What I Ate Over Christmas Break

I’ve finally gotten back on track after the Holidays. Though things were quite hectic for the past two or three weeks, things are mostly back to normal, thus allowing me the time to make this post, a photo essay of the perfect Christmas meal:

The Menu:
Appetizer - Seared scallops, sauteed mushrooms and prosciutto on toasted Italian bread with a balsamic reduction.
Salad - Grilled portobellas, bosc pears and manchego cheese on a bed of romaine, topped with a light vinaigrette.
Main - Roast duckling with a mushroom, onion, pecan and wild rice stuffing.
Cheese - Njord cheese and strawberries.
Dessert - Biscotti and Dove chocolates.

Mise en place – In the foreground, my mother-in-law’s secret fried cabbage recipe cooks in the wok. Rice for the stuffing is boiling in the covered pot, in front of a duck and other stuffing ingredients being prepared on the cutting board.

The star of the show, a duckling.

Offal for the stuffing (and skin for our dog)

Onions and mushrooms for the stuffing.

The fried cabbage again, it’s almost done.

Appetizer prep work, scallops and portabella slices, slices of Italian bread fry in the pan.

Scallops cooking.

Appetizer assembled, prosciutto, scallops, and mushrooms on Italian bread with a balsamic reduction.

The salad, grilled portabellas, pears and manchego cheese on a bed of romaine, served with a vinaigrette.

The duck, awaiting carving.

The duck and stuffing on a plate (At this point I was too hungry to care about plating... it's not a restaurant, after all).

Now, where, you may be asking, is mother-in-law's secret fried cabbage? That is reserved for the best sandwich ever, which is assembled from the leftovers and a few additional ingredients:
cold duck and fried cabbage with smoked gouda and a dab of mayo... Literally, the best sandwich ever assembled. Ever.

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