February 27, 2011 new recipes

Once again, Mario Batali comes through in Molto Italiano. We can get duck and duck legs (but not breasts for some reason) at Har Mart, a great asian market not too far from here. So we made Braised Duck Legs with Dried Orange Peel and Almonds. The sauce cooks down during the braising to the thick near-stew you see on the duck. Fabulous! We had Roasted Asparagus with Capers and Eggs on the side, also really delicious. We would do both again!

We drank a Willamette Valley Vineyards 2006 Pinot Noir with this meal, a really nice match. Asparagus is notoriously difficult to match with wine, but when you roast it and then dress it like this, it becomes quite different, and does not seem to me to be as hard to match. It worked well with this wine.