Puntarelle salad with duck breast, baby artichokes, red onions and lemon

My body is screaming for salad. Greens, vegetables, fruit, it wants them all. After the gluttony of Christmas, all piled high with cheese and butter and meat, something had to give. And today I turned that corner. After waking early to trudge into town to perform that compulsory festive hangover of returns desks and form writing, I decided that a soothing lunch was in order. I hate all of the sheer rubbish written about January diets, detox and ‘cleasing’. I think that it promotes an ultimately unhealthy, unbalanced and most importantly unhappy approach to food. For me eating is all about a balance that should apply to any time of the year, and certainly nothing that is liable to turn my breakfast, lunch or dinner into a passive-aggressive guiltfest. I was happy to eat that mountain of food over Christmas, but greens were definitely on my mind today. 

 
I made a short detour to the wonderful greengrocers up at Newington Green. It’s sad that I hardly shop there having moved further east, but it’s always an absolute dream whenever I get the chance. On this occasion it truly didn’t disappoint. Today the shelves were heaving with great tangles of Italian puntarelle, beautiful, tightly-closed baby artichokes and unwaxed lemons. I didn’t have a particular recipe in my head, but I knew that I wouldn’t go far wrong somewhere along those lines.
 
Those ingredients alone would have made a fresh and vibrant salad, but I guess that I’m not quite ready to give up on Christmas just yet. To compromise, I roasted up a plump and fatty duck breast, until the skin was brulee-crisp and the flesh blushing pink. Thin slices formed the base, freshened up with a pile of sharply-dressed onions, artichoke and puntarelle and bound together with a punchy, anchovy-heavy green sauce. It’s simple cookery, but highly satisfying and damn tasty.
 
I’m determined to be more vegetable-focussed in the coming months, and although I have a steak recipe coming up on the blog shortly, I am hoping that it is a last-hurrah for a little while. Not to say that I won’t be eating and using meat and fish in my cookery, but they certainly will be on level terms with everything else on the plate.
 
Serves 2
 
Ingredients:
 
1 large duck breast 
1 red onion, cut into thin wedges 
1 glass of dry white wine 
1 lemon
 
For the artichokes:
 
2 baby artichokes 
1 small red onion 
1 lemon
 
For the puntarelle:
 
A small bunch of puntarelle, trimmed, washed and dried 
A squeeze of lemon juice
 
For the green sauce:
 
1 bunch of parsley 
1/3 of a bunch of mint 
5 salted anchovies 
1 tsp capers 
4 thick slices of ciabatta, crusts removed 
1 lemon, zest and juice 
1 clove of smoked garlic, grated 
Extra virgin olive oil


Preheat the oven to 200⁰C fan.
 
Remove the duck from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
 
Prepare the baby artichokes. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a bowl and combine with 1 tbsp of olive oil and a little seasoning. Peel the tough outer leaves from the artichokes, then trim about 2/3rds of an inch away from the top. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the stems. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the hearts and stems, transferring them straight into the lemony oil. Trim the red onion and thinly slice, then toss with the artichokes. Leave to lightly pickle for about an hour, tossing every now and then so that everything remains coated in the dressing.
 
To make the green sauce, put all ingredients apart from the oil into a food processor and season well. Blend to finely combine, then with the motor still running, trickle in the olive oil. Pour in enough to bring the ingredients together into a thick sauce that just about holds shape. Taste and season if necessary. 

 
Season the duck breast all over, then place skin-side-down into a cold pan. Bring to a medium-high temperature, gently rendering down the fat until it is crispy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Seal the other side quickly for a few seconds, then transfer to an oven tray and roast for 6-8 minutes. Remove the cooked duck from the oven and rest for about 10 minutes, then slice thinly.
 
While the duck is roasting, add the onion wedges to the now empty pan. Pour in the wine and lemon juice, adding the squeezed lemons also. Turn the heat down to medium; the juices should have deglazed the pan and reduced down. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened. Allow the pan to cool slightly, then remove the onions and stir 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan juices.
 
Dress the puntarelle with the slightly-cooled pan dressing and a little seasoning.
 
To plate up, arrange sliced of the duck onto each plate and add a dollop of the green sauce. Arrange the onions and artichokes on top along with some puntarelle stems. Finally finish with a spoonful of the pan dressing.

Pan-fried duck breast with Pommes Anna, broccoli, braised radicchio and a pink peppercorn sauce

It feels so good to be blogging again after a couple of weeks! Sorry about the lack of recent posts, it’s been one of those months when I’ve been rushing around and just haven’t managed to make time for writing anything. Luckily I’ve still cooked a few things, and have also been to the excellent Patty and Bun for dinner, so I have a backlog of things to post about that will hopefully be completed over the next week or so. If I don’t get distracted by yet another bbq in the park again...

I’ve also been a bit undecided in my cooking, and a bit uninspired with what to cook. The worst thing about blogging is trying to think of new recipes to cook, getting enthusiastic about an idea, going out and spending lots of money on good ingredients and then when you cook it things just don’t click, or you find out the hard way that your idea wasn’t quite good enough. Luckily this doesn’t happen too often, and I’m generally happyish with the finished result. But a couple of weeks ago I had a disaster with a langoustine and john dory recipe. Everything seemed like it would be amazing in my head, but although the finished dish was tasty it just wasn’t a complete dish, and still needed a lot of work before it   could grace these pages. To make things worse, the photos of the finished ‘dish’ were pretty awful too, so a failure all round. Still, I will learn from it, but hopefully next time my mistakes won’t be so damn expensive! 

Thankfully everything came together fine on this occasion, and I actually have a finished recipe to share. This one is very safe, using tried and tested combinations that just taste good together. Duck with something sweet tasting, an irony vegetable and some garlicky potatoes is always a winner. The only things to be concerned about when cooking this are the timings. You want the duck to be a little bit pink (which in this instance mine was, just), the potatoes to the soft in the middle and the radicchio and broccoli to just have some bite. Most things can be prepared hours in advance too, so this is ideal if hosting for a number of people. 

A quick word on the Pommes Anna. To be honest I didn’t really know what these were up until a couple of months ago when I saw them on a Michel Roux Jr programme. They’re a bit like a gratin or other vegetable stack, but pretty and individual. The layers of duck fat, leek, garlic and thyme give the cooked potatoes a beautiful richness that goes perfectly with the rest of the dish. 

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

1 free range duck crown, trimmings reserved for the sauce

Salt and pepper

20g butter

For the Pommes Anna:

2 large floury potatoes such as maris piper

1 leek, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

10 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

30g butter

6 tbsp duck fat

Salt and pepper

For the braised radicchio:

1 medium radicchio, heart removed and leaves sliced finely

5 slices smoked pancetta, finely chopped

8 dates, stones removed and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

5 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

1 tbsp caster sugar

50g butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

Trimmings and bones from the duck, as many as you can get. Excess fat removed.

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 leek, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

5 sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

1 large glass white wine

500ml chicken stock

20g butter

1 tsp pink peppercorns

Salt and pepper

For the broccoli:

4 pieces of tender-stem broccoli, trimmed

20g butter

Salt and pepper

To finish:

Baby red sorrel leaves

Turn the oven to 190ºC Fan.

First make the Pommes Anna. Heat up a medium frying pan to a moderate temperature. Melt the butter, then add the chopped leeks, garlic and thyme. Season and cook gently for about 10 minutes, or until very tender. Take off the heat. Wash and peel the potatoes, then slice them vertically very thinly, so that they are almost translucent. Using a small round cutter, cut identical circles in these slices, discarding the edges or saving for bubble and squeak. Put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto a baking tray. Put one cylinder of potato on first, then spread a little duck fat on top. Spoon a little of the leek mixture on top of this and season well. Repeat this process until the stack is about 10 potato pieces high, then top with more duck fat, seasoning and a sprinkle of thyme. Repeat so that you have two stacks of potato. Spoon the rest of the duck fat around the potatoes on the baking sheet. Put in the oven for about 40 minutes, turning to temperature down to 160ºC half way through the cooking.

While the potatoes are in the oven make the sauce. Heat a large skillet to a high heat and add the olive oil. When hot, season the duck trimmings and bones and sear on all sides until very well browned. Add the leek, shallot, garlic and thyme and caramelise well. Pour in the white wine and allow to reduce by half, then add the bay leaf, stock and a little more seasoning and mix well. Reduce the liquid again until only about 175ml remains, about 25 minutes, then strain into a small saucepan. Set aside for finishing later. 

As the sauce is reducing, make the braised radicchio. Heat a large frying pan to a medium heat and add half of the butter and a splash of oil. When hot add the chopped pancetta and cook for 7-8 minutes until starting to crisp. Add the shallot, garlic, thyme and seasoning and cook for another 3-4 minutes until tender. Now add the dates and sugar and stir the mixture well. Cook for another couple of minutes then remove from the heat for finishing later. 

Cook the duck when the potatoes have about ten minutes left to cook (although the Pommes Anna can be left in a warm oven for a few minutes until ready). Dry the duck breasts well with kitchen paper then season all over. Place skin side down in a dry, cold, non-stick pan and set the heat to medium-high. Cook for 4-5 minutes on the skin side, until the fat is well rendered and crisp. At this point put the butter in the pan and turn the duck over. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, touching with your finger occasionally to judge the cooking like you would a steak. Baste the top of the duck with the fat as you go. When cooked, remove to a board to rest for 5-6 minutes. 

While the duck is resting finish the other elements off at the same time. 

Drain most of the fat from the duck pan, but don’t clean, then put straight back onto a medium heat with the butter and a splash of water for the broccoli. When melted add the trimmed broccoli and seasoning and cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing occasionally. 

To finish off the radicchio, heat up the bacon and date mixture with the other half of the butter. When hot add the sliced radicchio and stir to combine well. Taste and adjust the seasonings so that the right balance of sweet and salty is achieved. 

Reheat the sauce gently and add the pink peppercorns and the butter. Stir well to combine and be careful not to boil, you just want it to come to heat.

Carve your duck into 3 diagonal slices and you are ready to plate up. 

First position the potato stack to the plate, then add three tablespoons of the radicchio mixture. Place one slice of duck on each mound. Top with the broccoli and spoon over the sauce. Finally scatter over some of the baby sorrel leaves. 

Thai curry with roasted duck, baby aubergines and bamboo shoots

Good old leftovers

As anyone who has read this blog previously will know, I try and make food go as far as possible and really make the most of leftovers. I hate wasting food, and there is nothing worse than letting good quality, expensive ingredients go off in the bottom of the fridge. To avoid this, I try and shop every day for exactly what I need that evening, and also having handy recipes that can make the most of anything that I have going spare. I think that the word leftover doesn’t help things either, making ingredients sound unappealing and past their best when they often aren’t.

Curries are a really great way of making leftovers into meals of their own. This meal came about because I bought a whole duck for a confit leg dish, and had the breasts left over. Duck breasts are very expensive in their own right, so there was no way that I was going to leave these to waste, and I really wanted to make something nice. I already had a lot of the dry ingredients required for this recipe in my cupboards, so it really wasn’t much effort to put together quickly. Although this recipe uses baby aubergines, french beans and bamboo shoots, you can easily swap these for what you’ve got lying around. 

I love Thailand and Thai cooking. But I find it so difficult to replicate the amazing dishes that you eat when there on holiday. It is only recently and after many attempts that I have finally managed to come up with something anywhere near that quality. Many of the european recipes for Thai curries lack the real intense flavour combinations - the right amount of sweetness, saltiness, spiciness and creaminess. I think that the main problem is sourcing the ingredients; things like galangal, thai basil and fresh lime leaves are still quite tricky to get hold of. The dried alternatives really aren’t suitable substitutes, and don’t have anywhere near the flavour. Luckily there are a couple of good greengrocers near me in Stoke Newington that occasionally have galangal and lime leaves, and you can now buy Thai basil in Waitrose. Try as much as possible to source these tricky ingredients as they make all the difference to the finished dish. 

Don’t be afraid of the chillies too! You can counter this heat with the coconut milk later.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the paste (makes enough for two batches):

1/2 a large shallot

4 lemongrass stalks, tough outer leaves discarded

1 lime, juice only

2 large pieces of galangal 

10 fresh lime leaves

10-12 bird eye chillis, seeds left in

Small handful fresh coriander root (save the leaves to finish)

5 garlic cloves

2 cardamom pods

1 tbsp coriander seeds, finely crushed

1 tbsp shrimp paste

50ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the curry:

2 duck breasts

Large handful french beans, trimmed and halved

6 baby aubergines, quartered at the last minute

225g bamboo shoots

1/2 a large shallot

250ml coconut cream

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp light brown sugar

400ml coconut milk

6 fresh lime leaves, stalk removed and quartered

large handful Thai basil leaves

To finish:

Sprinkle of Thai basil leaves and coriander leaves

1 red chilli, finely sliced

To serve:

1 cup of rice, cooked as instructed on the packet

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC and take the duck breasts out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Put a baking tray lined with baking paper in the oven.

First make the paste by putting all of the paste ingredients into a food processor and blitz everything together until they form a smooth paste. You want it to be as fine as possible so keep scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets chopped. You only need half of the paste for this recipe, the other half will keep in the fridge for a week or so. Set aside to infuse together while you prepare the other ingredients. 

Now cook the duck. Using kitchen roll, dry the skin of the duck and season each side. Put the breasts skin side down on a cold, non stick frying pan and bring it up to a medium-high heat, keeping the skin side down at all times. Fry the duck for 4-5 minutes or until the skin is crispy and a lovely golden brown colour. As soon as the skin is cooked, turn the duck over and seal the flesh side quickly before placing them on the heated oven tray skin side down. Roast the duck for 5-6 minutes before removing and putting aside to rest for about ten minutes. Once rested, slice thinly - it should still be pink and succulent.

Start cooking the rice as instructed on the packet. Once cooked, keep covered and warm while you cook the curry.

Heat a large frying pan or skillet onto a medium heat. Add the coconut cream and bring to the boil.  Spoon in the curry paste mixture, fish sauce and sugar and bring back to a simmer for a couple of minutes before adding the aubergine, shallots, bamboo shoots, beans, lime leaves and most of the coconut milk. Bring back to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add more coconut milk or paste to get the heat/creaminess right to your taste. After 5 minutes, add the roasted duck slices and cook for another 2 minutes to heat through. To finish, sprinkle in the Thai basil leaves, stir together and turn the heat off. 

To serve, ladle a good mixture of curry and sauce into each bowl and top with sprinkled Thai basil leaves, coriander and sliced red chilli.