Friendsgiving for those who have a tight circle like me!

I love for my friendsgiving to be Thanksgiving-adjacent food and not the classics. I usually do a ham instead of turkey because I still want the fall flavors but I think friendsgiving is a good excuse to try foods that you don't normally eat on a traditional Thanksgiving and get more creative. Also, if you know me, I am really protective of my energy so usually only have one or two friends over when I am in the mood to cook. It's a great fit for someone who lives in the city and can't actually host a lot of people. This year I wanted to tackle a whole duck and also test out a non-traditional stuffing recipe that I have been contemplating for the last few weeks to see if it would work for a regular Thanksgiving dish. So, I present fried duck with a cherry orange fennel sauce, served over a cheesy corn/cornbread stuffing casserole, with sauteed cabbage and fennel, and a savory pear, fennel, and goat cheese pie. I did not do the best job documenting all steps of this meal while cooking since my friend Priya was over and we were gabbing away and drinking bubbles...But here is the final product. Keep reading if you want instructions/a peek into how chaotic my kitchen is when I cook - I really am just winging it all the time, but it usually somehow ends up working out!

For the fried duck, I got a whole duck and deep fried it in my large dutch oven. The duck was small enough to fit safely to fry on the stove. However, if I was doing this for a larger crowd, I would get just duck legs to fry. I think the duck legs have better and less game-y flavor and I personally prefer duck legs to duck breast. So, more duck legs for everyone instead of frying the entire thing is what I would recommend. Heat your oil to 350 degrees and plop in the duck. (By plop, I actually mean safely and slowly lower it in the oil - please don't actually plop it). My duck came frozen which threw me off a bit because I had to thaw it in my sink under cold running water, which is really not recommended for safety reasons. Plus the duck was still a little frozen when I threw it in the oil so it messed with the cooking time a bit. Don't be like me! Plan ahead and get a duck that is already thawed or thaw in the refrigerator about a day in advance.

I had to flip my duck since it wasn't 100% submerged in the oil (it would have been splashing over the dutch oven which is not a good mix for a gas stove and I really didn't want a fire!). I waited until the duck was browned all around and reached an internal temperature of around 165 . Again, more reason to use just duck legs. Duck legs can handle this temperature, the breast was a little overcooked by the time this was done and if I am going to eat duck breast I like it medium rare, around 135 degrees. I wish I could tell you how long this took but I have no concept of time when I cook. I would guess around 35 minutes, which is longer than it would/should have been if the duck was properly thawed.

Overall, it turned out pretty good for being my second attempt at whole fried duck, the first of which involved a day of drinking martinis and a duck that was still frozen when it went in the oil. We live and learn. Here is how the duck turned out. You'll see, it I probably should have taken it out about 5 minutes earlier.

I served the duck with a cherry, orange, and fennel sauce. I took a little of the frying oil (which now had duck fat in it), and put it in a saute pan. I added fresh fennel (the herb pieces), about half a jar of cherry preserves, and freshly squeezed orange juice. The sauce was perfect with the duck.

I am not sure if anyone is even still reading but I am finding it cathartic to write this so next up is the cornbread stuffing. Priya said "I get so excited to try your dishes that you have been thinking about for awhile" because she has a lot of experience being my test dummy with random ideas I have and also knows sometimes I get an idea in my head and think about it for weeks before executing and these often turn out to be my best dishes. (Priya is the best hype girl if you can't tell). This was totally true here - the flavors were amazing. Though, I am glad I did a test before Thanksgiving because now I know I want more corn, more cheese, and I don't think I can really call this stuffing. It's more of just cornbread casserole.

I made the cornbread from a mix but I used browned butter instead of oil and buttermilk instead of milk. I overcooked it since stuffing usually should be with dried out bread. Then, I mixed the baked cornbread with sauteed corn from two ears of fresh corn, sauteed fennel stems. If you've never cooked with fennel, I highly recommend it. It's kind of like an onion but it has anise flavor, which is like licorice. It adds so much more depth and complexity to dishes than onions. The base part is a more subtle flavor and the stems are a more intense licorice flavor. I wanted the stems to be a nice contrast to the cheesy and rich corn and knew it would cut it really nicely. I also added about a half a block of FRESHLY SHREDDED (which is a MUST) white cheddar cheese, more buttermilk, and three more eggs. I rebaked it at 400 degrees. Sadly since my duck was taking longer than anticipated, the corn got a little bit more brown than I'd like and in all the chaos I did not get a picture of the final product, but it was soooo delicious. Next time, I am going to double the amount of corn and amount of cheese, and I think it will be perfect.

The other dishes I made were very simple and very poorly photographed.

For the hand pie, I caramelized some diced fennel bulb (I wanted a more subtle, sweet flavor) and then added diced pear. I let it cool a little then added about 2/3 small block of goat cheese to mix. I spread it into squares of store bought, pre-made puff pastry and wrapped up. I baked these in the oven at 400 degrees at the same time the corn was cooking, and took them out when browned. This would make a really good appetizer, but I didn't plan that well ahead.

On the side, I sauteed some cabbage and more of the fennel stems and fennel herbs. I added freshly squeezed orange juice and sliced almonds. I also added dried cranberries but would omit those next time, because it was too much sweetness next to the cherry of the sauce that I served with the duck.

Thanks for anyone who is actually reading this - I hope you enjoyed an insight into Natalie Chaotically Cooks