Bacony Chicken Chowder

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 yellow onion
4 fat cloves of garlic
2 large carrots
4 stalks of celery
8 oz. frozen corn
4 small Yukon Gold potatoes
6 cups chicken broth
2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup half and half
Several sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme, and sage leaves to taste.

Give the onion a fairly course chop, and slice the carrot and celery into 1/3" pieces. Mince garlic. Cut potatoes into 1/2" cubes.

Cook the bacon in giant soup pot until quite crispy. Remove the bacon, but leave the grease. Add the onion and garlic. Cook for two minutes, then add the rest of the veggies and potatoes (except for celery) and stir to coat with bacony goodness. Once thoroughly mixed, with brown bits dredged from the bottom, add the chicken broth and bring to a medium boil for 10 minutes.

Add rosemary, thyme, sage, celery and salt, and reduce to a simmer for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, crumble the bacon and remove all the meat from the rotisserie chicken by hand (if you don't eat the skin as you go, God kills a kitten).

Add chicken to pot, along with bacon bits, and simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently to help the chicken "dissolve" (this may not take as long if your chicken pieces started small).

Add half and half a minute or two before serving and enjoy with fresh ground pepper.

Duck Risotto #1

Ingredients:
1 1/2C arborio rice
4C duck stock or chicken broth
1 medium yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
3T extra virgin olive oil
1 duck liver
3oz cooked & shredded duck meat
1T tomato paste
2t fresh thyme leaves
1C freshly grated parmigiano

Directions:
Heat the stock, then start chopping the onion into a fine dice. Heat the olive oil in a wide bottomed pan and saute the onion, then add half the thyme, reserving the rest for finishing the risotto. Finely chop the duck liver and saute with the onion and herb, when cooked, add the garlic and saute, then saute the tomato paste and incorporate all the ingredients. Next comes the shredded duck meat, that in this case was reserved from necks that were roasted and used for the stock. Chop the duck meat and add to the pot along with the rice, then saute until the rice becomes an opaque white. Start adding the wine and stir it in until completely absorbed, then add one cup of hot stock at a time until the rice has absorbed it fully. When the rice is cooked to suit your taste, take it off the heat and add the parmigiano cheese. Plate and sprinkle with the last half of the fresh thyme leaves. This recipe makes enough risotto for 4 as a starter.