Happy New Year!  Greetings from the Arctic Circle!  Well, not really, but it sure feels like it.  Yesterday, we had a wild storm that left us with nearly a foot of freshly fallen snow and winds that blew the snow into even higher drifts.  Today the sun came out, so everything is beautifully sparkly, but the temperatures are dropping rapidly and tomorrow, we’ll be living with a single digit high and a negative double digit low, not counting the expected wind chill factor.  Brrrr!

Cold weather doesn’t keep me inside because the dog must go out.  She has a natural fur coat, though the snow piled in her favorite spots and our paths to safe walkways frustrate her.

Inside, it’s comfort food weather.  We’ve been eating lots of root vegetables, soup, stew, and bread, stick to your ribs fare.  Duck-fat potatoes fits right into that line-up.

This hearty side dish couldn’t be easier.  First, diced potatoes are parboiled to hasten the cooking.  I didn’t bother to peel them.  Then, the potatoes are cooked in a few tablespoons of duck fat.  The duck fat I had leftover from the Counterfeit Duck Confit was gorgeous, clear, and golden.  The potatoes browned beautifully.  Salt them halfway through and stir in a few cloves of minced garlic at the end.  Delicious!  I also tried them with leftover turkey fat from Thanksgiving.  Both the duck and turkey fat add a depth that olive oil just does not.

The potatoes require a little attention, some stirring so they don’t stick to the pan and burn.  But your undivided attention is not required, so you can prepare the rest of dinner while the potatoes cook.  Roasted chicken parts are a simple accompaniment, or some more counterfeit duck confit.

If you’re on the East Coast, stay warm this weekend.  Don’t go out if you don’t have to.  While you’re home you might as well bake some cookies and perhaps make a batch of duck-fat potatoes!

The recipe can be found on page 220 of David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen.  Other Cook the Book Fridays participants thoughts on the potatoes can be found here.

I might have mentioned that in December, I participated in Whole Foods “12 Days of Cheese”.  Each day, a different cheese was on sale for 50% of its regular price.  If you tried all 12 cheeses, the prize was… a cheese platter!  For someone who loves cheese as much as I do, how could I not do it?  It also required a daily trip to Whole Foods, but I also happen to love grocery shopping, so that wasn’t a hardship.

There were some delicious cheeses available.  Some were old favorites (Humboldt Fog, Vermont Creamery Bonne Bouche, Epoisses), and now I’ve met some new ones (Truffle Gouda).  The only problem was the timing.  The cheese platter had to be redeemed before New Year’s Day, when the refrigerator still had blocks of several of the daily selections I purchased uneaten.  And the cheeses on the cheese platter were rather pedestrian, not nearly as interesting as the flight of 12 days offered.  Regardless, it was a fun food adventure even if I don’t need to eat quite so much cheese…