A Little Piece of Canadian Heaven

As some of us Canadians miss our national roots, here is a little piece of our Canadian heritage :) Tire d'érable / Maple Taffy :)

Maple Taffy, for the non canadian ones reading my blog, is boiled maple syrup until it reaches a caramel texture. It is then served on snow and using a wooden stick rolled in order to make a lollipop.

Obviously, this sweet is usually served in the Spring time when the maple syrup production is in full gear. Maple syrup is made for the starch that the maple trees store during the winter period and is converted into sugar when the sap rises in the Spring. You collect the maple "water" making a hole in the tree and after a evaporation process, you get maple syrup. If you keep the boiling process going, you get taffy and if you continue, the taffy turns into sugar. Each one of these natural sweets is simply amazing :)

Here is a picture of my mother actually in a maple grove.

So here goes my maple taffy recipe. Bear in mind that we live in Madrid. Snow is made out of crused ice. Still tasted great :)

Maple Taffy

Ingredients:

1L of maple syrup


In a saucepan, heat maple syrup until it forms bubbles. Cook for a few more minutes.

If you live in a wonderful country where you have snow, go outside and get a recipient of it. If not, crush some ice and fill a recipient :)

Using a spoon or a saucer, pour some taffy forming a line.

Wait until it cools down slightly and using a wooden stick, form a lollipop.

And there you have it. Natural Canadian flavor straight from your kitchen and super easy to make :)

Enjoy :)

Glazed Duck

I really enjoy duck. It is probably because we have French heritage in Quebec that duck is such a common dish that can be found at typical Quebec / French restaurants. Since I found a whole one at Christmas time at the supermarket at a really good price, there was nothing stopping me :) I have already posted about the cider / beer duck legs so here a recipe for a glazed duck

Glazed Duck & Spinach Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 whole duck
4 oranges
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 potatoes
3 cups of chicken or duck broth
200grs frozen spinach
salt and pepper


Pre-heat oven at 160 degrees.

In a oven pan, place duck and salt and pepper. (You can see the neck on the picture which I used to make the duck broth to baste it).

Baste the duck with about 1 cup of broth and the juice of 2 oranges.

Cook the duck brest side up for 1 hour.



In the meantime, prepare the glaze. Mix together the honey, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and the remaining orange juice.

Heat a pan and simmer the glaze until it becomes thick.

After the first hour of cooking, remove the duck and flip it over.

Baste with more broth.

Cook for another hour.
 
Glaze the duck and return to the oven to brown.

Remove some of the juices from the pan and reserve.

Peel and dice the potatoes.

In a large pan, heat some of the reserved duck juices.

Add the potatoes and cook.

Flip the duck around and glaze.

Return to oven to brown.

When the potatoes are starting to roast, add the frozen spinach.

While the duck is browning and the potatoes cooking, use the remaining duck juices and broth to make a sauce (using a roux).

The potatoes should be fine by then. Just look how amazing those look :)

Remove the duck from the oven and admire your masterpiece :)

Let rest for a few minutes in order for the juices to spread and start slicing.

Serve the duck with the potatoes and the gravy.

Enjoy :)