Crispy Duck Salad « gen.u.ine.ness

Crispy Duck Salad

Hi,

Wow… today has been another long day playing badminton again (another 5 hours!!!). I am still clueless as who I should pick to play for my team. I sometimes feel that I am the worst player on the team Oh well, we have a game against Royal Holloway on Wednesday… only problem is Royal Holloway MENS!!! Royal Holloway is quite infamous because they have a female:male student ratio of about 80:20 and a lot of the women are quite fit to boot. Maybe they will bring one or two cheerleaders along.

Anyways today I want to put a small twist on the way I blog my recipes. People are quite often surprised that I can create dishes out of nothing. Today I will give you an insight into the whole thought process I put in when I create a new dish. From the offset, I wanted to make a dish which I could complete in 15 minutes (well just in case it doesn’t turn out right I can put the emergency frozen lasagne’s in the oven). Since I was making a 3 course meal, with a heavy dessert, I wanted the main course to be relatively light, otherwise my guest would be full before I even made dessert.

With that in mind, I decided to serve an easy duck salad. Cooking the duck would be easy as duck itself is very flavoursome and does not need much help. For the sauce, I had to look at what I would be serving with the salad as I wanted everything on the plate to tie up nicely. Since the salad would be the main attraction of the dish, it had to be colourful and attractive. Beetroot is lovely red and eats well, not to mention, it pairs well with citrus fruits like oranges, mandarins etc. The salad also had to have some texture in it which you can achieve with croutons, fried bacon bits or like in this case nuts. With all that done, the salad leaves were the last – anything that was not too powerful (like rocket) or bland (like spinach). Watercress and curly kale work well though since they have good texture as well as a nice grassy taste. You can use whatever leaves take your fancy to be honest. Since the beetroot already is so flavoursome, it is hence important not to overpower the lovely flavours by making a dressing that is too heavy, like Marie-rose (thousand island) or french dressing. Instead I used a modified balsamic vinnegarette which would be light enough. The avocados were a last minute addition to add a bit of richness to the salad without being unhealthy. Finally, going back to the duck, the logical thing would be to go for a honey mustard dressing which should tie in well with the salad.

Ingredients: (serves 2-4)

For the Duck:
2 Large Duck Breast
Maldon Salt
Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Clear Honey, additional honey for brushing
2 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard

For the Salad:
Handful of Baby Curly Kale
Handful of Baby Watercress
3 Beetroots (roasted or boiled)
3 Clementines, pith removed and sliced
1/2 Avocado, diced
Handful of Walnuts, Toasted
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil

Preperation time: 2 minutes – overnight
Cooking time: 15 minutes

The trick to getting a good roast duck is to salt it overnight. This will help the seasoning to penetrate the flesh, which enchances the flavour. Leave the duck to air as it will help dry the skin out even more, hence giving you a crispier finish. You can choose to score the skin before salting the duck. If so, I would suggest sticking it in the freezer for 1 hour so that the skin becomes really tight and easy to score. Score it in a crosshatch fashion. The whole salting and scoring process is entirely optional. I have prepared duck out of the packet on the same day I bought it.

To cook the duck, heat some olive oil in a pan and place the duck skin side down. Be careful of oil splatters (although this should not be a problem if you had salted the duck overnight). Cook for 5 minutes without moving the duck. Season the duck with a bit of salt and pepper before turning the duck over to seal the juices. This should take a minute.

Transfer the duck into a baking tray and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 220ºC for 5-10 minutes depending on how well done you like your duck. (5 minutes gives you a medium rare finish while a full 10 minutes should give you a medium-well done piece of meat)

While the duck is cooking, prepare the salad and the sauces. For the salad, this simply involves combining all the ingredients and giving it a good toss. The sauce is equally as simple, you just need to mix the honey and wholegrain mustard together. The same applies with the salad dressing – mix the sesame oil and balsamic vinegar together.

By this time, the duck should be done. Remove from the oven and brush with a bit of honey. If you have a blowtorch, it is now time to impress your friends with it. You want to caramelise the skin to make it extra crispy. If you are not as fortunate to own your personal weapon of mass destruction, simply stick it in the grill set on max for about 5 minutes or until the skin turns a nice golden brown. Rest the duck for 2-3 minutes before carving.

To serve, spoon some of the honey-mustard on a plate. Slice the duck into pieces as shown in the picture. Give each person 4 pieces which is roughly 1/2 a duck breast (use one full duck breast if this is Ken, the guitar player) and set it on top of the sauce. Serve with the salad and a drizzle of the balsamic vinegarette.