Wok Star's Thanksgiving Duck

Breaking Thanksgiving tradition with Crispy Roast Duck...

Baby bok choy, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, scallions.
I cheated and microwaved sweet potato.

Just leave all your veggies on a large chopping board,
saves washing up dishes.Go straight from board to wok.

I love my cast iron wok and portable butane gas stove setup.

I leave these out permanently so it's EASY
to use my wok for cooking EVERYTHING.

Start off with oil, garlic and ginger.
Use oil that tolerates high heat like canola or
a new oil I'm trying: Tea Seed Oil

Tip: Don't overfill your wok, it lowers the temperature &
makes your veggies 'soupy'! I started
with just frying baby bok choy.

Next, I fried sugar snaps and red bell pepper.

Combined veggies and topped with scallions.
Add dash of tamari, sherry, squirt lime...DONE!

Bought Roast duck , stuffing and gravy which are
time consuming to make.

Plated sugar snap & red bell.

Dessert and dinner plates ready.Here's a 'before' shot of ready cooked roast duck.
Warmed in oven 325, then under broiler to crisp skin.

So pleased with result, see nice crispy golden skin!
Notice I put duck on a rack so it wouldn't be swimming in fat.
This is the leanest duck I've ever had, hardly any fat.
Another reason to buy store bought, no smoke or fat drips.

This is my husband's plate. I actually took OFF
my sweet potato, too much carbs!

No-sugar chocolate cheese cake (bought)
with fresh blueberries and strawberries.
Nice to have a 2 hour break before dessert!

This Thanksgiving Dinner goes with my whole philosophy of being a Wok Star! Cook stuff that's EASY and FUN, leave the time consuming stuff to others!

We had a very light lunch of Singapore Noodles.

Also take a look at Post Thanksgiving Duck/Turkey - 3 ways. Always with some crispy, crunchy veggies stir fried in my cast iron wok!

Wow, glad Thanksgiving is over, my body craved something light and soupy.

How did you use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey or whatever?

What was your first meal after all the leftovers were used?

Pre-Thanksgiving Twist

I'm not sure why I bought turkey just before Thanksgiving, I think in my head I had set my heart on Roast Duck but got turkey for some Pre-Thanksgiving with a Twist: Asian flavors on the turkey and a stir fry veggie side.

I never buy a whole turkey, it's too overwhelming to deal with and you're stuck with all the white meat. So, I bought turkey thighs and drumsticks because we like dark meat. In my fridge was ready cooked penne with some leftover red bell peppers. So, that was the basis of our dinner.

When I go food shopping, I don't like having any preconceived ideas until I see what's available. So often, you set your heart on something and it's not in season or they don't have it and is very disappointing.

I love to experiment using different spices and seasonings on grilled meats. Instead of having just one flavor, why not have more! The turkey thigh was HUGE, we shared one. It's a really economical meat to use.

I used 'broad bean chili paste' on some thighs and drumsticks and My Spice Sage curry powder on others.

I saw some very fresh rappini (similar to Chinese broccoli) and I had some wonderful dried porcini mushrooms from Earthy Delights. They are a great stir fry combination.

I also like using Earthy Delights' Tea Seed Oil which doesn't smoke on high heat, perfect for stir frys.

Subscribers to my free newsletter get a special code when you order from them (you can subscribe from my website.) I love their cute packaging with beautiful drawings of their gourmet mushrooms and chilies. On the back there's a little history of where they come from with handy instructions on how to best use them. I'm just sorry I didn't get this out earlier so you can get them for Thanksgiving but there's still time for Christmas, yay!

Lately, I've been supplementing with a bit of toufu to cut down on eating so much meat. I had enough to make my husband's lunchbox.

I can't believe a whole year has passed, here's our Thanksgiving Dinner from last year!

I'll share what we had for the actual Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. Apart from roast duck, I got ready made gravy and sage, chestnut stuffing, no sugar chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Making fresh veggies, got some snap peas, already had red bell, baby bok choy, spaghetti squash and a cutie pumpkin.

Safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thankful my sister is in Hong Kong to spend time with my 87 year old mom, they're probably having Peking Duck, my fav. Take a look at my post on Hong Kong Market, full of fresh Asian goodies!

Oh, I'm also THRILLED to finally launch my Facebook Fan page so folks who've been to my class and especially Wok Stars who have my Kit can share their unique creations, tips, photos. Click badge in sidebar to visit me, help spread the word, see you there...

Do share any unusual dishes you're having for Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving with Asian Twist

Spicy, hoisin turkey, stir fried brussel sprouts, endamame, Chinese mushrooms, red bell and stuffing with cranberries and turkey gravy.

I kept getting asked if I was going to 'wok' my turkey. No, but I did give our Thanksgiving an Asian Twist this year! We had a cozy dinner for two and my game plan went smoothly! We watched "Survivor, Samoa" cause I was in Hong Kong and missed two episodes.

Well, Thanksgiving needs to be traditional cause we only have it once a year! I mentioned to Ralph that we'd just have roast potatoes and not bother with stuffing (the one I got was full of bad stuff incl. MSG, I'm taking it back!) His retort, "Thanksgiving is nothing without stuffing!" kind of made me guilty. So, I ran out to Wholefoods, thank goodness they were open, very smart! They even had all prepared sides and was not that busy.

I picked up pecan pie, stuffing, real turkey gravy, very rich but very delicious (I did see hydrolyzed soybean on the list though but heck, it's only once a year and now I have the organic stuffing with no MSG.)

So, for lunch, we had a small salad with grilled salmon and a couple of garlic crostinis with goat cheese.

Here's how I marinaded some gigantic turkey thighs, I only used three ingredients which I constantly use and love. That's why they're included in my Wok Star Kit! Koon Chun hoisin sauce, San-J's tamari, Lingham's chili sauce (you can get it at Epicure Market in Sunny Isles and South Beach and in Fort Lauderdale, The Grateful Palate who has hosted a couple of my classes). Take thighs (we like dark meat, more juicy) out of fridge an hour before cooking and marinade about 15 mins. prior to cooking. I don't marinade overnight, not necessary but you can if you want. Ratio is 2 hoisin, 1 chili, 1 tamari. You can use any leftover sauce to marinade more meat or even toufu, I never waste anything.

Mid afternoon: I rehydrated some Chinese mushrooms, prepped Brussel sprouts by parboiling and dunking in ice bath to keep them green. Defrosted some endamame (soy beans). Chopped some garlic and ginger, scallions and half a red bell pepper for the stir fry.

The Wholefoods stuffing had cranberries, so it was perfect, I've never liked cranberry sauce, way too sweet. Packet instructions were easy: add to boiling water but instead of 6 tablespoons of butter, I used canola oil. We don't need extra calories and cholesterol with everything else in this meal.

Just a little light appetizer: more garlic crostini with goat cheese and a dab of mango chutney. I've only just started buying goat cheese and am in love with it. It's so light and fluffy and has so much less fat.

When it was time for dinner, I grilled the thighs and stir fried the veggies with a dash of tamari, sherry and lime juice to taste. You can find out more about this "mix and match" technique so your weeknight dinners are quick and easy! This is what being a Wok Star is all about!

I heated the gravy in a saucepan and warmed the stuffing in the microwave. When the stuffing was warmed, I stuck it under the broiler to crisp up.

I took the skins off the thighs, much easier after they're cooked. Slathered marinade from the baking tray on the newly skinned thighs to give them flavor, color and crispy texture. Thanksgiving with an Asian Twist is READY!

Did you give your Thanksgiving an ethnic slant? I would love to hear about it.

For dessert, I had bought Granny Smith apples and frozen pastry but Wholefood's small pecan pie looked perfect. The crust was a bit disappointing but still satisfied, well, anything with ice cream is good, right?




More on turkey:
Ralph and I love turkey in any shape or form. I use a LOT of ground turkey, it's in my Rainbow Lettuce Wrap appetizer which goes well with Gancia Prosecco and Tiger Beer which I serve in my Wok Star cooking class.

It's also featured in my Ho Wok Mei DVD, here's the "recipe" on my website to try out. I use turkey instead of ground pork (not always available and much fattier) to make Asian Meatloaf (steamed, delicious, fast and easy), curry and Italian meat sauce, the list goes on and on...