Well, I’m back. I trust you all had lovely holidays. I don’t know about you, but each year, at about Dec. 30, I get so ready for the hulla-balloo of the holiday season to be over– all of the gifts, all of the late nights, all of the gluttony. Maybe that makes me a bit of a Scrooge, but that’s just the way that I feel.

In terms of food the holidays are wonderful, but it’s right about this same time I start craving salads. Aaahh, the ascetic lifestyle, just a bit of lettuce and a soupcon of clear broth, and to quench my parched mouth– a glass of tepid water. That may be a bit extreme, I am a bourgie…but after a wintertime vacation in England (eating far too many starchy root vegetables) these are the things a girl dreams about on the long flight home. And when I arrived at my abode, refrigerator generally bare, I ran to the market to buy the salad fixins’ of my dreams.

On the plane ride home, with little else to do, I planned all of the meals I wanted to cook as soon as I was back in the warmth of my very own kitchen. First things first, while considering a duck salad and its list of ingredients, the components to this salad grew and grew, with the final touch, boozy dried cranberries getting added somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

The base to this salad, peppery arugula and curly frisee, were the perfect greens, both strong in taste and texture. Slices of roasted butternut squash, simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, then served at room temperature added a wholesome sweetness. Shredded duck breast, pan seared, skin removed then fried crisply as cracklings was the protein of choice in this wintertime treat. Shallots lightly sauteed in the rendered duck fat, and dried cranberries reconstituted in a bit of hot water mixed with brandy were the final, crowning achievements providing complexity and an added richness.

Lightly dressed with a Dijon vinaigrette, emulsified with both walnut oil and a flavoring of duck fat (it was there, come on now, you knew I would use it!), this salad wasn’t actually ascetic– but it was definitely delicious.