- [Sarah] "Sarah's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet, Mutti Tomatoes of Parma, Le Gruyere AOP from Switzerland.

And by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta, and now I transmit it to all the guests, is something make specially for them.

- [Announcer] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of "Sarah's Weeknight Meals."

(gentle music) - It's that time of the year again.

Overeating is okay, friends are invited, and it's gonna be fancy.

Oh my gosh, that looks gorgeous.

My friend Phil is here for a decadent roast duck dinner with a lofty surprise, popovers.

Isn't that magic?

- They're so- - We've got meatless magic, too.

When you're having a holiday dinner it's so nice to have something on the table for the vegetarians that makes a statement.

And my butternut squash crostata fits that bill.

Then, a two-minute eggnog with a trick that's our little secret.

Here's my little cheat.

And if holidays mean grandma's best cooking, good news.

We've got grannies, so many grannies.

The pasta granny's from Italy.

- [Everyone] Ciao.

- So break out the good China.

Company's coming today on "Sarah's Weeknight Meals."

(bright music) When you're having a holiday dinner it's so nice to have something on the table for the vegetarians that makes a statement.

And my butternut squash crostata fits that bill.

So let me get started here.

Let me just explain what a crostata is.

It's like an open-faced Italian pie, and it's very pretty.

So you need about a pound and a half of butternut squash.

First you take out the seeds, and then we're gonna roast the squash.

We've already peeled it.

So we're going to lay it flat, cutting it into, oh, about quarter-inch thick slices.

They don't have to be perfect.

We just used a peeler to peel it by the way.

But you could also use a knife cut off the top and the bottom of the squash and then just shave it down with a knife.

But if you don't wanna go to all this trouble you can buy the pre-cut frozen or raw squash.

Just make sure you slice it up a bit.

So they're all about the same thickness.

And I'm gonna transfer it right to the sheet pan that I've coated with parchment.

And I'm gonna toss it on the sheet pan with a little bit of oil.

So I'm gonna season this with salt and pepper.

Important to season as you go.

(upbeat music) I am gonna bake this tray of squash in a 450 oven in the lower third of the oven until it's just tender, about 15 minutes.

So let's move on to the rest of the filling.

So a leek has layers and layers and layers, and there can be a lotta sand in between those layers.

You don't want that.

You cut it into quarters, and then you wash it just like you wash lettuce.

Let me show you how.

So these leeks don't look that dirty, but I'm gonna wash 'em anyway, 'cause there's nothing worse than sand in your dinner.

So I throw 'em into a bowl of cold water, the idea being that the leeks float to the top, the sand goes to the bottom.

When it looks like they're pretty clean, just lift 'em out, put 'em in the strainer, and put it right onto a paper towel-lined tray just to get rid of excess water, 'cause we're gonna saute them a bit.

We don't want 'em wet.

So I'm using two large leeks for this recipe.

I am smelling that butternut squash.

So let's have a look.

Oh yeah, these are perfect.

I can tell, 'cause they look, they look pretty tender, and that's all we want.

We don't want any color at this point.

All right, onto the red pepper.

Let me show you my favorite way to cut it.

We're gonna cut it into thin strips.

You leave the core in the middle, go around the edges, and we're gonna slice this really nice and thin.

Let's get the heat on under my pan and get these vegetables cooked.

Couple tablespoons of olive oil.

Oh, that looks good.

These guys are gonna go in together, both the red peppers.

(gentle upbeat music) And the leeks.

(gentle upbeat music) And a pinch of salt.

I know you've heard it a million times, season as you go.

Don't wait till the end.

So we're just gonna cook these for about 10 minutes, or until they're softened.

A little bit of pepper.

You know what's really great about this crostata is that you can make the dough ahead, you can make the filling ahead, park it in the fridge, and then the day of, bring out the filling, bring out the dough, roll out the dough, fill it, and you're good to go.

Okay, I think that looks good, and I'm just gonna turn it off and let this cool.

And now I've got a half cup of Deglet Noor dates, and I'm gonna slice them thin.

And they add a natural sweetness to any dish you add them to.

What they need to sort of offset their sweetness or balance it is something salty.

So I'm adding blue cheese.

And one bonus, dates are a great source of fiber.

There we go.

I'm gonna get the pastry dough it needed to chill for at least an hour.

So I'm gonna pull it out now to soften a bit while I finish prepping the rest of the ingredients.

I'm just gonna park it over here.

Okay, onto the blue cheese.

And we're just crumbling it up a bit.

We need about four ounces.

Okay.

So it's time to roll out the dough.

Now this is a homemade dough.

The recipes on the website.

But if you just don't have time or don't want to you can buy pastry dough.

You will need 12 ounces total.

We're gonna put some flour on top, flour on the bottom.

We're gonna pretend we're Julia Child at the Cordon Bleu, and we're gonna whack away.

This is how you start to soften the dough.

And this is really fun, particularly after a bad day at the office.

Although who goes to the office anymore?

But there you go.

If you want a round, instead of rolling the dough and then turning it a quarter inch, roll the dough and then turn it an eighth.

But just keep turning it.

Make sure the dough is always moving.

You don't want it to stick to the board.

And then get this over here.

Ready?

Whoop.

We're gonna put half of our dates in the bottom.

We're gonna leave a rim around the whole dough.

That's gonna get folded in.

So keep that in mind.

You've got a frame.

And just sprinkle these.

All right, now, I'm going to mix up the rest of my vegetables.

All right, this is ready to go.

And I forgot to put half of my blue cheese in the bottom.

Blue cheese is sticky.

So do your best.

You wanna spread the wealth.

Okay, now we're gonna put the filling in more cheese.

Now, doesn't this just look delicious already?

What we're gonna do is fold up the edges.

We're gonna make sort of a rim.

We just sort of tuck 'em over.

Okay.

And now for the finishing touch, which is the egg wash.

It's just one egg with a little bit of water.

You beat it up, and you brush it all around the rim of the crostata.

And that will just really make it golden and shiny.

Okay, so we're gonna put this in the bottom third of the oven, because that way the crust will cook more and the top won't brown too much.

And it needs about 30 minutes.

It is time for a little festive drink.

I'm gonna be making cheaters eggnog.

So many people get stressed out about making eggnog, because what you have to make is what's known as a creme anglaise, or a custard sauce.

What is ice cream, but custard?

Here's my little cheat.

Vanilla ice cream.

You put it in the fridge, you leave it overnight.

Yay, and of course it defrosts.

Okay, so I'm going to put a pint of vanilla ice cream in here.

There we go.

I'm gonna be using rum.

You can use bourbon.

You can use brandy.

Oh, I'm gonna add about three jiggers, which is about three quarters of a cup.

I find a pretty glass, pour it in.

This will make about four portions.

And we're gonna just put a little nutmeg on top.

Fresh nutmeg, which really makes a difference.

There you go.

My cheaters eggnog.

I think I must have a sip.

Mm, it's so ridiculously good, and so much better than that stuff that comes in the box.

All right, I think it's ready.

Smelling fantastic.

Here we go.

But I wanna park it for about 10 minutes.

I'm gonna put it on a rack over here, just to let it rest and cool off a bit before I slice into it.

So I'm gonna make an arugula salad.

Some orange slices.

Red onion.

Beautiful colors.

There we go, and I've got a little bit of a homemade vinegarette here.

(bright music) Okay, I think it's probably cooled properly.

We have a little crunch.

It's chopped toasted pistachios.

It's a nice last touch.

(bright music) I have to try it.

Don't worry, I know it's good.

Yes, oh, wow.

Mm, mm.

So good, you'll be so happy.

(bright Italian music) Vicky Bennison is a filmmaker, foodie, and author, whose passport is incredibly impressive.

- Another one?

- another one?

- Yeah.

- Born in Africa, she landed in London.

Then she found her way to Italy, where her culinary curiosity led her to create a social media sensation called Pasta Grannies.

Her mission?

To preserve the tradition of making homemade pasta from scratch by those who know how to do it best.

(Mirella speaking Italian) - We're shopping with Senora Mirella for the ingredients.

She's gonna make tortelli with an asparagus sauce.

I've always loved food, and I've previously written several cookery books and food guides, but Pasta Grannies was my first effort at picking up a camera and doing videos.

My inspiration was discovering that it was only older women that made pasta by hand, and I thought someone has to make a record of this, and that turned out to be me.

I started a YouTube channel, then it went viral.

- [Sarah] Over two and a half million followers later, she was clearly onto something.

One of Vicky's secrets to success is her talented team.

- This is Livia, my Granny Finder.

And she's my right-hand woman.

And her job is to persuade women like Mirella to say yes and to be filmed.

The women we film are quite often over 85.

And with that generation of women, they had to leave school early to work on the farm, to help, because in those days there wasn't machinery.

They were told they had to learn pasta to find a good husband.

- Thank goodness Mirella is only 78, so we have a few years of filming her yet.

- [Sarah] Aside from their amazing pasta-making skills, what life lessons do these ladies share?

- To be grateful for what you have, I think is the main lesson that we have learned from the grandmothers.

And also to eat frugally and joyously.

(Vicky speaking Italian) (Vicky clapping) (Mirella laughing) (Vicky and Mirella speaking Italian) - [Vicky] As a consequence of Pasta Grannies going viral it meant that I've now written two books.

First one "Pasta Grannies," is the red book.

And the second one is "Pasta Grannies Comfort Cooking," which was a response to the pandemic and how everybody wrote in to say how Pasta Grannies kept them going through the pandemic.

It was a source of comfort to them.

And then maybe there- - There will be book three.

- Ooh.

(everyone laughing) - Yes, book three is under discussion.

Mm.

Mm mm.

I love my job.

I more than love my job.

I adore it.

I think it's the best job in the world.

(everyone speaking Italian) (glasses clanking) I get to meet amazing women, hear their life stories.

(Lucio and aunt speaking Italian) And I get to eat extraordinary food.

- [everyone] Buon appetito.

- [Everyone] Ciao.

(everyone speaking Italian) (gentle music) - One of my all time favorite things is duck, and especially roast duck.

You might think it takes a lotta 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.

So we're gonna cut off the wings.

Let me just turn him around.

Go down to the joint and just cut it.

Now this is a Peking duck.

It's about five and a half pounds.

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

Okay, I am gonna get my stock going.

So I'm just gonna 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.

Okay, and here are our giblets.

Okay, this is all going into the pan.

In goes our oil, and we're just simply gonna brown these.

Okay, now I'm gonna 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.

So you do this sideways with a tip of a sharp pairing knife, all over the duck.

And now I'm gonna season it with a little salt and pepper.

I'm gonna season it on the outside.

And then on the inside.

Well, I preheated my oven to 450 degrees.

So top oven, and you wanna have it on a rack?

All righty, checking the time.

It's gonna be about an hour and a half.

Alright, lemme get this just browning.

Turn it down a little bit.

And then I'm gonna go out and water my plants.

And 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.

Be right back.

(bright music) - Hi, Sarah.

- Oh, hey Phil.

Hello.

- Good to see you.

- I'm so glad you could come in.

How was your trip?

- It was fantastic.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- Ready to eat some good food now.

- Oh, I have the best dinner.

You're gonna love it.

Okay, so I told you we're making duck for dinner.

- [Phil] All right, can't wait.

- And that's not all.

We're also making duck popovers.

- Duck popovers.

- With duck fat.

- That sounds fantastic.

- We're just going all ducky.

- Okay, okay.

- Okay, so, I'm gonna have you make the batter.

- Make the batter, that I can do.

- So you break four eggs in here.

- All right.

- Please, for me.

So you're a big fan of duck, huh?

- I am.

- [Sarah] Now, who cooks it for you?

Or do you cook it?

- I actually cook it myself.

The duck breasts, anyway.

- Mm-hm.

- It's quick and easy.

- It is.

It's easy to make for one person or two people.

- You can beat that up.

We're gonna need two cups of milk.

And I'm just chopping our vegetables, 'cause I'm gonna be making a stock here.

- Okay.

- So 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.

- All right.

Okay, so you whisked that up.

Now- - I did.

- Now this is the duck fat in here?

- Yes that is the duck fat.

Quarter cup is gonna go in with the liquid ingredients.

And I'm gonna get the vegetables in here, 'cause we need to get them brown.

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

You can smell it, right?

Smelling the garlic.

- Absolutely.

- Okay, now you can put in half a teaspoon of table salt.

And then let me bring you over... We need two cups of all purpose flour.

Here's one cup.

And here's our second cup.

Two cups of all purpose flour.

And you just wanna whisk that well.

I already made some yesterday.

That 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.

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

- All right.

- That's been there.

- This has been sitting for a while.

- Right.

So that can go right there.

And then I'm gonna have you preheat these guys.

You're gonna put two teaspoons of duck fat in each one.

- In each one, okay.

- [Sarah] Now these are official popover tins.

- Okay.

- These happen to be non-stick, which are great.

but if they weren't non-stick I would put the duck fat in and smear it around.

- [Sarah] Sure.

- Okay, you wanna 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.

So 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.

- Really?

- It caramelizes and brings out flavor.

- Okay.

- So that's why we're adding it now.

And then wine.

You wanna 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 gonna get better.

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

Oops, I think five minutes may have passed.

So very carefully I want you to bring the pop over tin over here.

Okay.

And then just... Yeah, we'll both be careful.

Okay, now what you're gonna do is you're gonna lift this up and fill each one of these about three quarters of the way full with the batter.

- [Phil] Now we preheated these.

What is the reasoning behind that?

- To give the popovers a jumpstart.

- Okay.

- 'Cause what we are trying to accomplish here, it's 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 gonna get the chicken stock in, 'cause I don't want it to reduce anymore.

But we need a full four cups of chicken broth.

All right, now Phil, very carefully, put that back in the oven.

We'll set the timer for 14 minutes.

Very scientific.

Okay, so we're gonna put some celery in.

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

- All right, 14 minutes.

- Okay, and a half a teaspoon of black peppercorns.

We're gonna add a half bay leaf, and I prefer to use the Turkish.

And a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme.

There we go.

Just let it cook.

And it's gonna keep reducing, reducing, reducing until our duck is ready.

- Okay.

- So now, you know what I wanna show you?

My latest project is I just finished a cookbook, and I got some photos I wanna show you.

- Oh great.

- So come on over here.

So this is the cover.

- Okay.

- Not bad.

- That looks fantastic.

- I look pretty, don't I?

- Gorgeous.

- You're supposed to say that.

Okay, thank you.

And this was this really tall butcher from this Brooklyn butcher shop.

She had no tattoos, very disappointed.

And then Jacques Torres, he's quite silly.

You can see that.

Look at this.

See what a silly guy?

- Oh, that's great.

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

Well, all right, you know what?

I think we better go check on the food.

- Yeah, please do.

- Yes.

(laughing) Come on.

We'll do it together.

(gentle upbeat music) Oh, oh, okay.

- That's our time, right?

- All right, all right, we have to...

Okay, so let's turn the bottom oven- - Okay.

- To 350.

And then we need to get the duck out.

And you big brawny guy, I'm gonna let you take the duck out.

- [Phil] All right.

- Oh my gosh, that looks gorgeous.

And you wanna just put it all the way down on that cutting board.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

- All right.

- All right.

Oh boy, that looks great.

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

So 15 minutes resting.

- Okay.

- And then the popovers should be done, but we need to finish our sauce.

We need to strain it.

That's great.

Okay, so we need to thicken it.

And what I have in here is something that's called a beurre manie, which means kneaded butter.

It's equal parts of butter and flour.

But this is another way to make a thickener.

And so we're gonna add just a little bit of the sauce to it, and just add little nuggins of it.

I like to make a paste.

So we're gonna do that.

Goes right in here.

We wanna bring this up to a boil and add the beurre manie.

There we go.

I'm gonna add green peppercorns, two tablespoons.

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

These are actually brined, though.

So these are immature.

You wanna eat one?

(indistinct) It's not that hot.

- Do I not wanna eat one?

- No, no, just give it a tiny taste.

- All right.

- Just take a little one.

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

You're not dying, right?

- No, it's a little spicy- - But it gives- - But not bad.

- But it gives a wonderful kick.

- All right, here we go.

- Okay.

Do you mind doing oven duty again?

- Nope, I'm on it.

- Okay, gettin' very hot.

Just land 'em right here.

- [Phil] Okay.

Wow, these look awesome.

- That is exactly what they should look like.

Okay, I will close the door- - You can still smell that duck fat.

- Take your time.

- Okay.

- Now at this point, do you believe that?

Isn't that magic?

- I mean, they're so- Yeah, really, like you said, like a souffle.

- Yes, all right, so I'm gonna now add a tablespoon of mustard.

All right, and we'll let that cook down to the very last minute, just so it gets even stronger.

So this is very easy to remove.

Look it.

- Just pop right outta there.

- Isn't that beautiful?

I'll just put three in here.

Oh, what the heck, I'll put four.

- I was gonna say, I'm gonna have at least two, so- - Yeah, I think it would fit a lot in there.

Yeah, here we go.

- [Phil] One right in the middle, perfect.

- So here's this, and you go sit down and get comfortable.

Open that wine.

There's a wine opener over on the table.

And I am gonna carve the duck.

(gentle music) Wow, look at this.

Isn't that beautiful?

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

And you are gonna need some of this delicious sauce.

There we go, so we just took the leg thigh pieces off.

Oh, I love gravy.

Oh my god, look at that gravy.

And then the breast.

And you have to have a popover.

- Oh, absolutely, here we go.

- [Sarah] So thank you so much for joining me.

- Oh, thank you.

- I know you didn't know you were gonna have to do so much cooking.

(Phil laughing) I'm Sarah Moulton here with Phil.

Thanks for joining me, and I'll see ya next time.

- Mm.

- Is that good?

- That's really good.

- So good.

Yeah.

How can you go wrong with duck?

I mean really.

- Absolutely.

(gentle music) - Mm, mm, oh, I love the green peppercorns in there, too.

You know, 'cause they're sort of nice contrast to the duck, spicy.

- And that gravy is outstanding.

- Isn't it?

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

Wow.

(gentle music) For recipes, videos, and more, go to our website sarahmoulton.com.

"Sarah's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet, Mutti Tomatoes of Parma, Le Gruyere AOP from Switzerland, and by.

- Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta, and now I transmit it to all the guests, is something make specially for them.

- [Announcer] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of "Sarah's Weeknight Meals."

(bright music) (bright music) (gentle music)