We roasted a duck which we purchased from Sebastien at the downtown farmer's market a couple of weeks ago.  The duck came out beautiful but we had tons of leftovers since it was just John and I.  We ended up deboning the meat and made duck broth from the bones as giblets.  The bird came with the head attached which isn't something you see every day.  We ended up adding that to the broth as well.

So now what to do with all the leftover duck.  I looked in the refigerator and saw I also had a bunch of leftover mashed potatoes so Shepard's Pie it is.

I went out and picked some carrots, parsnips and a little swiss chard to add to the pie.  I also had some mushrooms so I will add that to the mix as well.  Shepard's pie is great as you can use whatever meat and vegetbles you happen to have on hand.  I save the duck fat so that is what I used to saute the veggies.

Shepard's Pie

2 parsnips peeled and cubed.

2 carrots peeled and cubed

3 tbsp duck fat ( or bacon fat or olive oil or coconut oil)

1 onions chopped

2 bay leaves

1 teasppon fresh thyme

2 cups chopped duck ( or beef or port or chicken)

1/2 red wine,

1 cup stock -  I used half chicken and half beef -  I had already frozen the duck stock o r I would have used that

1/4 cup tomato sauce or 2 tbsp tomato paste.

2 tbsp oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 ups chopped swiss chard

2 cups mashed potatoes

Heat the fat in a medium dutch oven on the stove and saute the parsnips, carrots onion, thyme and bay leaves until tenders about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Add the meat, wine and stock simmer for about 45 minutes until sauce us thick and reduced.  

Saute mushrooms and Swiss chard in the oil fir about 10 minutes. (I used duck fat here again as I happened to have some.  If I hadn't I would have used coconut or oil oil.).   Layer on top of the meat and veggie mixture.

Add the mashed potatoes to the top of this and add some grated parmesan on top of the potatoes.  Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes until top is golden brown and it is heated through.

Parsnips and Carrots

We pulled our first parsnips today. Yummy. John planted quite a few of them and usually they take another month or so but he picked a few today. Parsnips are in the carrot family. Well actually it is probably more correct to say carrots are in the parsnips family. Carrot were developed for the House of Orange and at the time parnips were the root vegetable of choice. One tip on growing carrots and parsnips. Do not add any compost or fertilizer before planting and while they are growing. Also, make sure if you are not planting a shallow short carrot that you have at least 12 inches of nice loose soil for them to grow. Our carrots and parsnips were planted back in September but we layer about 6 inches of mulch on top of the parsnips. Neither one will germimate until the soil temperature gets below 85 degress. Peak germination for parsnips is 68 degress and for carrots it is 77 degees. You can reduce the soil temperature by layering the mulch on top. Both of these did just fine in our latest freeze where the temperature went into the teens. You don't have to even cover them. They like the hard frost as it increases the sugar content.


Carrot, Parsnip and Swiss Chard stir fry.

2 carrots chopped
2 parsnips chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 garlic cloves pressed
8 leaves of swiss chard
1-2 tablespoon Coconut oil or Olive oil.

Heat the oil in a frying pan or saute pan. Stir fry the onion until it get soft and add the chopped carrots, parsnips and garlic and cook stirring frequentlu until the vegetables are soft. Add the
swiss chard and cook until soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.