(jazzy instrumental music) - There has to be one night of the week where you have a little more time than usual to make dinner, and that night is normally Sunday.

It's perfect for comfort meals made low and slow.

Eaten with family and friends.

Nothing can make a person feel better on the eve of another dreaded work week, than comfort food.

Like deviled bones, sounds evil but they are a real treat.

They're short ribs coated with breadcrumbs and mustard.

That's the deviled part.

It's a British favorite, brought State side.

And nothing screams Sunday night more than a roast bird.

Mine's a duck, crispy and succulent.

And to go with it, popovers made of duck fat.

Perfect for my duck loving friend Phil.

So start your week with a Sunday meal of comfort.

I'm Sara Moulten, welcome to Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(upbeat instrumental music) Funding provided by.

- [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens.

Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive, and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of.

Surely, you would of guessed, even if I hadn't told you that deviled bones, is a British recipe!

It just sounds so Gothic, doesn't it?

It was originally made from leftover bones, from a standing rib roast.

Which were coated in breadcrumbs and mustard and baked.

What's so devilish about them?

The mustard, it applies the heat.

So we've already started roasting our bones.

You can buy short ribs two ways, either English cut, like these guys here, which is just piece of meat on the bone or cross cut, also known as flanken.

If you cut between the ribs, you end up with a piece like the English cut.

One bone, meat on top.

If you cut across the ribs, you end up with several pieces of cross cut bone and meat on top.

For our purposes here we want English cut and we want five pounds.

Now we've already seasoned the short ribs, with salt and pepper and put them in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Now we're going to add our liquid, which is three cups of chicken broth, you're going to say, why are you adding chicken broth to a beef recipe?

Well, it's because you don't have homemade beef broth just kickin' around and most of us don't, I have never found a home made beef broth that I like.

So we're going to add a little bit of red wine, very important if you can have alcohol, it's a good idea to add some, particularly a really nice wine, like Pinot Noir.

You should never use a wine that you wouldn't drink straight up.

And the reason for that, for adding the wine is because wine or any alcohol, for that matter, is a conductor of flavor.

If you add it to a recipe even if you don't taste the wine, the recipe is just going to taste better.

(fun jaunty music) So back these go in, we reduced the oven temperature to 350.

We'll take about another two and a half to three hours, what we're looking for is a knife going through very easily and they'll start to fall off the bone, there's sort of no question when they're ready.

(fun jaunty music) Okay, yes, see the bones have fallen off a lot of the short ribs.

We're going to move them all over here.

At this point what we've got is an absolutely delicious, sort of natural au jus sauce, that we're going to thicken and our very tender meat.

This is such a perfect thing for a wintry day.

(upbeat instrumental music) What I'm going to do is go over to the sink because I'm short, in case you hadn't noticed, and I'm going to put this liquid into a fat separator, this is a great tool that I've got right in the sink.

Because that way I don't have to lift my arms up too high, it's just much more efficient.

And here's how this works, you just have to let it rest for two seconds and we'll need about two cups and you know what?

We have two cups!

If you don't you can add a little more liquid.

And there really wasn't any fat in there, that's sort of a miracle I have to say.

We want to thicken this, so we're going to just thicken it with a little bit of flour and some water.

Also known as a slurry.

We're going to use about three tablespoons.

Let me get four tablespoons of water here.

Mix it in here.

So this is the easiest way to thicken a sauce, you just whisk it in.

I'm going to wait till this comes up to a boil, which it will really quickly and meanwhile I'm going to get my steak butter out of the freezer.

Now you're probably wondering what steak butter is, it's a butter that's composed of all those things that you love with steak.

We've got Worcestershire and dijon mustard and garlic and salt.

And I made I big batch.

Which is about two sticks of butter and I rolled it up here and then we're just going to cut off a quarter of it.

We're going to combine it with some panko breadcrumbs.

If you don't feel like making a special butter for this, you know what you could do?

There we go.

What you could do is just make garlic butter or just use plain butter, no problem.

So, now my liquid's come up to a boil and while it's boiling I'm going to whisk in my slurry.

And I'm going to stir it with half of it and see what it looks like.

How thick it's gotten, we don't want it too thick.

This is just to serve on the side.

A little more I can see I want.

You just whisk constantly while you add it.

Then simmer it for a few minutes to get rid of that raw flour taste.

Boy that looks so delicious.

Here's panko breadcrumbs, we're going to do one cup.

Panko breadcrumbs are the Japanese breadcrumbs that have become all the rage and we love them because they're such big crispy pieces of breadcrumb.

Who knew that we were going to get so excited about a dumb breadcrumb?

I just have to let this melt here.

While this butter is melting I'm going to go spread the devil on my ribs.

We're gonna spread a little bit of mustard on top of each one of these guys and this is our glue.

We're just using regular old dijon mustard.

The very last step is just to get it nice and brown on top, with the broiler.

My butter is nicely melted, we're going to turn everything off.

We're going to mix panko in here.

I didn't say this is a low calorie recipe, now did I?

However, let me say this, that I think it's very important to eat everything in moderation.

That's something that Julia Child used to say.

We'll put a little bit of crumbs on each one.

So I'm going to set the broiler, pop them in, they only take a few minutes, so don't walk away, don't answer the telephone.

Then as soon as they're nice and golden, they're ready to eat.

(upbeat instrumental music) Look at how beautiful those look.

We're going to start with a little bit of sauce on the plate first, and these are great without the sauce, but why waste that delicious stuff, if you have it.

Then depending on how hungry you are, we'll do two or three.

I have some edamame mash, which is a delicious version of mashed potatoes and some fresh thyme, which is very British.

These deviled ribs are to die for!

Don't let the number of steps deter you please, you can read a good novel while they're cooking.

Plus they're perfect for Sunday supper.

(upbeat guitar music) So I get all these questions on my website, saramoulten.com, from viewers with thorny culinary issues.

I'm going to answer one on the show today, it comes from Jane, hi Jane!

You're from Yarmouth, Maine?

- Yes, I am.

- [Sara] And that's near Portland?

- About 20 minutes north of Portland.

- [Sara] So I understand you have three strapping boys and they eat a lot.

So my guess is your question is related to those young lads?

- [Jane] It is, I love to cook and I love to feed my clan and others who happen to gather round with us.

But we have busy lives, they do and I do, I'm really looking for some tips on getting the food on the table quickly and planning ahead, cooking ahead if possible and my boys love mashed potatoes, so my question is, do you have any tips on how I can prepare ahead of time, to get food on the table quickly when I need it?

- [Sara] Okay well yes, absolutely I do.

I have this make ahead mashed potato tip.

It's not how to make mashed potatoes, it's how to prep them ahead of time and finish them later.

Let's take a look at this vid.

We have in here some Yukon Gold potatoes and we put them in cold water, cold salted water brought up to a boil, simmered until they're just tender.

Cook it till a knife just goes through and they're we're going to drain these.

You have many different options to mash the potatoes.

One is what we're using here, which is a food mill.

Now we're not going to stir these potatoes at all, we're going to let them relax, put them in the fridge, just a little plastic wrap and then tomorrow, we add the good stuff.

Now I took that bowl that I had in the fridge and I nuked it till they're really nice and piping hot.

Now we're going to finish them off, I just use regular whole milk, gonna add about a half a cup, and as much butter as you want.

It could be a few tablespoons.

Add salt, pepper.

This way they are going to taste as if you just made them right now, but you didn't.

Okay so what did you think?

Would that work for you?

- Very helpful.

- So there you go!

- [Jane] Thank you!

- Alright well thank you so much for your questions, it's been great chatting with you and I love Maine.

I love your neck of the woods.

- Well next time you come through Maine on your way to Brunswick, stop by Yarmouth.

- [Sara] Okay, I will do that, thank you!

Bye bye.

- [Jane] Bye bye.

(upbeat instrumental music) - One of my all time favorite things is duck and especially roast duck.

You might think it takes a lot of time, it really doesn't and it's something to do on a Sunday.

So let me get started.

Remove the neck and the giblets, these are wonderful in the stock.

We're going to cut off the wings, let me just turn him around and go down to the joint and just cut it.

Now this is a Peking duck, its about five and a half pounds.

They're the ones you find most often in the supermarket.

I am going to get my stock going, so I'm just going to park the duck in here.

I'm gonna come back to it in a minute and chop up my bones cause I want small pieces.

I want about two inch pieces.

Then the neck we also cut up.

Alright, so we have all of that.

Here are our giblets.

This is all going into the pan.

In goes our oil.

We're just simply gonna brown these.

Now, I'm going to go back to my duck.

Now what happens is, most of the fat in duck is in the skin and right under the skin, so you want to prick the duck to help the fat to get out.

You do this sideways with the tip of a sharp paring knife, all over the duck and now I'm going to season it with a little salt and pepper.

I'm going to season it on the outside and then on the inside.

I preheated my oven to 450 degrees.

Top oven and you want to have it on a rack, I have to tell you, I love the skin almost as much as the duck and when you have it on a rack, the air circulates, so you're going to get some crispy skin all around.

It's not going to be steaming on the bottom.

Alrighty, checking the time, it's going to be about an hour and a half.

Let me get this just browning.

Turn it down a little bit and then I'm going to go out and water my plants.

I have a friend coming for dinner, my friend Phil, young friend of my son's and he's just in town briefly on his way to acting school.

I'm going to have him over for a bon voyage before he takes off in his new career.

Okay, let me see, I'll be right back.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Phil] Hi Sara.

- Oh hey Phil!

Hello!

- [Phil] Good to see ya.

I'm so glad you could come in!

How was your trip?

- It was fantastic.

- [Sara] Yeah?

- Yeah, ready to eat some good food now.

- I have the best dinner, you're gonna love it.

Okay!

So I told you we're making duck for dinner - [Phil] Alright, can't wait!

and that's not all.

We're also making duck popovers.

- Duck popovers?

- With duck fat.

- That sounds fantastic.

- [Sara] We're just going all ducky.

I'm going to have you make the batter.

- [Phil] Make the batter, that I can do.

- Will you break four eggs in here, please for me?

You're a big fan of duck huh?

- I am.

- [Sara] Now who cooks it for you?

Or do you cook it?

- I actually cook it myself, the duck breasts anyway.

- [Sara] It's quick and easy.

- It is, it's easy to make for one person or two people.

- [Sara] You can beat that up, we're going to need two cups of milk.

I'm just chopping our vegetables because I'm going to be making a stock here.

We've got one onion, now one carrot and we're just chopping it up a little bit.

- You said two cups of milk?

- Yes, two cups of milk.

Okay, so you whisked that up, - [Phil] I did.

This is the duck fat in here?

- [Sara] Yes that is the duck fat, a quarter cup is going to go in with the liquid ingredients.

I'm going to get the vegetables in here because we need to get them browned.

When you're making a stock, what makes it have depth of flavor is browning everything first.

You can smell it right, are you smelling the garlic too?

- [Phil] Absolutely, - [Sara] Now you can put in half a tablespoon of table salt and then let me bring you over, we need two cups of all purpose flour.

Here's one cup.

Here's our second cup.

Two cups of all purpose flour and you just want to whisk that well.

I already made some yesterday it needs to sit overnight.

Before you bake it, you need to take the batter out of the fridge for an hour.

It needs to come to room temperature.

You wanna go back and just grab that other bowl I have.

That's been there.

- This has been sitting for awhile.

- Right so that can go right there.

Then I'm going to have you preheat these guys.

I'm not used to having such a tall assistant.

- I wasn't going to say anything.

- Well, you know you better not, I'll smack ya.

What I need you to do now, you're going to put two teaspoons of These are official popover tins, these happen to be nonstick, which are great.

If they weren't nonstick, I'd put the duck fat in and shmear it around.

- [Phil] Sure.

- You want to pop those in the bottom oven and look at your old watch for five minutes.

We're preheating the tins before we put in the batter.

That's also at 450.

This is tomato paste and it's a very good idea when you're working with tomato paste, to brown it a bit.

- [Phil] Really?

- It caramelizes and it brings out flavor.

That's why we're adding it now.

Then wine, want to measure me a cup?

I like to add wine to recipes, I think it adds terrific acidity and just a whole 'nother element.

Go ahead and pour that in, don't get too close, there you go.

Excellent!

- Oh man, that smells so good.

- Doesn't it, doesn't it?

It's only going to get better.

I'm scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

I think five minutes may have past.

Very carefully I want you to bring the popover tin over here.

We'll both be careful.

Now what you're going to do, is you're going to life this up and fill each one of these up about three quarters of the way full.

With the batter.

- [Phil] Now we preheated these, what is the reasoning behind that?

- [Sara] To give the popovers a jump start.

What we're trying to accomplish here, is sort of like a souffle.

It's a really high delicious domed popover, which is airy inside.

We just have to pause for a second, you see how nicely reduced that is?

I'm going to get the chicken stock in cause I don't want it to reduce anymore, but we need four full cups of chicken broth.

Now Phil, very carefully put that back in the oven.

We'll set the timer for 14 minutes, very scientific.

Occasionally they don't pop, but I feel lucky today, I don't know why, it's one of those mysteries.

- It's me, I'm here.

- I know, it's going to pop because you're tall, they're going to be tall, there we go.

We're going to put some celery in.

You don't need to do very much with it.

- [Phil] Alright, 14 minutes.

- [Sara] Half a teaspoon of black peppercorns, we're gonna add half a bay leaf and I prefer to use the Turkish and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme.

Just let it cook, it's going to keep reducing, reducing, reducing, until our duck is ready.

Now, you know what I want to show you?

My latest project is I've just finished a cookbook and I've got some photos I want to show you.

- Oh great!

- [Sara] Come on over here.

This is the cover, not bad.

- [Phil] That looks fantastic!

- I look pretty don't I?

You're supposed to say that.

- [Phil] Gorgeous!

- Thank you.

I had 10 guest chefs and these are some of them.

This is Floyd Cardoz, he's this wonderful Indian chef.

This was this really tall butcher from this Brooklyn butcher shop, she had no tattoos, very disappointed.

Then Jacques Torres, he's quite silly, you know, you can see that.

Look at this.

See what a silly guy, - [Phil] Oh that's great.

He's like a five year old in a 50 year old man suit.

Alright I think we better go check on the food.

- Please do.

- [Sara] Yes, come on, we'll do it together.

(upbeat music) Oh, okay, alright, alright.

- [Phil] There's our timer.

We have to, so let's turn the bottom oven to 350.

Then we need to get the duck out.

You big brawny guy, I'm going to let you take the duck out.

Oh my gosh that looks gorgeous!

You want to just put it all the way down on that cutting board.

Thank you!

Oh boy that looks great.

We want to let it rest so all the juices redistribute before we carve it.

15 minutes resting and then the popovers should be done but we need to finish our sauce, we need to strain it, again, I'm taking advantage of your heightened manliness.

- Oh no, please do.

- Would you please strain this for me in there?

Take your time.

That's great.

We need to thicken it and what I have in here is something that's called a beurre manié, which means kneaded butter.

It's equal parts of butter and flour but this is another way to make a thickener and we're going to add just a little bit of the sauce to it.

Just add little nuggins of it, I like to make a paste, so we're going to do that.

Goes right in here.

We want to bring this up to a boil and add the beurre manié.

I'm going to add green peppercorns, two tablespoons.

When you first harvest black peppercorns, this is what they look like.

These are actually brined though, these are immature, you want to eat one?

It's not that hot.

- Do I not want to eat one?

- No, no, just give it a tiny taste, just take a little one.

It goes like this and then it gets dried which makes it into a black peppercorn.

This is the least pungent, I mean, you're not dying, right?

- No, it's a little spicy but not that.

- It gives wonderful kick.

(kitchen timer beeps) - Alright, here we go.

- Do you mind doing oven duty again?

- Nope, I'm on it.

- [Sara] Very hot, just land them right here.

- [Phil] Wow, these look awesome!

- [Sara] That is exactly what they should look like.

I will close the door.

- [Phil] You can still smell the duck fat.

- [Sara] Take your time.

At this point, do you believe that?

Isn't that magic?

- [Phil] They're so, like you said, like a souffle.

No calories, no calories - [Phil] I'm sure.

- The duck fat's good for you.

I'm going to now add a tablespoon of mustard, we'll let that cook down to the very last minute, just so it gets even stronger.

This is very easy to remove, look it.

Isn't that beautiful?

- [Phil] Pop right out of there.

- I'll just put three in here.

What the heck, I'll put four.

- [Phil] I was gonna say, I'm going to have at least two.

- I think you could fit a lot in there.

Here we go.

- [Phil] Right in the middle, perfect.

- [Sara] Here's this, you go and sit down, get comfortable, open that wine, there's a wine opener on the table and I am going to carve the duck.

Wow, look at this!

Isn't that beautiful?

- [Phil] Oh man, that looks amazing.

Isn't that just the best Sunday dinner?

I'm going to serve you.

We've got some sauteed sugar snap peas and radishes to go with it.

You're going to need some of this delicious sauce, we just took the leg, thigh pieces off, oh, I love gravy, oh my God, look at that gravy, and then the breasts, here we'll just go like this.

- Trade ya.

- So I bet you usually don't eat like this on a Sunday night, huh?

- I do not, no, Sunday night is typically leftover pizza night.

- You know, you really should, this is a Sunday meal, it makes people happy.

So that's why you should do this on a Sunday, I really think it's important.

And you have to have a popover.

Thank you so much for joining me.

- Thank you!

- I know, you didn't know you were going to have to do so much cooking We need to have a toast, I see you've brought me a lovely Rioja.

- Cheers.

- [Sara] Perfect.

Great match, you didn't even know did you?

- I had no idea.

- [Sara] Very good.

- See I told you I'm lucky.

- I hope that you think about making a yummy roast duck for Sunday dinner.

Sunday dinner's important, it cheers everybody up at the start of the week.

I'm Sara Moulten here with Phil, thanks for joining me and I'll see ya next time.

Is that good?

- [Phil] It's really good.

- How can you go wrong with duck, I mean really?

- [Phil] Absolutely.

- I love the green peppercorns in it too.

They're a nice contrast, to the duck, spicy.

- That gravy is outstanding.

Isn't it?

And we just made it, you know, in the time that it took the duck to cook.

Wow.

(peaceful instrumental music) Sara's Weeknight Meals continues online.

For recipes, helpful tips, messages and lots more, visit us on the web at saramoulton.com/weeknightmeals.

Go to our YouTube channel, Sara's Weeknight Meals TV.

Funding provided by.

- [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens.

Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of.