Cook Your Life

Crispy Roast Duck Legs with Caponata

Like most mortals, the end of the month always proves a fiscal struggle, eking out imaginative dishes from the cobwebby cupboards and frosty freezers is a challenge for any home cook. This weekend, I got lucky and turned up a couple of free range duck legs!

Duck is such a sweet meat, and it's always worth the effort to pay slightly more and buy the whole bird, rather than the quick 'breast-only' option, as removing them yourself not only gives you much more meat, but means you can squirrel away the legs in the freezer, and make some meaty both with the carcass. 

Using as many vegetables possible, this simple-but-not-strictly-caponata recipe packs a serious flavour punch. Rich red tomatoes melt into sweet crunchy peppers, and the addition of fennel leaves a spicy aniseed tang. The agro-dolce nature of caponata is achieved with a splash of Agnostura Bitters.

Crispy oregano roasted duck and sweet caponata. Now that's a great month end meal.

Crispy Roast Duck Legs with Caponata

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 55m
Beverage Suggestion -  Barbera

Ingredients

2x Duck Legs, seasoned
1 tsp Oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 Aubergine, roughly chopped
1/2 Courgette, roughly chopped
1x Red Pepper, roughly chopped
1x Celery Stick, roughly chopped
410g or 2 Cups Marzano Tomatoes (tinned), chopped
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
10g or 1/3 Cup Basil, torn
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Cracked Black Pepper & Sea Salt to taste
2x Garlic Cloves
1x Fennel Bulb, outer leaves and core removed, roughtly chopped
1x Red Onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp Caster Sugar
1 tsp Agnostura Bitters
1 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Capers

Directions

1. Cover the duck with the oil and oregano
2. Rub over the Oregano, Salt & Pepper
3. Roast in a pre-heated oven, Gas Mark 5/375f/190c, turning half-way, until crispy for 40m
4. Leave to rest for 10m prior to serving
5. Meanwhile fry the vegetables for 5m
6. Add the tomatoes, puree, sugar and bitters
7. Add the vinegar and simmer for 30m
8. Add the basil and season to taste
9. Serve with the duck resting on top   

Pigeon, Roast Beet & Goats Cheese Salad

Digging through my freezer yesterday, I was lucky enough to discover a tightly wrapped portion of pigeon breasts.  Shot by my husband the three deep red little morsels just begged to be seared with some butter and balsamic vinegar left pink in some sort of delicate salad.

I decided to to roast some fresh beetroot over some lemon pepper and sea salt, and serve with an ashed goats cheese, ripe and summery.

Pungent white cheese, earthy sweet beets snuggling next to the moist pink pigeon made the ultimate menage

Pigeon, Roast Beet & Goats Cheese Salad

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 10m
Beverage Suggestion -  Pinot Noir

Ingredients

2x Beetroots, sliced in half
3x Pigeon Breasts
2 tbsp Purple Radish Sprouts (Optional)
2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Cassis Vinegarette
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive OIl
Cracked Black Pepper & Sea Salt to season & Serve
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
75g or 1/3 Cup Goats Cheese, sliced
1 tbsp Lemon Pepper
3 sprigs of Lemon Thyme
2 tbsp Toasted Walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Roast the Beetroot on a bed of lemon pepper & salt, with a sprig of thyme at Gas Mark 5/375f/190c for around 30m until tender
2. Remove covering of salt, pepper, and herb and peel, then cut in half
3.  Season the pigeon and sear in a hot pan in half of the butter & the remaining thyme for 2m each side
4. Splash in 1 tbsp of the balsamic, and sizzle
5. Remove the breasts to rest
6. Add the beets to the pan, splash in the remaining balsamic and warm through
7. Slice the pigeon, arrange on the plate with the beets and cheese
8. Drizzle the cassis  vinaigrette and some olive oil on each plate
9. Scatter the walnuts and sprouts on top to serve

Phở

It's right about this time of year that the inevitable lethargy sets in. I start to 'lose my stoke' so to speak.

I start getting sad that we see more cloud than sun, worrying about the state of my ever-red bank account and long for some foreign money in my pocket and sand beneath my toes.

To try and counteract this maudlin' frame of mind I've thrown myself into some hardcore workouts, post-muscle-sweat pampering, and most importantly good old fashioned healthy, comforting and smile inducing grub!

Today's recipe will chase away all sorts of malady, from break up blues, jaundiced job-hunting, over-indulged & inebriated insides to sniffly snouts and abusers of alliteration.

Phở is a Vietnamese dish, thought to have originated over one hundred years ago. It can be made with anything you like really; raw beef, shrimps, chicken, meatballs and chicken livers. It is usually served with noodles too, which can vary in thickness, and always delivered with a host of different bits and pieces that the diner can add at the table.

I always serve this cleansing hot and sour broth on New Years Day as part of an Asian feast to welcome the new year and chase away all the leftover booze lurking in my worn out liver.

Feel free to add or remove any meat, noodles or seafood you might like, and be prepared to sweat a little..Summer Sadness Begone!

Phở

Serves 4

Preparation Time - 15m
Cooking Time - 20m
Beverage Suggestion -  Tsing Tsao Beer

Ingredients

2x Garlic Clove, finely chopped
1/2 Leek, finely chopped
1x Spring Onion, chopped
1x Bell Pepper, finely chopped
1 inch square piece of Ginger, finely chopped
1/2 Red Chilli, finely chopped
200g or 2 Cups Shiitake Mushrooms, finely chopped
300g or 2 Cups Chicken/Beef (pre-cooked)
1 tsp Pink Peppercorns
2x Star Anise
1/2 stick Cinnamon
1 ltr or 4 Cups Chicken/Beef Stock
1 tbsp Nam Pla
1 tbsp Grape-seed Oil
4x Noodle Portions (Style of your choosing)

Accompaniments
10g or 1/3 Cup Coriander, chopped
10g or 1/3 Cup Thai Basil, chopped
10g or 1/3 Cup Mint, chopped
1x Red Chilli, chopped
2x Spring Onions, chopped
60g or 2/3 Cup Beansprouts
2x Limes, quartered

Directions

1. Fry the vegetables in the oil for 5m
2. Add the protein, stock and spices
3. Bring to the boil, and simmer for around 20 minutes (dropping the noodles in based on their suggested cooking time)
4. Stir through the Nam Pla to taste
5. Serve with finger bowls of the accompaniments
6. Serve with finger bowls of accompaniments