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You are here: Home / Archives for Poultry

Duck with Figs and Ginger Sauce

July 8, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

The is duck recipe comes from Diane Holuigue’s “The French Kitchen.”

The figs are poached for 2 mins in a syrup of 2 tbsp sugar, 6 tbsp water and 1 tbsp brandy.

The duck was pan-cooked and then baked. As always I had some difficulty getting the duck right.

The sauce was made in the duck pan with most of the fat drained off. Add 2 diced eschallots and 30g butter and fry very briefly, then add 4 tbsp ginger wine and 300ml chick stock and simmer to reduce to half. Finish  by adding 40g butter and season.

I served the duck in cauliflower puree with baked cauliflower, carrot puree (cooked in orange juice), peas and beetroot.

Filed Under: Poultry

Tea-smoked Duck Salad

January 20, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

smoked-duck-salad

This is the first time that I’ve cooked something form Neil Perry’s “Spice Temple“, although admittedly I changed the recipe somewhat. I got the book just before Christmas. The recipes look fantastic, the photography is stunning, and I can’t wait to dip into it. I highly recommend that you check it out.

The duck came from the book and I made up the salad to go with it. The duck is marinated overnight so plan ahead.

Bring the following to the boil.

1 litre water
1/3 cup sea salt
1 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns, roasted
10cm knob of ginger, bruised
4 cloves garlic, bruised

Place the duck breasts in (I cooked 2), then put it in the fridge to steep. Neil says 18 hours but I went for 12. Take out the breasts and dry them off with a paper towel.

tea-smoked-duckI smoked the duck in a wok lined with a few layers of foil with a wire rack inside. The smoking mixture is 100g jasmine green tea, 100g brown sugar, 100g jasmine rice. Mix together well and place in the wok.

Fire up the gas (do this on an outside gas cooker) and place the wok with lid on top. When it starts to smoke, add the duck breasts, put the lid back on and cook for 15 mins, then turn it off and leave for another 3 mins. My duck seemed a little undercooked. I put it back on the heat for another 5 mins but we all felt later that the smokiness was a bit strong. So if it seems underdone, put it in the oven for a few minutes.

The salad was made from zucchini ribbons, tomato, red onion, snow peas, cucumber, mango, diced chilli, coriander.

I used Neil’s dressing mixture which was 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 3 tsp soy sauce and 3 tsp white vinegar.

As I said, the smoke flavour was a bit strong but I can fine tune that next time. Otherwise a pretty good balance. I only used a little cucumber.

There you have it.

Filed Under: Poultry

Christmas Lunch 2015

December 28, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

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Our Christmas meal is naturally something of a feast, with bits of preparation happening over several weeks, starting with the marinating with the fruit for the Christmas cake. It has become a bit of a tradition to produce a menu as follows (printed back to back and folded).

Christmas-Menu-2015_Page_2Christmas-Menu-2015_Page_1

… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Cheese, Dairy, Dessert, Ice Cream, Poultry, Vegetarian

Brined BBQ Chicken

November 15, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

bbq-chicken

As well as BBQing some marinated chicken hearts on rosemary branches the other day, I brined and BBQed a chicken with charcoal and hickory wood. I’ve never brined a chicken before, and it came up amazingly moist and tender.

slow-fireThis simple brine recipe comes from “Slow Fire” by Ray Lampe.

Heat 1 cup of water to almost simmering.

Add the following:

2 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper

Mix well and cook until sugar and salt have both dissolved – 3 to 4 minutes.

Put mixture in a bowl and add 1 cup of iced water. Put in the fridge until it is cold.

Place chicken in a plastic bag with the brine, squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag. Place in the fridge for 3 -4 hours, turning every hour.

I then cooked the chicken using one of Ray’s spice rubs and served it with some of my kick-ass chipotle BBQ sauce.

There you have it.

Filed Under: BBQ, Poultry

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THE COOK

I now cook on Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, having moved recently from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. The region is similar to the Mediterranean, with temperate climate, fertile hills, nearby ocean, wonderful local vegetables, fruit, wine and meat produced locally. Meanwhile our Adelaide Hills garden has cherry, peach, almond, citrus, olive, pomegranate and fig trees which are suffering neglect! Cooking has been a growing passion for me, about connecting culture, creativity, community and spirit.

Photos taken on iPhone 4 and 5 using Hipstamatic and a Canon 5D Mk III.

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