The Last Pieces of June

Cherries, glorious, in all their red, white and sour forms! A much healthier cook-time snack than my usual bread groaning under the weight of cheese.

And then... Fresh duck breast! I have not seen this lovely vendor at the Union Square Farmers Market until just last week. It was 6:00--closing time--and produce was a little tired and discounted. I wanted to use my wok again and had scored bok choy, mint, scallions and snow peas when I saw the sign: "10% Off All Duck!"

Abawhaaat!? Giddy, I stepped right up and nabbed a big, fatty, fresh not frozen(!) Moulard breast--almost a whole pound for $7 from the Hudson Valley Duck Farm.

At home, I rubbed five spice and Sriracha onto the breast, browned it up nicely in the wok and then, ghetto-like, finished it in the toaster oven. To keep the heat in the kitchen down, I stir-fried all the green things with a bit of ginger for just about 15 hot seconds, then I put some orange juice, a tiny bit of hoisin sauce and soy sauce, a spoonful of honey and a squirt of Sriracha into the hot wok (these things sort of sounded like they should go together, no?), let it reduce and then poured it all over my duck before mixing everything together.

Final answer: really pretty, really easy, fairly good flavor... and I decided I don't like bok choy. Poor bok choy.

The Soup that Went Away Quickly

Oh, man, was this soup terribly delightful. So good that, while I planned to only eat half and save the other half for tomorrow's lunchy, I went and gobbled the whole pot while also-greedily gulping up tonight's Gossip Girl. Whooweee, Little J!!

Anyway. Tonight's soup was a happy little mash-up of back-of-the-fridge goodies: roast chicken from the weekend (see photo, above, with bok choy and scallions and parsnips!), corn from Easter dinner, peas from the freezer (they feign spring like nobody's business), half and half lingering about, and some luscious assorted stock.

Onions went into a pot with a slap of butter, and they simmered around until soft. Then the chicken, corn and peas along with some half and half. Always salting to taste along the way. Stock brought the whole tasty mess together, and a little slurry of stock and flour thickened the meal up once things were good and simmering. I liked that the slurry thickened and also deposited small dumpling bits in between the pretty yellow and green veggies! I liked it so much that I have none leftover for lunch.