Posts Tagged “cat”

Talking pastry with stylish eyed media maven M, I heard her kvell about  something called “shfooyadell” which I had never heard of.  Or so I thought.  It turns out that we were talking about sfogliatelle in a more casual – and probably realistic – pronunciation than I was used to.  However you want to say it, sfogliatelle are delicious.

Many swear by Modern Pastry – and they are very good – but this example came from Maria’s Pastry Shop.  I’ll be running a head-to-head comparison as soon as I get clearance from my cardiologist.  The sfogliatelle has its origins in Naples and is made of flaky dough in many layers filled with a citrusy cheese mixed with sugar and eggs, sort of like the stuff in a cannoli.

Some pastry shop offer something called a Lobster Tail in addition to (Modern) or instead of (Lyndells) sfogliatelle, but I find those to be much less interesting, too large and too creamy.  Apparently, they are an American creation adapting the Italian sfogliatelle.

At Maria’s there were only the original sfogliatelle, crisp and flaky with just the right amount of orange lemon flavor.  There’s also a cat, named cookie, which I think is a plus in a neighborhood business.

I’m sure you’ve all had moments like this, where you find yourself making duck l’orange for a cat even though the cat’s vegetarian owner won’t eat it.

It wasn’t just any night, of course.  It was professor M’s alpha cat’s birthday.  Cat I was turning 15, which is pretty venerable for a cat, not that she looks a day over ten.  She’s on a special diet and likes nothing more than duck.

So I bought some organic free range duck breast fillets from the freezer case at Whole Foods and whipped up a citrusy marinade.  I scored the skin and put the duck breasts skin side down in a pan of hot oil for five minutes or so, then turned them over for a bit and after pouring off most of the grease, transferred the pan to a 400 degree oven to finish.  Meanwhile, I reduced the marinade to a sauce and prof. M grilled up some vegetables.  (Note that when cooking for cats, you should reduce or eliminate onions and garlic, among other human foods that are bad for felines. In this case I served the cat the duck meat but not the sauce)  As soon as I started cooking, the cats perked up – living in a vegetarian household, they had probably never smelled such a thing.

I plated one serving for myself and carefully diced up the other into two portions for the birthday cat and her younger housemate.  Secondary cat E sniffed his portion and wandered off.  He’s all about the processed food.  Cat I inhaled her portion and proceeded to gobble most of E’s as well.  I estimate on a body weight equivalence basis, her meal was akin to an average woman eating nearly 7 pounds of duck.

I hope she’ll be able to go back to canned food.