Valentines Day - Casablanca Style

Valentine's Day is on Saturday this year. So is the premiere of Fifty Shades of Grey. The movie theaters have already sold out. You can't get a restaurant reservation no way, no how. Total craziness in our neck of the woods.

But ManO and I don't care. We have far more romantic plans. Our daughter gave us tickets to the NC Symphony's Pop Series: An Evening with Casablanca.  The symphony plays the score live as the story of Rick and Ilsa's WWII love story unfolds.

Our daughter knows us too well. We're Casablanca obsessed. Everyone knows it. No coincidence one of ManO's friends was born in Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco.

We have multiple copies and formats of the classic movie.

One of many reasons I fell in love with ManO is because Casablanca is his favorite movie of all time. An engineer with a romantic soul and love of old movies. Not sure he loves it more than he loves his trains but when he has this picture in his office, you know it's at least a tie.

The Paris train station set of Casablanca where Rick waits for Ilsa.

Every Valentine's Day, I craft ManO a handmade card. Looking through old ones for inspiration, I  noticed if the theme isn't Paris or trains, the sentiment includes something from Casablanca. Sometimes a combination of all three!

"We'll always have Paris." and "We go together like Rick and Louis." Yep, obsessed.

Back to Valentine's. I have a standing rule ManO can't buy me flowers. As a daughter of a florist, I know prices are raised through the roof for the week of and a few days after. (Because florists know some guys forget!)  We've also learned it's always tricky trying to get in and out of a restaurant in time for a show. If we could even get a reservation, as if. So being both time and budget minded, I told ManO we'd stay home and I'd make a Moroccan feast for dinner.

What is that? Well, we've talked to our friend, been to enough cosmopolitan places, that I have an idea. The best part is this meal is budget-friendly, simple to cook, gluten-free, and corn free. I used chicken instead of the traditional lamb, because I watched Lamb Chop the puppet growing up. ManO loves lamb and I love ManO. But I just can't go there. Plus, chicken thighs are so cheap!

"Here's Looking At You, Kid" Casablanca Feast       

Appetizer : Hummus and veggies. Since it's Valentine's weekend, I'll be purchasing rather than making my own hummus. We have so many good restaurants and marts with homemade hummus around here I'm taking advantage.  And folks have started producing gluten free pitas in their Mediterranean bakeries. Yay!  But we are keeping it to low carb veggies for dipping because of the fruit in the main dish. 

Entree: Chicken Tagine for Two (makes enough for leftovers the next day)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and sliced into rings
2 pounds chicken thighs cubed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Enough water to cover meat

4 pears ­ peeled, cored and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 cup raisins (crasins or dried cherries are also tasty, especially if you use pork instead)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
(Numerous recipes include coriander and far more pepper but we are going for mild here)
Cooked rice or couscous

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the chicken to the pan, and fry until just browned on the outside. Season with cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pour just enough water into the pot to cover the meat. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until meat is tender and the mixture is stew­like. Check at an hour and slightly uncover if there is too much water, stirring occasionally.

Add the pears, golden raisins and almonds to the stew, and cook for a few more minutes.


Serve over cooked rice if you are GF or couscous if not.

Salad: Romaine with feta cheese and olives.  Keep the salad simple. A dressing of vinegar and
olive oil is just fine. After all, this is Valentine's so who wants to work too hard in the kitchen. 

Dessert:  Honey and cinnamon drenched orange slices. How easy is that? I'm also adding dark chocolate chips on top. Not quite traditional Moroccan but what Valentine's dessert doesn't have chocolate? Love the orange and chocolate combo!

 So, are you a Casablanca fan? What is your favorite romantic movie? Do you like meals that have a theme?  Is Valentine's Day all about chocolate, conversation hearts or something else?

 

We’ll Always Have Paris and Duck Dynasty.

This week is our thirty-third anniversary. This is also the week my radiator gave out. Guess what I am getting as an anniversary present? The joke in our house is we always have to replace an appliance around holidays and special occasions. Man O insists that a car is not an appliance. I say it is since it make my life easier. That’s my definition of an appliance.

 

This is a 1930s car radiator. Modern versions don't look that much better. Jewelry it is not.

We had grand plans of going out to our favorite French restaurant, run by natives of that glorious country.  Man O gets the sea bass and I get the duck. We can count on stellar ingredients and beautiful presentation. The ingredients are pure. No preservatives. No allergy issues. A high price tag for our little culinary adventure. Sigh. Not in the cards this year with the car issues. True love always faces trials.

Speaking of true love and trials.... One of the reasons I fell in love with Man O is because he fell in love with the movie Casablanca, containing the famous line, “We’ll always have Paris.”  A girl with seven years of French under her belt and a passion for old movies thinks that way. 

What a view! Oh, and Paris looks pretty good too.

Man O and I celebrated our 25^th anniversary in Paris.  We took a boat tour on the Seine, seeing all the famous bridges spanning the river.  We visited museums, climbed the Eiffel Tour and busted our knees getting to the top of L’arc de Triomphe. But most importantly, we ate well, in little street bistros, grand chateaux and country inns.

At one chateau/fine dining establishment, I ate pigeon. Pigeon that practically cooed. Pigeon that was so raw I couldn't eat it. I tried to be polite and not send it back. But the chef caught wind of my discomfort. He was not amused. Never, ever, ever make a French chef mad. They are rather temperamental. In the middle of his lecture, I vowed to stick with duck as a fancy chicken alternative for the rest of my life. Never had I been served one that quacked!

Now back to our anniversary meal. I was prepared to learn how to duck hunt by watching Duck Dynasty. I thought it would be that hard to procure it! But hunting up duck in my local stores was not difficult. Nothing about the recipe was as difficult as I thought it was supposed to be. Maybe my view had something to do with an expensive restaurant price tag. 

Until now, I thought of duck as special restaurant meal, not a fix at home dish. But Duck L'Orange is one of those recipes that sounds challenging but isn't. It also isn't as expensive. If you don't hunt, duck can be found in the freezer section of your local grocery. Duck breasts run around six dollars in our area. 

We are cutting down on meat so I made medallions and filled the rest of the place with sauteed spinach, baked potatoes, and a bakery croissant for Man O.  The whole meal was less than an appetizer at our lovely French restaurant. Add some candles, Parisian music on the ipod, a tablecloth and grandma's old china. All set for a romantic celebration!!!! 

Now for the instructions. Brace yourself. I am listing all the alternative ways you can make this dish with ingredients on hand, if you are watching sugar, fat or have allergies.  I tweaked it and removed the expensive ingredients like grand mariner and fresh shallots.  But I can tell you, it is a special occasion dish worth the use of a little sugar and butter.

Easy Duck L’Orange

1 duck breast (or more)

1 orange (half juiced, half sliced) or ½ cup orange juice  (Double with each breast added.)

1 cup chicken stock (I use my own stock but canned stock is okay. Organic is better but pricier. Do not add salt if you use processed stock. It has enough already.)

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1T balsamic vinegar

¼ cup sugar ( if cutting sugar, use a teaspoon and follow thickening instructions)

1/4 teaspoon Penzey's Sunny Paris seasoning, Herbes de Provence, or diced shallots, sauteed

Dash salt

Got my ingredients ready to go, well, most of them.

Step 1: Score duck skin in crosshatch marks. Place two tablespoons of butter in skillet and melt. Add duck, skin side down. Cook on medium low until done to desired, approximately 12-15 minutes for medium rare and more for medium. Do not turn but lift to make sure skin is brown and crispy. Some recipes suggest medium rare but we are more medium people. We were scarred by the pigeon experience. Remove and set duck aside to rest while you prepare the sauce.

Step 2: Pour duck fat out of pan. Add tablespoon butter and melt on medium low. Add sugar and stir until melting into the butter, scraping browned bits as you go.

This is how the L'Orange Sauce with look at the beginning.

Step 3:  Add  chicken stock and orange juice. Turn up heat and reduce the sauce until thickened, stirring constantly.  [If not using sugar or in a hurry, put one tablespoon corn or potato starch in the cold stock or juice and stir to dissolve, then add to the pan. But it is better not to use the starch, just sayin'. Use patience and do the reduction. ]

Your sauce will thicken and look like this.

Step 4: Add the vinegar, spices and/or sauteed shallots. Stir to blend and take off the eye. The sauce will thicken even more as it cools.

Step 5: Place the breast (or cut medallions, if you are sharing one piece) on the plate. Pour sauce over the meat. Decorate with orange slices.  

As the French say, "Voila!"

Yes, I cut out some ingredients to make it cheaper. Yes, I cut out some steps to make it faster. But the end result was still delicious, inexpensive, and I feel empowered to try more "difficult" (or so I thought) dishes!

Do you have a special dish you make after finding out it really is not as hard as you thought?Or do you go to a special place every year for celebrations? Do tell!