What Would The Woodsman Cook?

Woodman's Dinner
Originally uploaded by FlockToghether

I have a woodsman (who I refer to as “The Woodsman”), he is the best and only one I know. He almost never lets me leave for work without breakfast and always puts the seat down. Pretty lucky, huh? He’s the grill and drink master in the summer while I usually cook non-grilling dinner…now that it’s almost winter our cooking dynamic has become much more interesting.

The other night he wanted to cook dinner and take care of the ALL the grocery shopping (like I said before, I’m lucky). He wanted to use up some of abundant amount of wild game we have in our freezer. He decided on duck breast schnitzel, potato pancakes and salad. Easy enough right? I honestly had no idea what to think because 1.) I have never cooked duck or potato pancakes 2.) it was already past 7pm. Needless to say with a little collaboration and a lot of patience in maneuvering in our little kitchen, we made an amazing and unique dinner.

So around 9pm we finally sat down to a duck breast schnitzel with mushroom sauce, potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce, fresh veggies and salad. The duck with sauce was SO good, and it’s definitely going into out normal dinner rotation. Below are the recipes for the duck schnitzel and mushroom sauce.

Duck Breast Schnitzel
2 boneless duck breasts, flattened to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness
Flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
Fine, dry breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper to taste
Butter or Margaring
Dredge duck in flour, and dip in egg. Dredge in breadcrumbs. Salt and pepper to taste. Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add duck, and fry until golden brown, turning once. Move to a plate and keep warm (keep what’s leftover in the skillet to make the sauce)
*Taken from Ducks Unlimited Wild Feasts Cookbook

Mushroom Sauce
1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
3 c sliced white or cremini mushrooms (I used canned)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/3 c chicken stock
1/3 c light sour cream
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic

In same skillet, fry mushrooms and garlic until no liquid remains, about 5 min. Add reserved flour mixture; cook, stirring, for 1 min. Stir in stock and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 3 min. Stir in sour cream and soy sauce; pour over duck. Sprinkle with parsley.

Enjoy!

Flock Together & The Woodsman

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The Meatload

Turkey, Spinach & Feta Meatloaf
Originally uploaded by FlockToghether

I love dinner. I don’t mean go out (that’s nice on occasion too), but I love to sit down and eat a home cooked dinner. Growing up it was the law of the land that we are home at 6pm to sit down and eat. Dinner was so important to my family growing up; my brother and I always chose to have friends over so we wouldn’t miss that time together. It was never anything fancy, your standard dinner, meat, vegetable, side and salad. My mom always made it a point to make sure that she cooked something for dinner every weeknight. This is a practice that I’ve inherited (or I would have starved to death by now).

I also love email. Sending and receiving…it’s what keeps me going throughout the day. One main person I get emails from is my best friend Heidi (she’s also my cousin so her name might also come up in family entries at some point). She lives in Austin with her family so we email each other about a million times a day. Ok, now to the point…she sends me recipes that went over really wel with her family and are generally really easy to prepare. Recently, she sent me something that has turned into a favorite of both my main squeeze and me.

Chicken, Feta and Spinach Meatloaf. Sounds good, huh? It’s so good I decided to share! I made it my own by changing it slightly but it was very good, and very easy nonetheless. Hope you like it.


Chicken Feta- Spinach Meatloaf

• 3 lbs ground skinless Chicken thighs
• 1cup (approximately) Italian Style Bread crumbs
• 3 Tbs. + /- to taste of Garlic- Pepper mix from Whole Foods
• ½ lb cow feta crumbled
• ½ bag (4 oz) fresh Spinach (cut with pizza cutter)
• 1 egg: lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix chicken, bread crumbs and seasoning. Add Feta and Spinach. Mix well.
Add Egg. Mix well.
13 x 9 x 2 Pan - form into rectangle shape about length of the pan. About 2 inches thick.
Cook uncovered 1 hour and 5 minutes


*I did change this recipe a bit and it turned out great. I halved the recipe, used ground turkey (not chicken), and used frozen spinach (thawed).


As my mom and grandma always said "make it your own". I encourage you to do the same.