Cajun Mustard Sauce
Serving Size = 3 - 4

• 3 - 4 Moulard duck breasts
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 - 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 oz cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon Creole/Cajun seasoning (click here for Creole seasoning recipe)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Salt/Pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 shallot finely chopped (I used onion, but recommend a shallot)

1. Use a skillet that will fit whatever amount of duck you will be sauteeing. Place it over medium heat and let it warm up completely. Score the duck fat, without cutting into the meat (for more details, click here), then place into the pan, fat side down. Cook 15 - 20 minutes (turn the heat down a bit if it starts to brown too fast), then flip and cook for 3 more minutes. The fat side will get dark brown and crispy, and the duck should be cooked to medium-rare or medium, anything above that will be tough. The duck above is cooked to medium, maybe a TINY bit more. We don't like our duck medium-rare. Set aside and cover with a tented piece of aluminum foil.
2. Drain off the fat and keep for another day.
3. Add the butter and shallot to the pan and cook until softened.
4. Add the Cajun seasoning and cook for 1 minute or so. Add the chicken stock, heavy cream, Dijon, salt, and pepper. Cook until thickened a bit.
5. Turn the heat off, add the lemon juice and cream cheese. Whisk until the cheese dissolves (I heat the cheese in the microwave a few seconds to loosen it up a bit).
6. Serve sauce over duck.  

Creole Rice

The last few days have been pretty good. My husband gave me a Christmas present early. Yes, it's true, we ruin the surprise. Both of us do actually. We always end up giving out gifts early. The stunning serving platter that you see is from hubs. It's hand made, hand painted, and gorgeous. Of course I had to serve something on it immediately. We smoked a chicken and after searching through the fridge I decided to throw together some creole rice. Yep! Another recipe that involves my creole spice mix. Hey, at least it's frugal, cut me some slack! :) You can use any amount of spice you want and almost any type of veggie; it's very versatile. In fact, you could easily eat this as a full meal. And if you add some ground beef and extra spice it would be a complete meal.

I've also been decorating our house with art (Christmas decor is next). I saw a painting on sale and grabbed it because it matches my kitchen perfectly. I also hung a big antique copper colored flower on the wall. I know there is a big vintage clothing trend lately. I'm not really into fashion, but vintage items for art or for the kitchen.... love 'em. 

Scroll down to see the platter hubs gave me, which could also be used as wall art. 

Smoked Chicken

Click here for the recipe

Bell pepper, celery, onion

Parsley

Rice!

Creole Rice
Serving Size = Roughly 4

• 1 cup of rice (cook according to directions)
• Beef or Chicken Broth (add enough according to directions)
• 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 an onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of Creole Seasoning (click here for recipe)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of cooked corn (canned or frozen)

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add some oil (I use EVOO). Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper. Saute for a few minutes.
2. Add the broth, creole seasoning, corn, and parsley. Stir.
3. At this point, follow the rice instructions:
4. I used jasmine rice, but normally I would use plain rice long grain rice. For jasmine rice I used 1 cup of rice and 1 1/2 cups of broth. Bring broth to a boil, cover, turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. For white rice I use 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of broth. Add broth and rice, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Once done, fluff the rice and serve. If worst comes to worst and the seasoning is just too weak for you, then you can add a bit more and mix while it's hot.

Click here for a recipe that uses up the leftovers.

Linking to: Foodie Friday

Creole Artichoke Hearts

Remember the creole seasoning I made a while back? I've learned that it's amazing on tilapia, delicious in pasta, and it turns out it's also a yummy way to spice up veggies --- in this case, artichokes. I absolutely stink at working with artichokes. Seriously. I struggle to cut the fresh ones up, the yield is so flippin' tiny, they never cook right, I end up frustrated and blah. I'll stop complaining. I remember the first time I worked with fresh artichokes. I decided to make artichoke mash but I didn't get ALL of the leaves peeled away. After I pureed it I ended up with a ton of strings running throughout the mash. I didn't notice this until after I served it to everyone. Bleck! Funny now that I look back on it though. Aw, embarrassing memories, gotta love 'em! :) So until I work up the courage to go down that road again, I am using canned artichoke hearts. Feel free to be braver than me and work with fresh.

As for life with baby number 2, it's going great. I can't get over the fact that labor and delivery was only 5 short and almost painless hours. Recovery was instant. I have no back pain like I thought I would. The only thing we're missing is some sleep but that's expected. And actually, we're not missing THAT much sleep, not enough to really complain about. We're lucky so far! :)

Creole Artichoke Hearts
Serving Size = 2 - 3

• 1 can large artichokes hearts, drained (5 - 7)
• 1 - 2 teaspoons creole seasoning, click here for recipe
• Roughly 1/2 cup grated cheese, to taste (I've used fontina and muenster before)
• Panko breadcrumbs (about 1 - 2 tablespoons, just to cover)
• 1/2 tablespoon or so of butter (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. 
2. Drain the artichoke hearts and cut them in half or quarters. Place into a baking dish.
3. Mix together the cheese and creole seasoning. Sprinkle evenly over the artichokes. Top with the breadcrumbs and then dot some butter across the top (optional).

Linking to: Hearth and Soul

Creole Chicken Pasta

After a long day of back pain and watching my toddler, I can honestly say this meal brightened my mood. Not only is it next to effortless to make and barely takes any time to cook, but the flavor is amazing. You can adjust to taste as much as you want but I love the big flavor of the spices. I know I keep saying this but this is one of my favorite meals. You might be able to sub out the heavy cream with half-and-half if you want to save calories, I haven't tried this though. I'm 9 months pregnant, calories are not on my mind at the moment. I won't even tell you the amount of dessert I've been eating lately! :)

I'm glad this was easy to throw together though because towards the end of the day my toddler became a handful. As I was cooking she brought me a bag of white chocolate chips that she wanted to eat, then dumped out a bag of dried chickpeas, which was followed by 1/2 a bag of vermicelli. My back hurt too much to bend down and clean up the vermicelli so this meant that I had the privilege of walking on dried noodles while I cooked. It will be interesting to see what Emmett adds to this mix in about 2 weeks! Ahhh! hehe

Chop up the bell pepper

And chop up the onion

Cook the chicken and set aside

Add the onions to the chicken pan and then the peppers and garlic

Add the chicken back and let the flavors blend

Creole Chicken Pasta
Serving Size = 2 - 3

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces (boneless, skinless)
• About 2 tablespoons of creole spice, to taste - Click here for the spice mix recipe
• 1 tablespoons of butter and some oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Parmesan to taste (I added about 1/4 cup)
• 4 oz fettuccine (cook for about 8 minutes and remember to salt the water a bit for flavor)

1. Cut the chicken into small pieces (mine were about 2 bites each). Toss with the creole seasoning to taste. The pieces should be moderately and evenly coated.
2. Heat a large pan with a tablespoon or two of oil (EVOO will work) over medium heat and add the chicken, cook until cooked through (maybe 15 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside. 
3. Add some oil if needed, and then add about 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the chopped onions and cooked for a few minutes until they start to get tender. 
4. Add the bell pepper and garlic, cook a few more minutes. Add the chicken stock and let it simmer, scraping the bottom for bits and pieces of yummy flavor. After that simmers for a minute, go ahead and add the heavy cream. Stir well and add the chicken back. 
5. Simmer gently until it starts to thicken (5 - 8 minutes, while the pasta is finishing up). Taste and check the seasoning. Add the fettuccine to the pasta and mix well. Add the Parmesan to taste, mix and serve. To make it extra pretty you can add some chopped parsley to the top (I didn't have any).

Linking to: Cast Party Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked, Mangia Mondays

Homemade Creole Seasoning and Baked Creole Tilapia with Sauce

I've recently joined pinterest and I'm loving it. The different ideas are very inspiring and I'm pretty sure I save everything I find. I have to say though, it's starting to depress me a bit. I love autumn, the food, decorations, everything, but I love summer even more. When I log on to pinterest I keep seeing all of these autumn ideas and I'm starting to realize that summer is going away. Of course, I can't stop this from happening so I just need to get over it, but it does make me want to spend more time outdoors enjoying every minute.

Enough whining now. :) By the way, I've started a Baby Talk! page for all of my followers that are interested in baby updates. I'm keeping it pretty open to any ideas related to babies. I'll update it from time to time. Please make comments, recommendations and so on!

As for the tilapia recipe, well, first we have to start with the creole seasoning recipe. I'll be honest, I am not a creole seasoning fan. I've never been. I think it's because I haven't been exposed to the food enough (the quality food). I didn't want to risk it and make up a recipe, so I went out and searched for one with high reviews and I must say I was very impressed. This might be my new favorite way to eat tilapia. I have no idea how authentic it is, but I plan to make this in big batches and use it on everything I can. And don't skip the sauce for the fish! It's worth it! Yummmmm!!!!

Creole Seasoning

Serving Size = 1 1/4 cups

Original Recipe

• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne (cut in half for our toddler)
• 5 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons salt (you can cut the salt back a bit if you're worried, but it worked fine for me)

1. Mix everything together and store in an airtight container.

Other recipes with this spice mix: Creole Pasta, Creole Artichoke Hearts, Creole Rice, Sauteed Duck Breast with Cajun/Creole Mustard Sauce

Baked Creole Tilapia and Sauce

Serving Size = 4
Original Recipe

Fish

• 4 fillets of tilapia
• 1 tablespoon of creole seasoning, or to taste (I probably added a bit more)
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced (about 2 pieces per fish)

Sauce

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (I doubled, at least)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (had to use dried)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Season the tilapia on both sides, arrange in a single layer in the baking sheet, top with the lemons and bake for 15 - 20 minutes (or until fish flakes easily with a fork).

By the way, if it's 4,000 degrees out and you want to keep the house cool, you could easily wrap this in foil and put it on the grill.

Also, I served this with mushroom rice.

Linking to: Foodie Friday, Friday Potluck, A Week of Handmade Gifts