Billy Two Ways

Wine: From Billy / Kevin Charles B. Mitchell Estate Cabernet Franc

We had leftover Goat Cheese Torta from Mario Batali The Babbo Cookbook, and it made a great appetiser.

When we are were at The Cheese Store of Silverlake, we spotted duck confit in the refrigerated case. Cathy remembered a recipe from Sunday Supper at Lucques by Suzanne Goin for Black Rice with Duck Confit. We decided to make it but have never cooked with black rice before. First we had to find black rice, but couldn’t. Luckily we called Cheese Store of Silver Lake and the woman that answered the phone recommended a large Oriental Market in Echo Park called A1 Market. She remembered seeing black rice there. We had never been in it, so we decided to go there. Interestingly, Bill who gave us the wine we drank that night, had previously mentioned the market to me, but I hadn’t gone to it.

We found the market and it has an amazing variety of foods from all over: Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. I am sure it will be a great source for us in the future. Needless to say, they had many varieties of black rice! The rice is cooked differently from regular rice, 2 cups of washed black rice and 6 cups of water. The rice is boiled uncovered. We separately baked the duck legs (after scrapping off the duck fat) to crisp the skin. It was very tasty and now we have a new rice for future recipes! The recipe has a great sauce that we made from pulots. The Zaigers invented pluots from interspecific plums and apricots respectively.