catahoula fan's Profile
What does your Thanksgiving menu look like?
Just a tiny group for our Thanksgiving this year in Nicaragua; me, hubby and a friend from New Jersey who lives in Managua now. Turkeys are insanely priced down here and we raise Muscovy ducks...so duck it is!
The duck will be deboned and stuffed with a homemade duck sausage stuffing, then wrapped in bacon.
Side dishes are the usual, for the most part, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, cranberry sauce, and I'm adding marinated tomatoes and fried okra this year as the gardens have been pretty prolific since the rainy season ended.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
How long to boil an octopus??
I finally got around to playing with that 2 pound octopus I bought at the beach. It had been frozen by me, so I thawed it, brought a pot of water to a boil, added a little salt, dunked the creature in a few times to curl the tentacles, then dropped it into the water, turned off the heat and covered. I let it cool in the pot of water, about 7 hours or so, then bagged it and put it in the fridge. (I've been pretty busy creating Muscovy duck recipes the past few weeks so the octopus had to be fitted in when I had time.)
I decided to make a Japanese style ceviche with half of the octopus, using several ingredients from my finca, but it came out so tasty that I ended up slicing the rest of the octopus for a second batch! Here's the recipe for the first batch:
In a bowl, add
2 cups of thinly sliced tentacles
5 T minced culantro leaves
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
2 fresh pickling cucumbers, scrubbed and sliced thin
(this type of cuc is awesome in ceviche or fresh salad dishes cause they're so darn crisp and sweet!)
Make a marinade of
6 T lime juice
2 tsp sour orange juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp grated garlic cloves
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp finely minced chili cabro hot pepper, seeded
Stir well then pour over octopus and chill for 1 hour in the fridge. Serve with crackers and cold beer. You might wanna double this recipe...I had to for just me and my hubby, it was that tasty.
How long to boil an octopus??
Hi folks, just Melissa from Nicaragua needing advice.
I went to Masachapa today and bought myself a 2lb fresh octopus, cleaned all nice and pretty, $7.55
Now, that's pretty high for what I pay for all my seafood. Manta ray's only $1 and lobsters are $2.50, so needless to say, I wanna make sure I do this octopus properly.
I've read through all the comments and have decided to bring a pot of salted water to a boil, drop the whole octopus in, reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. Then I will remove from heat and let cool (in the pot).
Do I have this right as far as the tenderizing part goes? I've got all kinds of ideas on what to do next, I just wanna make real sure that I get this baby tender.
Thanks for your help!!!
Melissa
-who's ready to play in the kitchen after buying 30lbs of seafood today! :)
Roasting a Muscovy duck
Hello from a very new poster!
I raise Muscovy ducks in Nicaragua, but have yet to prepare one by roasting it whole. My favorite ways to prepare are in gumbo using the whole bird to make the broth first (which ends up having no greasy film at the top at all), cutting the meat off the duck and slicing thin to make a Latin style lasagna (tortillas, refried beans, caramelized onions and quesillo as well), and quick searing the breasts in a small amount of bacon fat then cooking for 8 minutes in a beef mushroom broth to go over broad egg noodles.
This weekend I will be taking all the meat off one of my smaller hens (who refuses to lay eggs), partially freezing it, adding it to some fatty hamburger meat and grinding to make meatballs....we'll see how that comes out...y'all cross your fingers for me!
The Muscovy must be cooked differently than any other duck, as it's not related to other ducks and the meat is totally different. The tender (if cooked right) meat has a taste more like tender beef (ie veal) than your regular ducks and there's little to no fat at all on them. Mine don't even make much pan drippings to work with without a little cheatin'.
What to Serve With Hush Puppies?
BBQ and hush puppies...sounds like you could use a good green to round that out. I like to serve greens beans (cooked with some bacon of course and topped with lots of butter) when I make hush puppies. Puppies will soak up the that buttery liquid just right!
