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Thursday 27 June 2013

Five Spice Duck Salad


(Serves 2)

Ingredients

1 large duck breast
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 pomegranate, halved
3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 sprig fresh coriander, leaves picked
a few sprigs watercress
½ ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
juice of ½ lime
sesame oil, to drizzle
1 little gem lettuce

Method

Season the duck breast and dust with Chinese five spice powder. Put in a medium-hot frying pan and fry very gently for 5 minutes, turning halfway, until lots of fat has come out of the skin and the skin is golden brown. Take out of the pan and slice thinly – the duck will still be raw in the middle but don't worry! Discard the fat from the pan and put the sliced duck back in. Stir fry for a few minutes, until cooked through and crispy. Set aside.

Mix the pomegranate seeds, spring onions, coriander, watercress, mango and crispy duck together. Dress with the lime juice and a drizzle of sesame oil. Season to taste.

Separate the lettuce leaves and arrange on plates. Top with the dressed salad to serve.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Couscous salad with fennel, herbs and walnuts

(Serves 5 – 6)

Ingredients
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
I teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
300g wholemeal giant couscous, also called Israeli couscous, or moghrabieh
1 onion, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1 fennel bulb, chopped, tops reserved
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
a small handful of mint leaves
75g walnuts, lightly toasted (if you can be bothered) and roughly chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
walnut oil (optional)

Put the cumin, coriander and fennel in a dry frying pan and toast for a few minutes, shaking the pan to make sure that they toast evenly. When they are fragrant, tip them into a mortar and grind them into a powder.

Fry the vegetables and garlic in some olive oil a large frying pan for about 5-8 minutes. Fry them on a medium heat stirring often, so that they soften a little bit, but still have some crunch. Remove from the heat and add the spices and lemon zest.

Cook the couscous according to packet instructions in boiling, salted water – about 8-9 minutes. When it is done, drain it and mix it with the vegetable and spice mixture.  Allow it all to cool slightly, and then add the chopped herbs, walnuts and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Before serving add a little bit more oil and lemon juice.