Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

[js]
With all the hecticness of the past month, it turns out that we totally overlooked Weekend Wokking this month and didn't have time to prepare anything specifically for the event.

The featured ingredient this month is cheese. Normally this would be a cause for concern, because we're not big cheese-eaters in the house and seldom prepare a cheese-laden dish.



[js]
Enter these duck enchiladas. This dish just missed our cut-off for our July Latin fiesta (Julio Latino!) -- but never the mind, when it misses one party, it gets to crash another! Hooray for the golden, bubbling Monterey Jack cheese that tops these enchiladas.

As with our previous enchiladas, these came together pretty quickly, provided that the ingredients are on hand.

We already had an excess of chipotle peanut salsa, and an excess of corn tortillas from our taco night.


left: roast duck; right: shredded duck meat

[js]
I had defrosted a duck from the freezer and had simply roasted it off for the fat and whatever meat it might yield.

It yielded enough meat for us to make 12 enchiladas.



[js]
As we did for our Enchiladas Verdes, we dipped each corn tortilla into the sauce, filled it with shredded meat, rolled the tortilla, and lined a baking pan with them. We topped with whole thing with our remaining sliced Monterey Jack in the refrigerator.



[js]
I don't remember the chipotle peanut salsa starting out very spicy (it wasn't when I kept tasting it as I was making it), but, somehow, some way, along the road to enchilada-ville, there was an increase in intensity of heat. This salsa was freakish-hot, so I say thank goodness for the golden, bubbly cheese tempering all that delicious heat.



eatingclub vancouver Weekend Wokking posts:
Ravioli "Caprese": Tomato, Basil, Bocconcini
Eggplant "Clafouti"
Bibingka
Pumpkin Congee w/ Pumpkin "Beignets" & Sesame-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese w/ Pipián Verde
Adobo Mushroom Tart
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Almond Eggplant "Bisteeya" (Bastilla)
"Mashed Potato Beef Burger" (Red-skinned Potato Salad in Taiwanese Sacha Cheeseburger)
Korean Soybean Sprouts Pancake (Kongnamul Jeon)
Lemon Chamomile Tiramisu
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Clear Oxtail Soup with Corn, Cabbage and Potatoes
Beijing Pickled Cabbage
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Aguadito de Pollo (Peruvian Chicken Soup)
Bangus Belly à la Bistek (Milkfish Belly with Onions, Calamansi and Soy Sauce)
White Pork with Garlic Sauce, Two Ways (蒜泥白肉)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu (蕃茄雞蛋跟豆腐)
Steamed Fish and Tofu with Chinese Black Beans
Spinach and Cheese with Puff Pastry, Three Ways

We're submitting this recipe to Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks celebrating the multiple ways we can cook one ingredient.

The host this month is Yasmeen of Health Nut.

If you would like to participate or to see the secret ingredient, check who's hosting next month.

Check out all Weekend Wokking Roundups.

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

Recipes
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Makes 6 servings

1 whole duck
chipotle peanut salsa, approx. 3 cups (recipe below)
12 corn tortillas
grated Monterey Jack cheese, or queso fresco, crumbled

Roast duck:
Roast whole duck in a 400 F oven until done and golden-brown. Let cool. Shred duck meat. Reserve carcass for making stock.

Corn Tortilla:
In a small fry pan, heat oil. Pan-fry tortilla on each side, about 10 seconds each, until pliable.

Assembly:
Divide shredded duck into 12 portions.

Dip/soak each fried tortilla in chipotle peanut salsa and place on your platter. Fill with a portion of shredded duck, then roll. Repeat until you have finished filling and rolling all tortillas. Pour over remaining salsa.

Top your enchiladas with cheese. Place in 400F oven until cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Serve.

Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Makes approximately 3 cups

6 large tomatoes, sliced
1 onion, cut in wedges
4 chipotle peppers
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper

Roast the tomatoes in the oven until most of its liquid has evaporated. Roast the onions in the same pan as well. Blend the roasted tomatoes and onions, and everything else in a blender until smooth.

Serve as a salsa for tacos, or as a sauce for grilled meats.

eatingclub vancouver Mexican
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Semi-Lime-cooked, Semi-Yucatecan Shrimp with Garlic Chips
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese with Pipían Verde
Quickie Turkey Tortilla Soup
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Shrimp a la Mexicana (Camarones a la Plancha)
Enchiladas Verdes
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Mexican Ancho Guajillo Chicken
Chipotle Ground Turkey on Flour Tortilla
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Blueberry Tres Leches Cake
Crab Tostada
Homemade Mexican Chorizo Sausage
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)



eatingclub vancouver Duck dishes:
Duck Shepherd's Pie, or "Duck Coop Pie"
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Duck Stock Risotto with Portobello & Chard, with Hazelnut Gremolata
Shredded Duck and Rice Noodle Soup
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

And of course, our $5 Utility Duck Series, where all the following were made using one duck:
Duck Breast with Pomegranate-Chipotle Glaze and Guava-Jalapeño Salad
Duck (Interim)
Roast Duck Legs with Cabbage-Portobello Pappardelle
Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck Tortellini in Brodo

Shredded Duck and Rice Noodle Soup

[js]
Cleaning out our freezer one day, I noticed I still had a utility duck in there gathering ice crystals. I thawed out the duck and figured what I was going to do with it.

I knew I was too impatient for the duck to thaw out completely and I felt too beat to do butchery of a partially frozen duck. I decided to keep it whole and threw it into a pot of water. I added some green onions, a handful of cilantro, and ginger in with my bird.

I put the bird in before I went out for the day, with instructions for people in the house to turn it off after a couple of hours. I figure I'd make noodles in soup with it when I get home.



[js]
That afternoon, feeling still too beat to do much anything else, I fished out the duck and started shredding the meat. In another pot, I started sautéing some onions, garlic, ginger and pieces of Chinese sausage. I strained the duck stock into this pot and added the duck shreds. I also had some yu choy greens so I chopped them up and added into the soup. A touch of hoi sin for a certain je ne sais quoi and the soup was done.

I soaked some rice noodles in hot water, and when they were pliable, added them into the soup.



[js]
This is a quick one-dish meal and it was quite tasty too. Satisfying and comforting after a long day. Perhaps my only complaint is that I had to clean up two pots, two strainers afterwards.

[eatingclub] vancouver Duck dishes:
Duck Shepherd's Pie, or "Duck Coop Pie"
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Duck Stock Risotto with Portobello & Chard, with Hazelnut Gremolata
Shredded Duck and Rice Noodle Soup
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

And of course, our $5 Utility Duck Series, where all the following were made using one duck:
Duck Breast with Pomegranate-Chipotle Glaze and Guava-Jalapeño Salad
Duck (Interim)
Roast Duck Legs with Cabbage-Portobello Pappardelle
Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck Tortellini in Brodo

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

Recipe

Duck Broth
1 duck, 5-7 lbs
3 stalks green onion
1-inch ginger, sliced
1 stalk celery
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn
12-16 cups water

Put all ingredients in a pot, including water, and wait for it to boil. Once boiling, you may need to skim for foam and any other impurities. Lower heat and let simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Strain out all solids.

Duck with Rice Noodle Soup
2 cups shredded duck
8-10 cups duck broth
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1-inch ginger, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
2 pieces Chinese sausauge, sliced
1 cup Yu choy or other greens, chopped
12 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1 lb rice noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in pot. Add Chinese sausage. Add green onion, ginger and garlic with Hoisin sauce and sauté until fragrant. Add duck broth. Add shredded duck.

Meanwhile, soak noodles in hot water for approximately 5 minutes or until pliable. When ready, drain.

Add drained noodles to the pot. Add greens and cilantro. Season to taste.

Duck Stock Risotto with Portobello and Chard, with Hazelnut Gremolata

[ts]
For some reason -- let's say it's because JS somehow comes home with a duck or two every couple of months -- we seem to be having more duck at home. I guess that very first duck opened the floodgates.

From ducks come duck carcasses, and from duck carcasses come duck stock.



[ts]
We had some duck stock sitting around in the refrigerator. Further rummaging around yielded these other items: there's the duck stock, portobello mushrooms, Swiss chard, bacon, Parmigiano-Reggiano. . .



...and some duck fat.

And so, we decided to make risotto. With bacon. And duck fat.

Oh yeah, this is a dual-fat risotto!

Duck Stock, with mushroom stems
[ts]
Before I started the risotto, I started heating the duck stock. I threw in the stems from the portobellos.

(I had the hardest time trying to remember what this photo was depicting. Those mushroom stems threw me in for a loop!)


Sautéed Portobello Mushrooms & Swiss Chard
[ts]
The most important thing is this step is to render out some bacon fat. Of course, I kept those crisp bacon pieces and set them aside.



[ts]
I sautéed the portobellos and the chard separately.

In the residual bacon fat in the pan, I sautéed the sliced portobellos first and set those aside.

For the swiss chard, I decided to keep the stems and so had to add them to the pan first. When the stems were just about soft, I added the greens and cooked until they were just wilted.

Time for making the risotto!

Risotto


[ts]
I used the standard risotto method to make this dish.

I sautéed some onions and garlic in some duck fat until the onions had softened. I then added the arborio rice. I let that cook until the rice was toasted. I added a touch of white wine, let that cook for a bit, then proceeded with the ladling of the duck stock.

You know how it goes. Add stock and stir. When the rice has absorbed most of the liquid, repeat.



[ts]
When the rice was more or less done, I stirred in the chard and mushrooms. I finished the whole thing off with some butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Done!

Oh, remember our hazelnut gremolata? There it is again. It has hazelnuts, parsley, lemon zest, garlic and salt.



[ts]
This dish was what we originally made the gremolata for. I topped each serving of duck stock risotto with the hazelnut gremolata and some shaved Parmigiano.



[ts]
Oh, you're wondering about those crispy bacon pieces? Well, by the time the risotto was done, all the bacon had been snatched up and nibbled on by other people. I didn't even get to eat a piece... well, maybe two.

Anyway, the risotto was great, of course! ;)

Although, I do wish the color was cleaner and lighter, and the overall look was not too "busy". But, I didn't want to get rid of those red chard stems, nor did I think I had to remove the gills from the portobellos. I also really wanted the hazelnut gremolata with my dish.

The components of this risotto went really well together. The duck stock provided the requisite depth of flavor, the portobello mushrooms were nice and meaty, and the chard was just plain good. With all the umami going on, the hazelnut gremolata with its bright citrus notes and pungent spikes, not to mention the texture contrasted provided by the roast hazelnut pieces, just put this over the top.

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

[eatingclub] vancouver Duck dishes:
Duck Shepherd's Pie, or "Duck Coop Pie"
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Duck Stock Risotto with Portobello & Chard, with Hazelnut Gremolata
Shredded Duck and Rice Noodle Soup
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

And of course, our $5 Utility Duck Series, where all the following were made using one duck:
Duck Breast with Pomegranate-Chipotle Glaze and Guava-Jalapeño Salad
Duck (Interim)
Roast Duck Legs with Cabbage-Portobello Pappardelle
Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck Tortellini in Brodo

Roast Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce

[ts]
This is what happens when a duck gets confused as to whether it's Spanish or French. Or Asian, even.

So what do we call this dish?
Duck Crêpes Suzette?
Orange Duck & Crêpe-Noodle Stir-fry?

Or the more utilitarian Roast Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce?

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.



[ts]
We almost did not get to create something for this edition of Weekend Wokking, with the month-long illness and all. But, we realized that we were the hosts this time around! How embarrassing if we did not make a dish to enter.

[js]
Idly searching for information about influenza and home remedies for said illness, I came across an Ayurvedic site telling me that one of the causes of influenza is our "faulty lifestyle."

I knew all that hard "partying" and hard blogging during the holiday season would come back and bite me somehow! ;)

[ts]
The ingredient this time is the orange.

Thinking of oranges made me think of Spanish food. I thumbed through our Culinaria book and on the "citrus fruits" section saw a recipe for Pato a la Naranja. That's Duck with Orange Sauce to us English-speaking folks.

After some heeing and hawing, we finally decided on going ahead with that, realizing that we actually had a frozen utility "may-have-parts-missing" duck that we could thaw out.

Of course, being us, we couldn't just have a roast duck with orange sauce. Nuh-uh. But more about that later.


Pato a la Naranja (Duck with Orange Sauce)


[ts]
We more or less followed the recipe as is. So, first up, roasting the duck.

I washed and dried the duck, and rubbed it with salt and pepper. I scored the skin, placed it on rack in a roasting pan, and roasted it in a 400F to 450F oven for about an hour, starting breast-side down and turning it over about halfway through the cooking.

I was too lazy to baste with olive oil, though. So, when I turned the duck over, I placed some duck fat that I've removed from the thigh-ish area of the bird on top of the breasts.

In the meantime, I had to get starting on the orange sauce.



[ts]
That involved some orange juice. That picture looks like it's from a sci-fi movie. (In reality, our citrus juicer.)

I zested about 4 oranges (I don't remember now) and set the zest aside. I needed about a cup of juice, but these oranges were so juicy. I ended up with about one-and-a-half cups.

I dumped the juice into a small sauce pan, added about half a cup of white wine and boiled the mixture. One was supposed to add the duck drippings into this mixture, but I couldn't see any "drippings" from our roast duck. The fat separator had all fat, no jus. I added a tablespoon of the duck fat then. (Yes, yes, of course we saved the duck fat.)



[ts]
I let the mixture reduce, then added honey and cognac.



[ts]
I only added about 1 tablespoon's worth of cognac, and about 2 tablespoons of honey. I adjusted it to taste. A little salt and pepper and the sauce was done.

I didn't realize that the half-cup of white wine would make it so wine-y. Hence, I'm calling this Orange-White Wine Sauce.

And here's the finished roast duck.




Orange Crêpes
[js]
When we were throwing ideas out in our "salon," after duck with oranges, the other dish that we immediately thought of was crêpes Suzette.

So, of course, the next logical thought was, "Why not do the duck with orange sauce and then put shredded duck meat inside the crêpes and "Suzette" them? We can flambé tableside even!"

[ts]
Well, maybe the flambéing is a tad ambitious. But you see where we're going with this. Our little trip to Spain was taking a decidedly eastern route to France.



[ts]
For the orange crêpes, we simply used a standard crêpe recipe and added a whackload of orange zest (reserved from zesting the oranges I juiced). So that's 2 eggs, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup milk, 3 tablespoons butter, melted, a pinch of salt, and some water to adjust the consistency of the batter, all mixed together and rested in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Then it was batch-cookery time for me. Here is a crêpe finishing its cooking on one side. See the zillions of orange zest in there?




Plate #1


[ts]
I decided to plate this two different ways. Above are some folded orange crêpes, a sliced duck breast, and spoonfuls of the orange-white wine sauce.

Plate #2


[ts]
Plate #2 is JS' plating idea. I shredded the dark meat and used that as the filling for these cigar-shaped crêpes. Once again, spoonfuls of the orange-white wine sauce finished it.


The Taste
[js]
To compensate for our "faulty lifestyle," TS and I were given antibiotics (as we had apparently gotten a bacterial infection after being sick for so long with a viral infection.) "Finally", to the relief of Mama, who kept pushing for antibiotics. With the antibiotics came the warning not to have any sort of dairy while taking.

We weren't sure if the dairy prohibition extended to dairy incorporated into a particular item, for example, the crêpes, but just to be on the safe side, we refrained from having the crêpes.


succulent duck bathed in orange-white wine sauce

[js]
I tasted the duck with the sauce and it was quite good. Better than I expected because I was afraid that I was not going to like the orange sauce on account of its sweetness. I did find the sauce to be on the sweet side and would like an infusion of something savoury in the sauce.

It must be the Chinese in me, but I actually like my duck longer-cooked than medium or medium rare. I find more of the ducky aroma and flavour coming out the longer the meat has been exposed to the heat.

[ts]
I also tasted the duck with the sauce and found it to be quite good. But I had the feeling I was missing something.

So, I walked on the wild side and had a tiny, tiny, tiny piece or crêpe (as in, the size of a grain of rice, it seemed). The crêpes were really good with their orange fragrance!

But, I think I still lacked the full impact of the dish at this point, being crêpe-less.

[js]
Because we couldn't really have the crêpes, we left the two plated dishes, the shredded duck, the orange sauce, and the rest of crêpes on the counter for people to see and eat. We figure our family can just assemble their own crêpes when they were ready to eat, following the example of the two plated dishes.



[js]
That night, before going to bed, we saw that the plates were left untouched! Nobody ate anything. We saran-wrapped the plates up and shoved them into the fridge, scratching our heads.

(Apparently, my father saw the plates of duck and crêpes and was thinking of eating them for dinner. But he got confused because there were other food available and he figured he'd eat the old food first before the new food.)

While preparing dinner (Hainan chicken) the next night, we figure we'd do something about these "Duck Crêpes Suzette". Maybe, the plates were just too fancy for our tastes and we don't swing the fancy-schmancy way, I speculated. We somehow had to change how the whole thing looked.


Orange Duck Crêpe-Noodle Stir-fry


[js]
The crêpes have transformed into noodles!

[ts]
Well, they're more like fettuccine. To make them, I simply stacked the crêpes, rolled them, and sliced away.



[ts]
How did this genius idea (if I do say so myself) come about?

When JS and I were wondering what to do with the duck and orange sauce, we figured that we should just sauté the duck with the orange sauce for ease of eating, as well as to cook the rare-ish breasts a tad more for the rest of the family. Having decided that, I wondered, should I also put the crêpes in the pan as well?

"Why not," we thought. Of course, whole crêpes in the stir-fry would be quite unwieldy. Hence, "noodles"!



[ts]
It was simply a matter of adding the sliced and shredded duck into a hot pan, adding the crêpe-noodles, and finishing with the orange-white wine sauce.

Voilà!



[js]
After the make-over, we put the plate on the table, besides the Hainan chicken (with ginger-scallion sauce) and some pork chops. My dad still got a tad confused because of all the food (he claims that he cannot deal with a lot of food because he doesn't know what to eat), but the duck crêpe noodle dish had some takers and ended up getting mostly finished.

[ts]
We still couldn't have any of the crêpes that day. The next day, however, we were free from the dairy-free tyranny!

I saw the very, very small amount of this Orange Duck Noodle dish leftover from the night before and tried it. Oh my! Delicious! The crêpe noodles were so buttery and fragrant and the orange-white wine sauce wasn't as wine-y, and it had completely infused the noodles and duck with its flavor. Very nice indeed.

[js]
Our Spanish French Chinese confused and confusing duck, done.



eatingclub vancouver Weekend Wokking posts:
Ravioli "Caprese": Tomato, Basil, Bocconcini
Eggplant "Clafouti"
Bibingka
Pumpkin Congee w/ Pumpkin "Beignets" & Sesame-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese w/ Pipián Verde
Adobo Mushroom Tart
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Almond Eggplant "Bisteeya" (Bastilla)
"Mashed Potato Beef Burger" (Red-skinned Potato Salad in Taiwanese Sacha Cheeseburger)
Korean Soybean Sprouts Pancake (Kongnamul Jeon)
Lemon Chamomile Tiramisu
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Clear Oxtail Soup with Corn, Cabbage and Potatoes
Beijing Pickled Cabbage
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Aguadito de Pollo (Peruvian Chicken Soup)
Bangus Belly à la Bistek (Milkfish Belly with Onions, Calamansi and Soy Sauce)
White Pork with Garlic Sauce, Two Ways (蒜泥白肉)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu (蕃茄雞蛋跟豆腐)
Steamed Fish and Tofu with Chinese Black Beans
Spinach and Cheese with Puff Pastry, Three Ways

eatingclub vancouver Duck dishes:
Duck Shepherd's Pie, or "Duck Coop Pie"
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Duck Stock Risotto with Portobello & Chard, with Hazelnut Gremolata
Shredded Duck and Rice Noodle Soup
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

And of course, our $5 Utility Duck Series, where all the following were made using one duck:
Duck Breast with Pomegranate-Chipotle Glaze and Guava-Jalapeño Salad
Duck (Interim)
Roast Duck Legs with Cabbage-Portobello Pappardelle
Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck Tortellini in Brodo

eatingclub Spanish
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Roast Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Sardinas na Bangus (Milkfish in the style of Sardines)
Red Wine-braised Squid with Potatoes and Chorizo
Philippine Beef Salpicao (and a Spanish variation)
Stewed Tripe, Spanish-style
Lengua Estofada (Beef Tongue Braised in Red Wine and Veal Stock)
Bacalao con Patatas (Baked Salt Cod and Potatoes)
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Grilled Calçots (Green Onions) with Salsa Romesco
Empanada de Pavo
(Galician-style Meat Pie with Turkey Filling), plus Turkey Cracklings!
Fideuá (Spanish Seafood Noodle "Paella")... and Paella
Cocido (Spanish Stew with Various Pork Cuts)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

eatingclub vancouver French food:
Trout Grenobloise
Provençal Onion Tart
Pork Chops with Grainy Dijon and Capers
Prawns with Tarragon and Orange
Herbes de Provence Sablé
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce

We're submitting this recipe to Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks celebrating the multiple ways we can cook one ingredient.

The host this month is us, TS and JS of [eatingclub] vancouver. There's still time to submit entries! We will be accepting entries until February 2. Email us your entry at email [at] eatingclubvancouver [dot] com.

If you would like to participate or to see the secret ingredient, check who's hosting next month.

Check out all Weekend Wokking Roundups.