LAKE OUACHITA STATE PARK
-Our Retro Road Trip-
Butternut Squash and Leek Risotto
Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry Jus
Hi! I'm Nedra! Food tastes better when it's enjoyed in the great outdoors. Life's an adventure, so travel, explore, and go cooking!!
It’s the dog days of summer in Austin, so a friend and I decided to take a needed break from the consistently rising temperatures. After some deliberation, we decided to hit the road and head due Northeast for a car camping trip with our two dogs. We reasoned that a dose of mountain air and cooler thermometer readings would really recharge our batteries and enable us to get through the remainder of the long Texas summer.
We are both architecture lovers, so we decided a pilgrimage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s legendary architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater, would be a great way to end our adventure. As consummate foodies, this trip also paved the way to some excellent explorations of the culinary variety as we would make stops in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Our first stop was Lake Ouachita State Park in the Ozark Mountains of central Arkansas. Although Arkansas isn’t known as a culinary mecca, they are well known for their large duck population and farm fresh produce. The area boasts pristine lakes, gorgeous vistas, great camping, and the vintage spa town of Hot Springs, which happens to be one of my favorite stopping points on the drive to Michigan, my family's home state.
Hot Springs is one of the oldest spa towns in the United States and has been a National Park since 1921. The architecture here is uniquely retro-diverse and well worth the visit to explore. Most of the town can be covered in a day or two unless you want to take advantage of the numerous spa packages available or hike the various National Park trails. I recommend The Grand Promenade Trail that runs behind Bath House Row and The Hot Springs Mountain Trail which takes you up to the mountain top’s 360° viewing tower.
The Arlington Hotel is a must see. As an Art Deco classic, a visit to the lobby bar will take you back in time. The beer is icy cold and you can enjoy drinking it in the stylishly muraled lobby or out on the expansive porch. If you decide to stay as a guest at the hotel, don’t miss taking
a swim in the rooftop pool and soaking in the adjacent hot tub. Nestled in the side of the mountain up amongst the tree tops, it is indeed a very rejuvenating experience.
Every time I visit Hot Springs, there is something new to explore as the National Park Service is constantly renovating and improving the vintage spa buildings that comprise Bathhouse Row. This time Quapaw Baths were newly opened to the public. Here, you can either get a signature spa treatment, soak in one of the mineral rich thermal pools in a communal vintage style
bath hall, or take a steam in a natural steam cave. We decided on the communal bath as we had some time constraints. I must admit while I was relaxing and soaking, I felt swept away to more exotic spa locations like Budapest, Hungry or Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic.
You can also take a tour of the Fordyce Bath House. The National Park Service has restored it to it’s former glory and operates it as a free museum. Take the self-guided tour to get a feel of what the spa was like back in its early 1900’s heyday while viewing the building’s vintage furnishings, spa equipment, and old-school gymnasium.
Another thing I love about Hot Springs is the free flowing spring water. There are a couple stations in town where locals and tourists alike can come fill up their containers for free.
Note: Do not forget your refillable water containers!
If you’ve ever heard of Mountain Valley Spring Water, this is its’ source! Since our campsite back at Lake Ouachita was a walk-in site with no hookups or water, this worked out as a great asset.
Sadly, we had a lot of rain during our stay at Lake Ouachita State Park, so we didn’t get to take advantage of all the lake has to offer. Swimming, boating, paddle boarding, and fishing can all be enjoyed in this expansive lake. Instead, most of our time was spent in the screen tent trying to stay dry and playing backgammon (Gotta love the screen tent!). It’s a picturesque lake though, and we were able to take advantage of viewing some beautifully dramatic sunrises and sets.
In the end, I did manage to utilize a couple of those abundant ducks and
prepared them with a simple risotto for
an elegant sunset dinner which we enjoyed with an excellent rose’.
Sidebar: My recommended reading for this trip is Milan Kundera’s, The Joke – a literary classic that takes place in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary.
Here's a little video and recipes from our stay at Lake Ouachita State Park:
Butternut Squash and Leek Risotto
Folks get the wrong idea that risotto is something only professional chefs can make properly requiring a lot of time laboring over a hot stove. In actuality, by following a few key steps you can have risotto on the table in thirty minutes or so. I prefer making stock from scratch at home and freezing it in one and two cup containers. I can then put it in the cooler where it doubles as an ice cube until it thaws. Store bought stock in carton containers works just as well. With this product there’s no need to worry about refrigeration until it’s been opened which makes it easy to transport.
Serves 4 Prep time: 10 min Cook time: 20-25 min
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1 tbsp olive oil
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1 cup butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut in ½ inch squares
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½ cup of small diced celery, about 1 large rib
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1 white part of a leek, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed to remove any dirt, and cut into ¼ in strips
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2 small or 1 large garlic cloves, minced, about 1 tbsp
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1 c Arborio rice
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½ c rose or white wine
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2-3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
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¼ c shredded fontina cheese or prepackaged Italian blend
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¼ c finely grated Parmesan
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juice of half a lemon, about 1 tbsp
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Salt and Pepper to taste
You will need two saucepots to make this dish. Start by heating the stock to almost a simmer in one pot.
Place the second pot over medium low heat, add the olive oil and let heat for a couple seconds. Add the squash and cook for a couple minutes stirring often. Add the celery and leeks and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook a minute or two, then the Arborio rice. Stir and cook until the rice begins to become transparent around the edges, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, stir to combine, and bring up to a simmer.
Ok, now the risotto method begins. Add the stock, two or three large spoonful’s (about ½ cup) at a time, until the rice mixture is just covered with the liquid. Stir a couple times and then let it cook down for three to four minutes. Once the rice absorbs the stock, repeat the step, adding stock just to cover the rice and vegetables, stirring, and letting the rice simmer and absorb the stock. Continue adding stock in this way until the rice is al dente – Italian for cooked with a firm texture. This will probably take 20 minutes and require two to three cups of hot stock in total. Add a final spoonful of stock, the cheeses, and the lemon juice. Add salt and pepper, taste, adjust seasonings, and serve.
FYI, a properly prepared risotto should have a slightly loose consistency and creamy texture, so add more stock if the rice is dry or cook a bit longer if it’s too runny.
Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry Jus
Impress all your fellow “campanions” by preparing this easy main dish at your campsite. A few simple ingredients are all that’s required for this upscale entrée. Duck breasts often come packaged in a Cryovac bag which makes it an excellent item for the cooler. Cryovac packaging insures the product is sealed air-tight making it better preserved for travel as well as being ice immersion friendly. I used a liqueur called Ginja for the sauce which is Portugal’s national drink made from sour cherries. I’m not going to lie, the real deal is delicious, but a hard to find item in the USA. Port makes an excellent substitute or you can use a full bodied red wine or even a rose’.
Serves 4 Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 15 min
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4 duck breasts with skin on
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1 c chicken stock
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¼ c Ginja, Port wine, or full bodied red wine
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2 tbsp minced shallots
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¼ c dried cherries
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2 tbsp butter separated into 1 tbsp portions
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Salt and Pepper to taste
Score the skin of the duck, in other words, # the duck. This lets the fat to escape as it’s cooking allowing the duck cook in it’s own oils which is a really great flavor enhancer. Season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat a cast iron pan or a griddle over medium low heat. Once heated, add the duck breasts skin side down. Do not crowd the pan, they should not be touching. If your griddle or pan is too small to cook them so they aren’t touching, sear them off in batches. Cook without turning until the skin becomes very brown and the flesh begins to whiten around the edges, about 5-7 minutes. If the skin browns too quickly, turn the heat down, the flame is too hot and the duck will cook too fast on the outside leaving the inside rare or raw. Turn the duck over and cook on the flesh side for another 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the breasts in the pan or on the griddle with a plate or bowl. This will allow the juices to distribute evenly throughout the breasts and keep warm while you prepare the sauce.
Make the sauce:
Bring the chicken stock to a boil and reduce it by half. This will probably take 10-15 minutes. Add the Ginja, Port, or wine, shallots and dried cherries. Reduce the jus for another 5 minutes, until it becomes a little syrupy. Turn off the heat, add the butter a tablespoon at a time and swirl it in the pan to incorporate it in the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cut the duck breasts into bite sized medallions on an angle starting from the bottom pointed end. Add the cut pieces decoratively to the top of a serving of the risotto or plated up on it’s own. Drizzle the jus over the duck making sure each plate gets some of the dried cherries.
Saude!!