What Do You Do With a Ducky Carcass? (Sung to the Tune Of...)

Carrie nailed it the other day, when we came to Friday which is the day off from her internship/graduate study program at Seton Hall. By the by, Carrie is Nicole's second cousin from Missouri who lives with us while finishing up her graduate degree at Seton Hall which is, quite literally down the street. She has been a God send. Not only is she an unbelievable and, at least it seems, cheerfully willing aid to the daily household chore-age, a baby sitter in the pinch, an un paralleled sous chef, an inspiration to us old folks to keep running, she is also unfathomably easy to live with. She leaves in just a little over two weeks for good and we are dreading the day. She will be missed so much. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a graduate student live with them.

Anyway Carrie nailed it. She said that she looks forward to Friday because it's her day off but then when it's here she panics a little cause "What's to do?".

"Ah, Carrie." I said to myself. "Welcome to my world." Even though it is everyday that I am unemployed right now, It's the Saturdays and Sundays that get me. When you're unemployed on a Monday, the call might come for an appointment on Tuesday... but on a Saturday all you can do is wait for Monday when a call might come for Tuesday. Therefore on this last Saturday, before panic could set in, I thought of the duck carcass in the freezer.

At the Super Fine Fare the other day I bought a questionably fresh 10 lb. bag of onions for $1.98 and sometime Saturday morning realized that it was time to modifiy my Tuscan Onion soup recipe to a Tuscan Duck Onion soup. I figured I could use up at least a third of those onions in one go. I pulled that nearly gone carrot and a few stalks of celery from the crisper in the fridge and peeled a couple of garlic cloves. I put the frozen carcass from last week's duck along with the innards and the bones in the stock pot with the veggies and the garlic covered it with some water, brought it to a boil then reduced it to a simmer and walked away.

The recipe calls for prosciutto but I wanted to bring a little more gusto to it and found a piece of smoked pork belly at the Super Fine Fare that did quite nicely.

By the time that I got back from the Super Fine Fare Carrie had revealed her present to Duncan.
"Pixar's Up!" He cried with delight, sounding more than a little like an ad for a delighted child than an actual child.

As the onion simmered and the stock gurgled Duncan snuggled next to Carrie on the couch and Nicole and Shaw rocked on the glider and they all watched Up while the Saturday rain fell.

"Stay in the moment Drew." I said to Drew. The moments are awfully wonderful. For God sake, there's duck broth brewing.

 DUCK BROTH

Duck carcass, bones and innards
A carrot or two
A celery stalk or two
A quartered onion
Couple cloves of garlic
Maybe some thyme
Salt and pepper

Cover the carcass, innards, vegetables and herbs with water in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil then simmer, skimming fat off of top for five to six hours.
Strain broth into a large bowl through a colander. Rinse out the stock pot, then strain broth through a sieve back into the stock pot and boil for ten minutes to concentrate flavors. Season to taste. If necessary drop in a couple of chicken stock cubes to bolster flavor.

TUSCAN DUCK ONION SOUP

2 Tablespoons Duck Fat.
3 lbs. white onions, peeled, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tomatoes diced
8 cups duck broth
1/2 pound smoked pork belly cut into 1 inch dice
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Pecorino Romano

In skillet fry diced pork belly until it begins to crisp. Drain on paper towel and set aside.

Melt duck fat in heavy large pot over medium- high heat. Add onions and saute until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Add wine, simmer until it evaporates, about 4 minutes. Add tomato and saute 1 minute. Remove from heat. Transfer 1 cup onion mixture to blender. Add 1 cup duck broth and puree until smooth. Return puree to pot. Add remaining broth, pork belly, and thyme. Bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes to blend flavors.

Ladle soup into bowls and top each serving with pecorino romano.


Serve with a great loaf of bread and maybe some fancy cheese.