Duck Leg in Sweet Cranberry Jus

£2 for two duck legs, what a bargain. I could never resist a bargain, especially with the economy going down the way it is. But it was only when I got home that I realised I did not know how to cook it. I have never cooked duck in my life. Of course I love duck, especially with it roasted, or braised with chestnuts the dish my Mum is reknowned for. But she has never revealed this secret recipe of hers; I think I will need to visit more often and just camp in her kitchen for a few weeks to steal that recipe somehow. Or I could buy her a whole duck and in a very cute sweet voice, ask her to show me her secret spices for the dish.

Anyhow I started looking online for some inspiration. I had noticed a lot of the baked/roasted duck leg/breast dishes were accompanied by fruity glazes/sauces. So the only fruit juice I had in my fridge was cranberry juice. This reminded me of Delia Smith's compilation of roasted whole duck with cranberry sauce, which caused such a stir, the supermarkets sold out of cranberries. I had to somehow recreate a similarly yummy dish using only juice.

The result was actually very tasty. The sauce came out very runny, which is why I am calling it jus to sound more sophisticated. Although I think next time I will thicken the sauce before serving.

As it was a weeknight, I decided to bake the dish in one tray to save on washing up and to prevent the strong smell of duck fat wafting through my house. Fortunately the dish was not too fatty and was a perfect mid week dish for the two of us.

Duck Leg in Sweet Cranberry Jus (Serves 2)

• 2 duck legs (washed and drained dry)
• 1 cup of cranberry juice
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/2 chilli (minced)
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• splash of vinegar/worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Place the duck legs into a roasting tray and pour in half a cup of water.

Wrap the baking tray with foil, to allow the duck to steam in the oven for 1 hour.

Whilst the duck is cooking. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and beat with a fork.

After an hour of cooking the duck. Remove the foil and pour away half of the fat and juice from the duck. Spread the cranberry jus over the duck legs, and pour the rest into the tray. Return to oven uncovered for another 15 minutes.

The dish is ready. Quick and easy meal. I served it with a mixed salad and baked potato to keep the dish fresh.

If wanted the leftover jus in the roasting tray can be poured into a saucepan over medium/high heat on the hob. Allow to boil until it starts to thicken slightly.

 

Chow Chow and Sweetcorn Soup

This Winter seems to be lasting so long. Even at the end of February we are having snow flakes outside. At least it isn't laying, I cannot do with another week of total traffic chaos.

I have fallen off the wagon since the new year; B and I have put on several pounds from eating out, take aways and junk food at home. The cold weather seems to make us eat constantly, in particular fatty, oily, unhealthy foods.

However we need to turn over a new leaf as of today. Cook more nutritious and healthy foods at home and avoid convenient junk trash. No more greasy Chinese takeaways or readymade (horse meat laden) meals.

To start my healthy regime, I have decided to make a nutritious Chinese soup/tonic.

The Chinese put a lot of healthy ingredients into these soups to aid our health. Chinese soup is not really a substitute to a meal as they are usually very watery and thin with chunky ingredients, unlike western soups which are thick and very filling. I usually bulk out the meals with a bowl of rice or noodles as well. A dipping sauce of cut chillies in soy sauce always adds an extra depth with the bite size pieces of vegetables and meat.

When grocery shopping I found chow chows. This was great, in the past I could only find them in specialist shops. Chow chows are sweet in flavour when cooked, so a sweet and savoury soup would complement it well. I decided to use other sweet tasting ingredients to keep the soup clean tasting. Carrots, sweetcorn, figs, almonds and using pork in the soup would complement the flavours well.  The other ingredients will also bulk out the soup more to make a more filling meal.

Chow Chow and Sweetcorn Soup

• 2 whole chow chows 
• 3 large carrots
• 2 whole corn on cob
• 2 dried figs
• palm full of raw almond slices
• a pack of ribs

Half fill a stock pot with water and boil on the stove. After washing the ribs, put them into the stock pot of boiling water. Blanch for about 6-8 minutes. Drain the ribs and run under a cold tap. Drain again in a colander and set aside.

Wash the stock pot and half fill the stock pot with water again to boil.

Whilst the water is boiling. Prepare the vegetables.

Wash the vegetables and chow chow. Cut the chow chow in half and remove the stone from the middle. Slice the chow chow into smaller bite size pieces. 

Peel the carrots and cut into bite size pieces. Cut the corn on cob half or thirds. Rip the dried figs in half. Set vegetables aside.

When the water has boiled, put in the almond slices, ripped figs and carrots. Allow to boil for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes add in the cooled blanched ribs, allow to boil and turn down heat to medium-low to let the soup simmer for another 20 minutes. Add more water if needed.

After 20 minutes add in the sweetcorn and chow chow. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes. Turn up the heat to boiling and taste to season with salt. 

Once done, ladle into tall soup bowls, making sure a piece of every ingredient is included.  

 

Sun Dried Tomato and Herb Bread

Having woken up at 3am for the last couple of nights for no obvious reason (probably the stress of wedding planning?!) What is the first thing I think of in those dark twilight hours ? Food of course.

More specifically bread!

I have been abstaining from bread for the last month, trying to cut down on carbs. So my craving for a carb loaded slice of bread was very understandable. But not any type of bread - I was craving for a warm sweet flavoursome slice of crusty tomato bread spread with a thin layer of butter!!

Food heaven can be just so simple.

So at 3.30am still wide awake I was sat in the study determined to scout out the perfect bread recipe online. It took me a couple of hours before tiredness overcame me but I did find a very simple yet successful recipe online (via being sidetracked to other sites about best sandwich toppings, etc).

So after getting another couple of hours kip, I was on a mission to make this bread. I had most of the ingredients at home, so I just needed to buy the heart of the recipe: the sun dried tomatoes and fresh herbs. Unfortunately the only fresh herb I could find at the local supermarket was rosemary, but I figured it would still provide a fragrant base to the bread. However next time I will also try basil, oregano, etc.

My first attempt of bread making nearly reduced me to tears. During the first proofing, I managed to drop the entire glass bowl including the dough onto the floor, smashing glass all over my dining room. I tried to salvage the dough but shattered glass in bread was not a good combination. So after screaming, crying and over reacting as always my B helped me clean up the floor and throw away my first ever home made bread dough, I started all over again with my second attempt.

Lesson learnt: do not try to poke the dough to check if it was finished proofing and lift the bowl off the counter at the same time. Result: smashed glass and ruined bread!

Fortunately my second attempt made in my unbreakable metal mixing bowl came out beautifully. The smell of bread baking filled my house, making both our stomaches rumble. My B was all ready with the butter and knife even before I took the finished bread out of the oven.

Tapping the bottom of the bread to check for the hollow sound - all approved. We had to wait for the bread to cool down significantly before carving through it. Well, we didn't wait that long, after 10 minutes we weakened and devoured half the loaf. Tomorrow we will finish the rest. I wonder how it will taste sandwiched with grilled chorizo - hmm.........

Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Herb Bread

• 4 cups of strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp instant dried yeast
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (or other herbs of choice)
• 7 pieces of chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1-2 cups of luke-warm water

Sieve the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the dried yeast and mix together to incorporate.

Add the rosemary and sun dried tomatoes and mix to incorporate. 

Next add the salt, oil from the jar and honey.

Pour in 1 cup of luke-warm water and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until incorporated. You may need to add in more water (start with 1/4 cup with each addition) until you get a slightly sticky consistency. 

After that, start kneading with your hands on a floured surface (or if like me you have limited counter space, try kneading in the bowl with some scattered flour). Knead for approx 8-10 minutes until the dough is less sticky and more elastic and smooth. 

Cover the dough ball in a large greased bowl (I greased it with more of the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes) with cling film or damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place, i.e. next to a radiator. Wait for it to rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. (Be careful not to drop the bowl at this point like I did).

After the first rise, check if it is ready by poking the dough. If your finger print is still retained and not bounced back immediately, it is ready. 

Knead the dough again for about 5-10 minutes to knock out the extra air. Cover again and leave to rise a second time until it has doubled in size again. 

Preheat the oven to 220C. 

Turn the dough out onto a baking dish and shape into desired loaf shape. Slash the top of the dough to desired pattern. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Take out the half baked bread and lower the oven temperature to 200C. Scatter a thin layer of flour on top of the bread and bake for another 20-25 minutes. 

When done, check for readiness by tapping the bottom of the loaf for a hollow sound. 

Allow to cool and then devour!!

Chinese Walnut Cookies

What a blur December and January has been for me. With Christmas, New Years, new babies to the family, snow and my birthday this week, I feel like it's been one big extended party. Which is why I have not ventured into my kitchen lately and neglected my housewifely duties.

So to start things off for the new year of 2013 I thought I'd start easy. Especially with Chinese New Year coming up soon, a return to my Chinese roots is a must.

Chinese Walnut Cookies are one of my favourite biccies of all time. It is crunchy, not too sweet but hits all the right spots. Every time my B and I venture into London (which is very rarely actually) we bring home souvenirs from Chinatown of walnut cookies to share with our family.

I always thought that they would be very difficult to make, but my friend-turned-Aunty told me otherwise. She's been saying she'd teach me to make them but still have not got round to it after so many years. So I have taken upon myself to discover this "easy" recipe of making these delectable cookies.

Actually they could not be any easier to make, it needed very little ingredients, and I think all in all it took me under 30 minutes including baking time to make 20 golden walnut cookies.

To my surprise so-called "walnut cookies" do not contain walnuts. However I rectified this by decorating it with pieces of walnut. I think it must be one of those recipes that are called something but has nothing to do with the making, i.e. pineapple bun that does not contain pineapple. Either way, they are still as yummy as I remember them to be.

I would probably not be nibbling on these too often as they are made using lard, albeit not a large quantity, the damage will be detrimental to my pre-wedding weight loss programme. So these will only be the "very occasional" treats.

Chinese Walnut Cookies

• 150g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 80g soft brown sugar
• 70g lard
• walnut pieces (to decorate)
• 1 egg yolk (lightly beaten for egg wash)

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Cover a baking sheet with greaseproof baking paper. 

Sift together the plain flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle. 

Add the beaten egg, lard and soft brown sugar into the well of the flour. 

Knead to a smooth dough, making sure not to over knead.

Divide the mixture into equal 20 small balls or 10-15 large balls. 

Roll and press each piece of dough into a rough disc shape.

Add a piece of walnut on top of each dough disc and egg wash with the beaten yolk.

Bake for 15 minutes for the small cookies and 20 minutes for larger cookies until golden brown.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. The cookies will be soft when warm so allow it to be cooled to become more crispy. 

Enjoy.