Pretty Classic Fare

Duck breast seasoned with salt and pepper, and five spice on the fat side.  Sauce is reduced balsamic and honey cooked in the same pan that held the breasts (they were out resting).  Plum Creek duck, Ohio honey.

The sweet potatoes are okay, even if they appear to have a bit of a char.  Slices of potato, skin on, olive oiled and placed on a baking sheet before being slid into a 375 oven for a while.  They were seasoned with salt and savory, and flipped about halfway through cooking.

Reduced balsamic.  I'm bringing it back.

Standard bolognese.  Blurry.  Fresh coarsely ground meat (Miller beef chuck, a little Plum Creek veal) browned in olive oil and removed from the pot.  Then in went diced onion, celery, carrot, and homemade guanciale (no pancetta in the house).  Then some tomato paste.  Then a good pour of some nice French wine with a braille label and the meat went back in.  Wine reduced, then in went a can of tomatoes.  More reduction, then milk, and from then on more milk as the thing simmered away on the stove for the short side of 2 hrs (could have gone all day, just keep adding milk).  A little oregano made its way in there too at some point.  And some pasta water.  (also a splash of vinegar just cause things weren't acidic enough)

Homemade pasta.  Such a treat.  3.5 cups of 00 flour to 5 backyard eggs and a few drops of water (could have just added some more egg or just yolk, but water was fine) plus a pinch of salt.  Knead.  Then half an hour resting in cling film in the fridge before going through a hand-crank pasta machine (which was invented in Cleveland--for real. eat it other little italys).  Perfect.  Cooks in less than 2 minutes.

This is one of the rare times I don't toss the pasta with the sauce in a pan.  The pasta is too delicate and sauce too meaty.  It's not the prettiest thing to look at, but it beats Skyline Chili.  Barely.  An nice job on those carrots Krissie.