This simple hors d’oeuvre quietly screams “casual summer elegance.” No cooking is required and the mandoline-esque thin sliced zucchini is achieved with a plain old vegetable peeler. Look for thin and straight zucchini and yellow squash at the market- too thick and you will need a mandoline to slice it. Or an unusually wide vegetable peeler.
Both the goat cheese mousse and balsamic reduction can be made ahead of time, up to a few days. The zucchini will start to loose structural integrity an hour or so after being sliced. Place the sliced zucchini between layers of paper towels and store refrigerated in an air-tight container or plastic for an hour or two.
Fully assembled roulades can be prepared an hour ahead of time, without the balsamic reduction. Keep them cool and dry but not refrigerated.
Ingredients
- 8 oz honey goat cheese (regular goat cheese is fine, add slightly more olive oil and some honey
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (don’t use your $40 bottle)
- 1/2 small orange (substitute any citrus)
- Fresh herbs (basil, chives or thyme, alone or in combination, are my favorites)
- 2 zucchini
- kosher or sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper
- olive oil
- toothpicks or skewers
Recipe
Citrus balsamic reduction
Zest and juice half of an orange into a small pot containing the balsamic vinegar. I’ll usually throw in a few sprigs or leaves of whatever herbs I’m going to use in the mousse. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a gentle simmer. Reduce until the mixture becomes noticeably thicker, use a spoon to drizzle a little on a plate. If the reduction holds your design without solidifying when cooled it’s ready. If you over-reduce either start over again or try adding a little water or orange juice to thin it out a little. Strain, season with a pinch of salt and reserve for plating. I like to use a spoon but the kids are also into squeeze bottles.
Herbed goat cheese mousse
Let your goat cheese come up to room temperature or it will not want to be mixed with anything. I’ll typically use a food processor or stand mixer to make large batches of the mousse but will save myself the trouble of washing the big equipment if I’m only making an 8 oz portion and go to town with a heavy wooden spoon in a medium sized bowl.
herbed goat cheese mousse
Place the goat cheese in a bowl and zest the remaining half of the orange on top. Pour in two tablespoons of olive oil and mix until smooth. You’re looking for a mixture that is thin enough to easily scoop with a spoon but thick enough to hold it’s shape inside the roulade. If the mixture it too thick add a more olive oil in small amounts- you can always add more but can’t take any away. If you do go overboard, which is a lot easier to do in a food processor than by hand, add more goat cheese if it’s available or put it in the fridge until it firms up. It will start to loosen again when it’s served but with some clever time management you can pass it off in a pinch.
Thinly slice, or chiffonade if you watch a lot of food television, the herbs. The amount isn’t terribly important, enough to be evident in taste and by sight. Gently mix them into the mousse and season with a good bit of fresh cracked black pepper and a little salt. Goat cheese tends to be pretty salty as it is but we’re not going to season the zucchini at all so it should be somewhat robustly seasoned.
Assembling the roulades
I had a ghost hold the peeler for the picture
Trim the root end of the zucchini and peel into strips. I find it’s easiest to shave a few strips off one side to create a stable base, then flip it over and peel the rest. When it’s time to assemble lay out the strips of zucchini the go through and place a dollop of the mousse at the bottom of all of them. I’ll use two spoons quenelle style but a tiny ice-cream scooper would also work well.
Tightly roll and secure with a toothpick or skewer.
Plating
Drizzle the balsamic reduction onto your plate or platter in a pleasing fashion, then do the same thing with a little extra virgin olive oil. Place the roulades on top and sprinkle with sea or kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Garnish with citrus zest, fresh herbs or microgreens and serve.
Misunderstood, distrusted, frequently abused- chances are if you’ve ordered anything with duck that wasn’t at a Chinese or incredibly expensive restaurant it was a little lackluster at best.
A few braves souls might have tried some sort of roast duck at home- purchasing the frozen whole ducks available at most supermarkets (which are generally fine, if not exceptional) preparing them according to packaging (note: recipes printed on your meat will probably disappoint) and serving with the pouch of orange sauce that came stuffed in the cavity for some reason, as if there were one universal, unalterable duck 
preparation.
We’re dealing with the dark meat of the duck today, prepared in style of a confit which roughly translates to meat that has been slow cooked in fat, originally devised as a preservative method. I usually buy frozen ducks at one of the two Vietnamese markets on Broadway, one of them also carries frozen duck legs and thighs (but never breasts, oddly enough). Prepared duck confit is frequently available at upscale butchers and specialty shops as well as online at Dartagnan and other sites- it will do in a pinch but it will be a more expensive pinch. Buying a whole duck on your own gives you the opportunity to make seared duck breast and duck stock (which in turn yields a good bit of duck fat).
We’re adding some chipotles and cilantro to our duck for the quesadillas- replace them with thyme and parsley, maybe a bay leaf to get back to the confit’s French roots. Outside of quesadillas duck confit is delicious on or in pizza, omelets, sandwiches, pastas and crepes.
Ingredients
- Dark meat (legs and thighs) from one duck
- 2-4 tbsp duck fat, butter or olive oil
- 2 tbsp adobo sauce (for cooking)
- one chipotle, diced (for the quesadillas)
- 1 medium size purple onion, julienned and caramelized
- flour tortillas
- preferred grated melty cheese (I like Chihuahua)
- scallions and cilantro
- optional toppings- hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole, salsa
Recipe
For the confit: place your duck meat on a large piece of foil with some duck fat (or butter or oil), a few spoonfuls of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles, salt and pepper and a few springs of cilantro and some very rough chopped scallions. Wrap tightly and cook in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Carefully open the foil package and check- if you can easily shred the meat with a fork (the meat will have pulled back off the bone as well) it’s time to make quesadillas. If not wrap it back up and give it another 15 minutes. Shred off the bone by hand or with a fork.
Assembling the quesadillas: Caramelize your onion slices, ideally using more duck fat but olive oil or butter will also get you there. When the onion is soft and slightly brown add duck meat and a diced chipotle (or two if you dare) and remove from heat. Assemble your quesadillas ahead of time with cheese, duck and onion mixture and a little bit of sliced green onion. For heavy filled quesadillas make sure there is cheese on the bottom and top to keep everything glued together.
Cook on a well oiled flat top of heavy bottom pan until brown on the outside and gooey inside. If the heat is too high and the outside starts to burn while the cheese is cold and unmelted a few minutes in a 300 degree oven or even 30 seconds in the microwave will even it all out. Add a little kosher salt after flipping.
Slice into four or six pieces and serve with your choice of hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole or salsa.
this technique can be applied to pretty much any vegetable- pickled banana peppers are wonderful on sandwiches and pizzas
Fresh, unbelievably easy and requiring absolutely none of the planning of classic pickling techniques. As long as you don’t mind eating all your pickles within a handful of days this is the perfect recipe for you to show off your pickling prowess. Stay tuned after the recipe for some other vinegar+heat+jar ideas as well as a word on the shorter lifespan of quick pickles.
INGREDIENTS (for a 1 quart container) All measurements can be eyeballed- these are pickles, not a souffle.
- 2-3 pickling/smaller cucumbers (any type will more or less work)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
- 2-3 cups vinegar (any kind of lighter vinegar will work- see note)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3-5 cloves garlic, slivered
- 2 tablespoons dried dill weed, or a couple springs fresh dill
- optional things to add (1 tsp mustard seed, thin sliced onion or shallot)
RECIPE
Bring the vinegar to a boil in a small pot. While you’re waiting rinse your cucumbers and peel if necessary. When is it necessary, you ask? I like to peel rad racing stripes into my vegetables, but that’s mostly for the look. If you came home with standard supermarket cucumbers there might well be a heavy, bitter coating of wax that just isn’t very delicious. That’s the necessary peeling scenario.
Slice cucumbers as thick or thin as you like. A mandolin, food processor or even some classier cheese graters can speed up this task for the sharp knife-phobic but this isn’t the kind of pickle recipe where you want to make jars and jars to give your friends and coworkers.
Place sliced cucumbers, garlic, dill (dry or fresh), and the mustard seed (I have never used mustard seed but I rarely keep any in the pantry) or onion/shallot if you’re using them in your canning jar. This can be any glass with a screw top, there’s no need for specialized sterilization procedures.
Turn off heat to the pot and stir in the salt and sugar until dissolved. Carefully pour this brine into the glass jar with your vegetables. Lightly screw on the top and place in the fridge. When your jar is cool to the touch the pickles are done! Continue to store them in the fridge.
These pickles were made at a lakefront bbq, on the grill. The recipe is just that easy!
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Shelf life-because we’re adding hot vinegar to the cucumbers instead of cold water (here’s Alton Brown’s take on classic dill pickles) we can go from cucumber to hamburger topping in under 90 minutes vs. a week. But because we’re cooking as well as pickling the cucumbers will continue to soften and become unpleasantly mushy after 3 or 4 days. Similar recipes online claim these will keep up to 10 days, your mileage may vary.
Vinegar choice- I’ve been happy using plain white, apple cider, rice wine and white balsamic vinegar. The apple cider vinegar has a more flavor and sweetness to it but the jar of pickles tends to be less beautiful to look upon.
Other fun things to quick pickle- once you get the hang of this (and it really is very easy) the world is your oyster- salty, briny and delicious.
Jalapenos, like the banana peppers pictured, are great once pickled (and last a little longer in the fridge). Omit the dill and reduce the sugar to a tablespoon or two.
Ginger- make your own pickled ginger for sushi or salads. Peel and shave super thin and leave out the dill and try to use rice wine vinegar.
Carrots and daikon radish- if your in to bahn mi replace the dill with fresh cilantro and cut most of the sugar.
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