Roasted duck legs

Honey-braised roast duck leg with shiitake mushrooms

1. For marinade: Make shallow cuts on the legs with a sharp knife and marinade in 4-5 tbsp soya sauce, freshly grated ginger, garlic, ground cinnamon, cloves, (green cardamoms optional) anise seed, and honey in a ziplock overnight.
2. Bake for about 2 - 3 hrs in a preheated oven at 375 F. Turn sides when necessary and braise honey and soya sauce to keep the skin from drying completely.
3. You can broil the last 5 minutes or at 500 F to brown the skin.
4. Slice oranges into thin round slices and place the roast legs with sprigs of your favorite herb.
5. You can serve with your favorite dipping or orange sauce

You can also add your favorite duck sauce to the baste or marinade. Sometimes, packaged Peking sauce can be added to enhance the natural flavors. Don't overkill.

If you have a whole duck and want to use the giblets, you can look up some suggestions here

Beef medallions wrapped in bacon with roasted asparagus

Sausage with cabbage

Ingredients:
Mild Italian sausage
Onions, quartered
Cabbage, shredded
Tomato, diced
Red dry chillies , broken
Herbs of your choice
Olive oil

Method:

1. Broil the sausage(if uncooked) in convection oven for about 15 minutes. Take out, cool and cut into thin slices.
2. In a wok, add a little olive oil, add quarted onion slices. Make sure the layers are seperated. Add the sausage if uncooked.
3. Add the cabbage- cook just right if you want it al dente. Overcooking will take the crunch away- it's your choice really. Add the tomatoes. Then add herbs of your choice- I like to sprinkle dried rosemary.

Soup version:
You can also make a soup version of this. Add water and diced potatoes in that case.

Variation:
You can add black peppercorn if you want to spice it up. A little soya sauce(adjust salt accordingly) can make a good variation. Diced bell peppers also go well with this dish. And whole garlic cloves for garlic lovers.

Goes well with cilantro pilaf or mushroom risotto. 

Sausage, Peppers and Onions

Rishta Palak (Meatballs in spinach gravy)

Recently, SG gifted me two new recipe books, one of which is about Wazwan (traditional Kashmiri Muslim) cuisine. I discovered some interesting ideas, and had to innovate because I don't have the dry cockscomb flower as an ingredient-yet. This recipe is as easy as 1-2-3 , but always a hit with guests, and my new favorite way to cook meatballs. We served it in a dinner I cooked for some of our friends visiting from Finland. They asked for the recipe.

For Miina

Ingredients:
Sliced onion
Garlic-ginger paste

Chopped Palak (spinach) - fresh or frozen
Meatballs - home made or frozen

Freshly ground:
Kali jeeri (different from Kalonji- got this from an Indian grocery store just for this recipe)
Shahi jeera
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Cloves

Curd/yogurt
Ghee
Water

Method:
1. Fry sliced onions in a little oil, add ginger-garlic paste, the freshly ground spices, and then the spinach. Add water
2. Add meatballs, stir. Add more warm water if necessary, don't let the balls get brown or dry.
3. Add curd- about 1 tbsp. Don't make it too sour.
4. Add a little ghee at the end, if you don't feel too guilty about it. Serve warm with saffron rice or peas pulao

Also, you might be interested in Meatballs with Ricotta in Tomato Sauce

Pomfret tandoori

Ingredients:
Whole, cleaned Pomfret fish - make shallow cuts on both sides
Lemon juice- enough to coat all the sides ( about half lemon for 2 medium sized fish)
1 tspn red chilli powder
salt and turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ajwan and methi seeds each- freshly ground to powder
1 1/2 tsp or less ginger- garlic paste
2 tsp yogurt
oil

Method:

1. Clean the fish well and dab and excess water with paper towel.
2. Rub all the ingredients in that order and you can keep it to marinate for about 30 mins or overnight.
3. Use a tandoor oven if you have one. I bake it  in Aluminium foil or a covered baking tray at 350 F in my convection oven for about 30 -45 mins. You can broil it at the end to give a charred look.
4. Serve with freshly chopped cilantro, mint sauce or other favorite condiments. Those who can eat raw onions can make onion rings or add some some salad with it

Usually served as appetizers, you may also try the recipe with Salmon pieces.

Catfish in mustard sauce

Ingredients:
Catfish steaks
Nigella( kalonji/ onion seeds/ kaalo jeere)
Green chillis slit in half
Diced onions
Mustard powder/paste (preferably fresh. Old ones turn bitter)
Kasundi if you like

Salt, turmeric powder, oil for cooking
Cilantro for garnishing

Method:

1. Wash the steaks well, and wipe off excess water with paper towels by dabbing them.
2. Rub salt and turmeric powder and lightly fry them in oil, turning only once. Frying seafood or even freshwater fish tend to make them rubbery/chewy
3. Take out the fish, and fry the kalonji and onions. Add chilies taking care not to fry them too much, and immediately after
4. Microwave a bowl of water and add the mustard paste/powder and put in the pan. 
5. Let it simmer, add the fish steaks. Cook covered.
6. Garnish with cilantro and serve

You might want to add a little cumin powder if you like to counter the typical smell of the fish. Also, some might want to add potatoes or tomatoes. Usually, I don't.

Alternately, you can skip the mustard , use dry roasted cumin-coriander powder, potato wedges and cauliflower florets to make a light curry. Make sure the fish is really fresh for a tasty broth. I prefer live ones. Catfish is inedible if it isn't fresh. Something I had a very bad experience at a New Orleans restaurant where I ate on a whim.

Nevertheless, Cajun recipes have interesting options :
Link 1

Baba Ganoush

Baba Ganoush Link 1

This (eggplant) is an allergy alert for me, but I manage to have it once in a blue moon. (the seedless variety). The Indian version Baigan ka bharta goes well with Indian flatbreads. I don't mind it as wrap stuffing with lettuce for a meal.