I've had duck, more often overseas than domestic. I tried a little Peking duck in Beijing, and roast duck in Germany. It's not my favorite food. Then I've never liked anything that tastes too fatty.
Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, I love. I always let their sweetness stand and prefer to make them into something more savory. They go great in curries - cook them up in a korma sauce with some chick peas and some other veggies and mm mm good! And kale! Sweet potatoes and kale - they go surprisingly well together, complementing each other in a way I never expected until I tried it. In fact, let me see if I can pen this recipe down:
Halibut-sweet potato-kale pasta:
Yes I know it sounds weird, but it is in fact quite possibly the most heavenly thing I've ever eaten in my life.
Pasta: Thicker noodles are better. Spaghetti works, or something like egg noodles - whatever you like can work, really. Um, half a pound maybe? I don't weigh my pasta - I really have no idea. I eyeball everything. One portion.
One medium-sized sweet potato
One piece of halibut, on the small side works. Um, about 5 oz?
About 3 leaves of kale
About a quarter cup of pine nuts - completely optional, but I like them in this dish
Parmesan cheese
Tomato broth: about a cup and a half (honestly the first time I made this I just watered down some spaghetti sauce and added a few things. It should be a good bit thinner than tomato soup to start. It'll thicken considerably. If you want to make something from scratch, start like you're making a sauce for pasta:
- 1/2 cup tomato (however you like it, stewed, fresh, crushed, puree...)
- garlic and herbs and spices, to taste *especially (ideally fresh) tarragon; I'd avoid adding sugar, and I go light on the salt, personally. You can make it a little spicy if that's what you like. I do. :d
- 1 cup water
- about 2 green onions (3 or 4 if they're small, 1 if it's really big..)
- in addition, a small dash of cinnamon, and a bit of ginger - they hide in the bigger flavors, but they really help to tie things together.
Get some water boiling for the pasta. Start your broth. When you chop the green onion, add the white part of it early and save the green for later. Don't forget the tarragon - it's just not the same without it. One, maybe two springs of fresh tarragon, chopped, should be good. If you're using dried tarragon, be generous with it. Then you can peel the sweet potato if you want but I generally just wash it off well, and chop that up and add it to the broth.
In a wide, deep pan, with a small amount of oil and some garlic, bring to a high heat (try not to burn the garlic) and add the halibut. Get the garlic on top of it and keep on one side (shift it a little now and then to keep it from sticking to the pan) until the top starts to lighten in color, then flip to sear the other side. It depends on what you're making, but while the halibut's on that first side is generally when you want to start cooking your pasta. For the fish, if you can break it up with a spatula, it's good. Halibut's kind of meaty - it won't just break apart. Go ahead and use a little force, break it up into bite-sized chunks and stir it up to sear the bits. Reduce heat and pour the broth into this pan. Let it simmer on low heat, uncovered, while the pasta is cooking. Add more water if it seems to be cooking down too much.
Wash the kale, tear the leaves off the stem, and tear them up into bite-sized bits. They'll be added later. Soon.
When the pasta's almost done (like 90% cooked) take it off the stove, drain it, and add it into the pan with the broth. Add the greens of the green onions. Add the pine nuts. Give it a stir. The broth should really be more of a sauce at this point. Sprinkle the kale over the top. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. This will basically steam the kale enough to cook it. (This is my favorite way to cook up kale, basically steamed briefly over some kind of sauce. It'll pick up some of the flavor of the sauce and green up and soften a little while still keeping a lot of the fresh flavor. Nummy.) Then stir everything up well and sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese over the top - I like to give everything a generous dusting. Cover, and turn off heat. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool and thicken. Then eat it! It's pretty hearty. This should be enough for two. Maybe more. Or if you're me you plan on eating half but then you eat the whole thing because it is so dang tasty. And REGRET NOTHING!
I've experimented with some variations of this dish. As much as I like other cheeses, I really think parmesan is the right one here. I've tried using other fish, but halibut really has just the right flavor and texture for it. I've been meaning to try it with tofu - I think some extra firm tofu could work, and then maybe you could lose the cheese and add a little more salt to compensate and it should make a good vegan dish (assuming an egg-free pasta).