Five Spice Duck Breast with Bok Choy and Gai Lan

This is a very simple recipe that is quick and easy to do and tastes wonderful. I love duck and cook it all the time, whilst I have made duck with friut sauces and Asian sauces and they are wonderful. Sometimes I think you can overcomplicate recipes and they are tasty, but they are time consuming with lots of steps and sometimes simple is the best way to go.

Ingredients

4 Duck breasts
1-11/2 Teaspoons five spice powder (depending on the size of breasts.)
2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
5 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Star anise
4 Bunches Gai lan
2 Bok choy
200ml Water
1 Teaspoon chicken stock
1-2 Tablespoons honey, depending on personal taste
6 Green onions, sliced 2cm long
11/2 Teaspoons cornflour


Method

1. Cut diagonal slits in the skin being careful not to go all the way through to the flesh. (not to far apart as these will be the size of slices, you will slice the duck when finished.) Rub five spice over breasts.

2. Heat a pan and add duck skin side down cook for 8-10 min's to crisp up skin and render fat. Place breasts on a wire rack in an oven proof dish. Cook in pre-heated oven 180ºC for about 25 Min's, or until cooked as desired.

3. Remove duck from oven, allow to rest for about 5 minutes then slice along slits.

4. While the duck is cooking cut the ends off of the bok choy and trim gai lan, in a large pan or wok, add soy, garlic, star anise and gai lan stir-fry a few minutes.

5. Add water, bok choy, chicken stock and sugar stir-fry a few minutes more and then add onions and cook about a minute more remove vegetables to warm serving plates. Mix a little water with the cornflour and add to sauce, thicken slightly. (sauce will not be too thick it is not ment to be.) If not using a wok you will probably have to cook the vegetables longer as regular pans do not get as hot as woks.

To Serve: Arrange vegetables on a plate, top with duck breast and drizzle sauce around plate. Decorate with some star anise if desired.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Roast Duck with a Honey Soy Basting Sauce

Here is the recipe for the duck I did, I baste the bird all the way through cooking and then I heat the basting sauce and mix some cornflour in, to thicken and serve on the side as a sauce. Because of the Asian flavours unless serving this as a dish by itself, if you are making it along with other meats, I use a separate side plate, as the sauce does not mix well with a normal gravy.

I made two birds for Christmas and you will see from the picture that it was not an enormous amount of meat, so remember this when cooking it, as to how many ducks you will need for the amount of people feeding. This is wonderful tasting duck and it always the first meat to go when I make it and with rave reviews.


Ingredients

2kg Duck (mine were smaller than this,hence 2, I think this should be about right for 4 people.)

Honey Soy Basting Sauce

4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons honey
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
4 Tablespoons dry white wine
1/3 Cup Olive oil
1-2 Teaspoons cornflour

Note: I never measure this exactly, I think this should be about right, but do adjust for taste if I am a little off.


Method

1. Wash duck under cold water and remove any missed feathers.

2. Combine all the basting ingredients and boil over a high heat for about 2 minutes. Keep sauce warm while basting, stirring occasionally.

3. Place in a roasting dish brush with basting sauce. Bake in a slow oven (130c) for about three hours, bast several times while cooking. (I like to do this slow to stop the skin from burning.)

4. Turn the oven up to 170-180 and continue to roast for a further 30-45 Min's until skin is browned and crisp and duck is cooked through.

5. As the duck is finishing off, mix a little water with cornflour, turn up the heat on stove, add cornflour to basting sauce and stir until mixture thickens. (I say 1-2 teaspoons of cornflour, the amount will depend on how much of the sauce has been used during cooking and how much it has reduced by.)

Serve Duck with basting sauce.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Five Spice Duck Breast with Vegetable Sticks

This is another recipe I tried from recipezaar, it was very good, although I added more ingredients for the glaze, as what is listed did not cover the bottom of my pan. You will notice, it is listed, to boil veg first, I didn't bother with this, I find the veg will cook fine, from start to finish in a wok, without being boiled first. Other than those small points it is a very tasty dish with a lovely aroma and wonderful flavours. If you enjoyed this recipe and would like to see other recipes by this chef click here.

Ingredients

2 ounces green beans, trimmed
1/2 ounces carrots, peeled
1/2 red pepper, seeded
1 zucchini, trimmed
2 ounces snow peas
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh gingerroot, grated
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste


For the duck

2 (6 ounce) duck breasts, weighing 6oz each, with skin
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon clear honey
2 tablespoons ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 medium red chili, seeded and finely chopped


Method

1. Cut all the vegetables into to thin sticks, about the same size as the green beans. Drop the beans into a pan of boiling water and bring back to the boil.

2. Add the carrots and the red pepper and cook for 1 minute. Drain, rinse under cold water, and then dry on kitchen paper.

3. Lightly score the skin of each duck breast into a diamond pattern with the tip of a sharp knife, taking care that you don't cut through the meat.

4. Heat a dry frying pan until it is quite hot. Add the duck breasts, skin-side down, reduce the heat to medium and cook them for about three to four minutes until the skin is crisp and golden brown.

5. Turn the breasts over and cook them for another five minutes, or a little longer if you don't like your duck too pink. Meanwhile, mix together the five-spice powder, honey, sweet soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and chili.

6. Pour away all of the excess fat from the pan. Add the honey mixture and leave it to bubble away, turning the duck breasts now and then, until they are nicely glazed.

7. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or another frying pan, add the garlic, ginger and vegetables and stir-fry for one to two minutes until they are cooked but still crunchy. Season with some salt and pepper.

8. Pile the vegetable sticks into the centre of two warmed plates. Slice each duck breast on the diagonal and carefully sit it on top of the vegetables. Spoon over any remaining glaze and serve immediately.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Marinated Duck Breast with Mango Salsa

Here's another great duck breast recipe that is easy to do and is a very light meal. Again I used duck magret, as I said before I live near France so this is quite inexpensive to buy. Magret is quite pricey so you can buy any duck breast just make sure they are of a reasonable size.


Ingredients

4 Duck Breasts
11/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon grass. chopped
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons oil
pepper to taste


Mango Salsa

1 Small red onion
1 Tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped
1 large mango or 1x425g can mango, chopped
11/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon sweet chili sauce (some brands can be very sweet, you may want to combine chili sauce with sweet chili so it is not to sweet.)
1 Teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3/4 Teaspoon sugar

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, mix well, add duck and combine, marinade for several hours or overnight.

2. For the mango salsa combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well, cover and refrigerate an hour or two before serving.

3. Heat an unoiled pan. Prick duck skin all over, add duck skin side down to pan, cook until browned and crisp. (you will have to drain the fat several times while cooking as there is a lot of fat in the skin of a duck.) Spread about a teaspoon of marinade onto the meat of the breast then place on a wire rack skin side up. Bake in pre heated oven 180c 20-25 Min's or until cooked as desired. I turn the grill on for the last couple of minutes of cooking to really crisp up the skin.

Serve duck with mango salsa and green salad.


Green salad with balsamic dressing













4 Bacon rashers, cut into strips
mixed salad leaves enough for 4 (radicchio, rocket, iceberg etc..)
watercress for the top
2 slices bread
Butter
Dried parsley,basil and garlic powder (to sprinkle on bread)

Balsamic Dressing

50ml Balsamic vinegar
2 Dessertspoons lemon juice
11/2 Tablespoons honey

1. Cook bacon in a pan until browned and crisp. drain on absorbent paper

2. Remove crusts from bread. Butter one side sprinkle with garlic powder, parsley and basil fry in pan until browned and crisp do the same to the other side, repeat with remaining slice of bread, cut both slices into cubes.

3. Combine lettuce leaves, homemade crouton's, bacon (reserving enough bacon to throw a few pieces on the top for presentation) in a bowl. Top with watercress. Drizzle with dressing or serve dressing on the side.

4 For the dressing combine all the ingredients in a jar and shake well.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated