The simple smell of roasting meat and veggies is permeating my parent’s whole house. I could smell it in the garage…. This is super rustic, super easy, throw it in the oven, and it emerges perfect and crispy 40-50 minutes later. You can use whatever veggies you have, and need to use up. I used a Korean yam I bought from Super H (which is white, not orange like other yams), parsnips from the Union Square market, potatoes and onions from the pantry. What I love to do when roasting something is mix up an herb butter and stuff it under the skin. I did this last year with my Thanksgiving turkey, and every time I do it, it’s divine. The duck is a bit different than a chicken or turkey, in that the skin is not as easily separated from the the muscle. So with a knife I carefully separated the skin as best as I could and stuffed as much butter underneath as it would hold. One more thing, save your drippings and duck fat from the bottom of the pans!!! We’ll use this later in the week. Ok, here’s my recipe for the duck legs:

Serves 3-4, depending on how hungry you are - perfect for a lunch serving

2 large duck legs

1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temp

Fresh herbs: Parsley, Oregano, Sage, whatever you have on hand

2 Onions quartered

2 Potatoes quartered

2 Parsnips peeled, and cut into 1-2 inch cubes

1 Korean Yam, or regular yam, cut into 1-2 inch cubes

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Cut up all your veggies and put them in a roasting pan. Drizzle with Olive Oil, salt and pepper.

3. Mix fresh herbs into the butter with a fork. Carefully cut skin away from the duck legs. With your fingers, slide under the skin with the herb butter. Score the skin on top, careful not to cut the muscle. Spread the rest of the herb butter on top of the skin and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place legs on top of veggies in the roasting pan

4. Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Serve with a herb salad side. Enjoy!

Last night, I made a recipe from the September 2006 restaurant issue of Bon Appétit. It was from the restaurant Watershed in Decatur, GA. It called for whole game hens - but alas a budget and really a lack of game hens in my shopping, led me to just use skin on chicken pieces. It doesn’t look as fancy but it really tasted great. I’ve done the rub the herb butter under the skin trick for a large turkey for Thanksgiving, and this didn’t disappoint either. The chicken stays really moist, and the outside crunchy from the butter. It also calls for grits. Even though I used to live in Atlanta, I never got into them, or really got what the big southern fuss was. I will admit though, I really enjoyed the grits with this recipe. The gravy from the shitake mushrooms gets all over them, and they’re buttery and salty. I accidentaly bought pre-cooked grits from TJ’s so I didn’t do the slow milk reduction with them, but they were still great. I also used the herbed butter from Rory’s Ribs so I didn’t make that part twice either. This recipe is not online, so here it is as it appeared in the magazine:

Serves 4

16 cups cold water

1 cup coarse kosher salt

4 1.5 lb game hens

12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

2 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

4 teaspoons minced shallot

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 lemon wedges

20 shitake mushrooms, stemmed

1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth

1. Stir 16 cups water and salt in large pot to dissolve salt. Add hens. cover; chill overnight.

2. Mix butter, 2 tablespoons chopped chives, and next 6 ingredients in small bowl to blend.

3. Remove hens from brine; pat dry. Place hens in large roasting pan. Using fingers, separate skin from breast and thigh meat. Rub 1.5 tablespoons herb butter under skin and 1 tablespoon over skin of each hen. Place 1 lemon wedge into cavity of each. Tie legs together.

4. Preheat oven to 425F. Roast hens until golden and thermometer inserted into thigh registers 175F, about 45 minutes (the chicken pieces took about 30). Transfer to plates; reserve juices in pan.

5. Melt remaining herb butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; saute until brown, about 6 minutes. Add broth; boil 1 minute. Add 4 teaspoons chives and pan juices. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over hens; serve with grits.

Creamy Stone-Ground Grits

2 cups whole milk

2 cups (or more) water

1/2 cup white stone-groud grits

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Bring milk and 2 cups water to boil in small suacepan. Gradually stir in grits. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until grits are tender, stirring often and adding more water by tablespoonfuls if mixture is thick, about 20 minutes. Add butter. Season with salt and pepper.

If you buy Bill’s SyndeyFood Cookbook, you’ll notice that while the recipes shots and recipes look amazing, the names of the dishes are just descriptions of the ingredients. Let me clarify - there are no “Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies”, or “My Best Friend Fred’s Awesome Corn Fritters”, it’s a bit boring actually, but I can’t deny the great flavor combos. This was another super easy dish, and I’m really loving roasting all this stuff. The taleggio cheese was something new for us, and it’s a great sandwich/melting cheese - it’s not at Trader Joe’s but in the fancy intimidating cheese case at WF, but worth it. So here’s the recipe, with no fun name, for the roast mushrooms and taleggio:

Serves 4

8 large portobello mushrooms

1 tablespoon roughly chopped thyme (I used Rosemary b/c that’s what I had)

4 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 large garlic clove, cut into 8 slivers

6 1/2 oz baby spinach, washed (I used arugula which was really nice)

5 oz taleggio cheese, sliced

to serve

4 thick slices of toast

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place the mushrooms in a roasting pan. Mix thyme, olive oil and lemon juice together and pour over the mushrooms. Place a slice of garlic on each mushroom and bake the mushrooms for 10 minutes in the oven.

2. Meanwhile, place the spinach (undried, with water clinging to the leaves) in a frying panover medium heat and turn with a spatula until wilted.

3. Remove the mushrooms from the oven. Top each mushroom with a little spinach and some sliced taleggio. Return to the oven for 5-6 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Place 2 mushroms on each slice of toast. Drizzle with pan juices and balsamic vinegar.

AMAZING, if you’ve got a WHOLE day to cook this sucker. The tomatoes roast at 200F for 8ish hours. The actual soup only takes about 30 minutes, if not less. It makes your kitchen/apartment smell fantastic for the day though. This is not for the time conscious, or after work meal, unless you’re reheating. However, it is a fun thing to learn and experiment with, and the results were well worth it. Apparently you can freeze roasted tomatoes for the winter, but we didn’t have any left over. So, next time you have absolutely nothing to do on the weeknds, try this one!

4 lbs ripe tomatoes, halved

6 sprigs fresh herbs

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 cups chicken stock, veg stock, or water

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 200F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the tomatoes cut side up on the prepared baking sheet. Distribute herbs evenly over th etomatoes, drizzle with the oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are shriveled but still plump, about 8 hours. The tomatoes can be frozen at this point: place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and freeze for 2 hours. When frozen, carefully transfer them to sealable plastic freezer bags and store in freezer up to 4 months.

3. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

4. Stire in the tomatoes, stock, and bay leaf. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently for 30 minutes, occasionally mashing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon

5. Remove the bay leaf. Using a food mill or blender, puree the soup until smooth. Return the soup to the pot; add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over low heat.

6. Stack the basil leave stem-end toward you and roll cigar-style. Finely slice the leaves to create attractive ribbons. Ladle soup into 4 bowls, sprinkle basil over top and serve.