Ducks from Divonne

Today Tyler and I decided to take the Mobility car out and venture over to Divonne, France, where purportedly, there is a great food market. If not for having previously visited Ferney-Voltaire’s market a couple of weeks ago, I probably would have freaked out and slobbered all over this market and spent like 200 Euros. But, having gone to Ferney’s and fallen in love with that one (dude you can buy whole, unplucked geese and rabbit…not that I would), we merely splurged on a duck roast, marinated in honey, rosemary, and figs; some great cheeses; as well as some very nice bottles of wine that are a little more difficult to find in Switzerland (and much more expensive). So of course we had to sneak those wines in. Funny note on the wine shop we went to; Tyler broke out some pretty impressive French and asked the owner what wine she would recommend from the Loire Valley. She proceeded to answer us in English, which made us give each other the knowing look - the secret glance of “Wow that pisses me off, but at the same time, I‘m so glad” look. Hence our slow slow progression with the French language. Anyways, she recommended a few wines and we bought four, two of them being Chinons, to taste and prepare ourselves for our Easter trip to the Loire Valley, where the cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc grapes reign.

I was very excited about this duck roast, as I had never really cooked duck before. I love peking duck, but have not really tried it any other way. Apparently duck meat is darker because ducks are more active than chickens, which results in more blood pumping through their muscles, and therefore darker meat. The vendor told us all we had to do was to roast it in the oven for about a half hour, turning it over midway through. So that’s what I did. And I watched as the fat just melted around it. It’s amazing how much fat a duck breast has, but I guess it needs a lot in order to float and survive in winter! It finished roasting and I cut it open to find the figs and half cooked meat, which was a little disconcerting so I decided to put it back into the oven, which of course led to me forgetting about it, and the duck coming out a little dry. But better that than raw duck meat! Normally, we cut away all the fat that is present with the meat, but this dish was definitely enhanced by the crispy deliciousness of the fat. It mellowed the gaminess of the actual meat itself. No wonder they tell you to only eat duck maybe once a month at most! Tyler decided to open a St. Joseph wine that we had purchased earlier in Divonne, and after decanting for about a half hour, it matched wonderfully with the dinner. The turnip mash I fixed on the other hand was dismal. Sometimes I feel like a really good cook, and other times I feel so incompetent! On the whole it was a great day, French markets, new food, great wine, and relaxing on the sofa with a movie with the Christmas tree softly glowing in the corner. Doesn’t get much better than that.