Food Riot

Pan fried duck breast with with honey and cranberry sauce on a bed of stir fried vegetables with weapons grade roast potatoes

People who know me well, know that I simply cannot sit inside all weekend watching TV. Sometimes, that’s all I want to do, but my attention span is miniscule and I get bored and fidgety. I usually end up being told by my lovely Anna to sit still and be good or even better, bugger off and leave her in peace. So I do. No Eastenders omnibus for me!

Today, being a Saturday, I used the trundling-across-town-to-disrupt-the-peace-and-quiet-of-my-mate-Ian-who-was-trying-to-do-some-programming method of buggering off. It was remarkably successful. First of all, his good lady being away, Ian had neglected to feed himself (he pines terribly, Heather – his coat has lost its shine and everything) so in his usual, dead simple, elegant style he threw together a delicious looking pasta and bacon dish (15 minutes to do, most of it waiting for the pasta to cook). Then, with Ian refueled and me wishing I’d taken him up on his offer to have some, we set off to his local butcher. Yes, the same one as mentioned here.

I had no idea what I wanted to get for dinner. Having no idea is a favourite state of mind for me. It means I get to have a surprise. I had vague plans about maybe doing an Osso Buco if the butcher had veal shin, but I was concerned that I’d have to get home too quickly in order for the shins to have enough time to slow cook. By the time we’d actually looked in the window of the butcher, I’d gone off that idea altogether and was in rather a quandry. Spoilt for choice and drooling like a labrador. Again.

The butcher was busy and when it came to my turn to be served, I’d still not made up my mind so I just blurted out “duck breasts!” Just a few short seconds later, I was the proud owner of some bazooms hewn from the most generously endowed of ducks. I was also lighter by fifteen of Her Majesty’s shiniest pounds Sterling. Ouch!

In keeping with tradition, we decided to take our purchases (Ian had bought two very nice sirloins) to the pub for a drink. Cider for me, Samuel Smith’s Pure Brew for Ian. I won 3 pints – 2.

So, cutting a long story short, I picked up some sugarsnap peas, baby corn, some Buna Shimeji Mushrooms (also known as Brown Beech Mushrooms), some spring onions and some cranberries at Waitrose and then tubed home, arriving surprisingly early, if not pristinely sober.

Here’s what I planned to cook:

Pan fried duck
on a bed of stir-fried vegetables
with weapons-grade potatoes
and a cranberry and honey sauce.

Ingredients

For the duck

• Duck breasts, skin on – get the best you can afford
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

Method

Sizzling duck breasts in my griddle pan, just prior to being put in the oven for 12 minutes

• Season the duck breast on both sides with salt and pepper. Rub it in
• Paint on some olive oil
• In a bloody hot oven-proof pan (a cast iron griddle pan is perfect) pour a little olive oil
• When the oil is smoking add the duck breasts skin down. I repeat, skin down.
• Brown the one side – about 90-120 seconds should do it
• Brown the other side for about 120 seconds
• Place in a the oven at 200ºC for 12 minutes
• Once done, put on a warm plate and cover with foil – the duck needs to rest for 10 minutes so this is when you can get the wok ready for your stir fry

For the sauce

We’re aiming for sweet-savoury here. Be sparing with the sweet ingredients. Add a little at a time and keep tasting until your tongue does a little tango of delight.

• Cranberries – 30 – 50 fresh ones
• Soy Sauce – I used a light version – you could use a heavy version, but use less
• Honey
• A teaspoon of minced ginger
• Cider vinegar – just a splash
• Lemon juice – just a little
• Muscovado sugar – about a heaped spoonful (use any other sugar if you don’t have muscovado)
• A small lump of butter
• A stock cube – or if you’re irredeemably posh and clever, some chicken or vegetable stock
• The juices from the duck pan
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

• In a non stick pan on medium fire, do the following
• Melt the butter
• Add the sugar
• Add a teaspoon of flour
• Stir to make a sort of paste
• Add a tiny bit of water or liquid stock, you stylish person
• Add the honey – just a teaspoon or so
• Add the ginger
• Stir, please sir
• Add the cider vinegar – just a plash – use a light touch
• Add the soy sauce
• Add the cranberries
• When the cranberries skin split, squash them with a spoon
• Add some water. Taste. You want sweet-savoury
• Sprinkle with stock cube or add some liquid stock, you posh thing
• Simmer and reduce
• Add the juices from the plate the duck breasts were resting on
• Stir. The sauce should be silky, not sticky. If it is too thick, add a little water. If its too thin, become a friend of the wonderful McDougalls thickening granules – but add just a few at a time
• Spoon over the finished duck breast

For the stir fry

(This is a rough guide here, as there are so many options when making a stir fry. Just remember, crunch is key. These are the ingredients I used. For more info on stir frying, check here)

Nice, fresh, crunchy stir fried vegetables make sure the duck breast is in good company

• Sugar Snap Peas – mange tout will do
• Baby sweetcorn
• Buna Shimeji Mushrooms – these were breathtakingly good!
• A chopped red pepper
• Carrots – chopped into batons
• Some chopped garlic
• Ginger minced or chopped – not too much, you don’t want to overpower the duck and the cranberry sauce

If you are after a more oriental alternative, you may want to give this a go.

Serving

• Place the stir-fried veg on a warm plate
• Place the potatoes next to the veg
• Place the duck breast on top of the veg (you can slice it if you like)
• Spoon sauce over the top, making sure a few bits of squashed cranberry are there to make it look sexy

I have to say, this was a very easy meal to cook and it was utterly sublime! The duck was done perfectly – a light pink blush to the meat with crisp skin… A triumph!