Roasted Duck with Puy Lentils

It was absolutely hammering it down yesterday. Winds howled, rain lashed against the windows and I was bravely battling my way to the shops. Though we're almost in Spring, this kind of weather calls for something warming and hearty to eat while slurping a robust red wine, feet in fluffy slippers. I rather like a Sunday of intense cooking or preparation as I have so little time to do so during the week, but yesterday was all about wanging a few bits and pieces into a casserole dish and letting it do its thing in the oven while I slumped on the couch.

The result astonished me - so little effort reaped great reward. The duck was crisp-skinned - let's, er, ignore that tiny burnt patch shall we? I'm still getting used to the electric hob. - and tender, absorbing the fragrant star anise and flavouring the lentils with its delicious fat. Amongst the lentils cubes of butternut squash sweetened the dish and gave the dreary brown some colour. Nothing more than than a lemony fennel salad was needed to wash down that richness.

Roasted Duck & Puy Lentils

Serves 2

2 duck legs

80gr puy (pronounced 'pwee') lentils

1 onion

4 fat cloves of garlic

1 scant tsp smoked paprika

A large pinch of fennel seeds

1 chicken stock cube

1 star anise

3 tbsp Oloroso sherry

A small glass of red wine

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 small courgette, cubed

2 large tomatoes, quartered

A large handful of flat leaf parsley

Firstly, simmer the lentils for 10 - 15 minutes and drain. In a dry non stick frying pan, gently fry the duck legs skin side down from a cold pan (this helps render the fat out more effectively and crisp the skin up). This will take 10 - 15 minutes on a low heat. Don't be tempted to turn the heat up like I did... Turn the legs over and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C. Slice the onion into half moons and mince the garlic. Remove the duck legs from the pan and remove most of the fat, keeping 1 tbsp. Fry the onions and garlic slowly in this till soft. Add the smoked paprika and the pinch of fennel seeds, then add the sherry. Simmer until halved in volume, then add the red wine and do the same. Season generously with salt and pepper. Combine with the drained lentils in a casserole dish.

Add the cubed butternut squash to the lentils and mix well. Sit the duck legs on top. Dissolve the stock cube in 150ml water and pour this over the lentils, though this shouldn't go on the duck leg skin, just to the flesh. Nestle a star anise in between the duck legs and the tomato quarters in the lentils and put the lid on. Bake for 1 hour, then remove the lid and add the courgette within the lentils. This may need some jiggery pokery. Turn the heat up to 160 degrees C and roast uncovered for a further 40 minutes, checking that the lentils are wet enough that they don't stick and burn.

To serve, scatter with chopped parsley and accompanied by shaved raw fennel dressed with lemon juice.

New York - December Edition - Not So Cheap

As much as I loved all the cheaper places we visited, leisurely dinners meant coughing up a bit more. My favourite of the trip goes to Schiller's Liquor Bar. Located on the Lower East Side, the room is white tiled, darkly lit and bustling. The bar area was filled with people perched on high stools sipping on beers and we were seated at one of the last tables for two left.

I loved how unpretentious it was; the wine list was simply presented as 3 options; 'cheap', 'decent' and 'good'. When our bottle arrived, CHEAP was plastered across it. I'm not a wine buff in any way, shape or form and our bottle was drinkable and tasted good.

East Coast and West Coast oysters were sweeter with more mineral flavour than ones from our own shores. Crab and articoke dip with melba toast was decadently creamy and rich, though I'd have preferred a little more crab flavour. A seared tuna Nicoise salad (what was I thinking!?) was horrendously overshadowed by The Boy's 'pork chops and roasted potatoes'. What was presented to him was a behemoth plate with two chops and a pile of roasted potatoes, just as advertised. They were cooked in the most delicious caramelised onion, ginger and garlicky sauce. I almost cried with envy.

With a couple of well made cocktails and well deserved tip for our affable and charming waiter, the bill came to around £50 / head.



I was a fan of David Chang since I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar on my first visit. Since then I've become an even bigger fan, having bought his cookbook and the quarterly magazine he's a part of, Lucky Peach. We managed to nab two seats at the bar at Momofuku Ssam early on new year's eve.

I'd have liked to try more of the raw dishes but they were quite pricy, so we settled on one - diver scallops with yuba (tofu skin), satsuma and coriander. The smears were intensely orange flavoured and worked well with the sweet, delicate shellfish. Yuba doesn't taste of much but had a tender texture, much like the skin you get on top of gravy. It sounds rank but it was a great texture contrast to the scallop.

The pork buns, which Momofuku is famous for were pretty damn sexy. Pillowy steamed buns were stuffed with a slab of fatty warm pork belly, with a smear of hoisin sauce and sliced cucumbers. It took everything in my power to refrain from cancelling the other dishes and ordering another seven of these instead.

Fuji apple kimchi with bacon and maple mayo was incredible; rather than the apples being fermented with garlic and chilli over a length of time, the apples were crisp and fresh, having been dressed in kimchi juice instead. The bacon was really smoky and coupled with the maple mayo it was perfect.

Market greens came in the form of swiss chard, cooked in XO sauce and topped with a heap of fried shallots. Cooked until the stalks were al dente and the leaves just wilted, the intense savoury flavour of the XO sauce was thankfully sparing; any more and it would have been overwhelming.

Spicy sausage with fried rice cakes and Sichuan pepper was my least favourite dish of the meal. Although the rice cakes had a great texture, both gooey and crispy from frying, after a while it began to all get a bit samey with each bite. Too stuffed for dessert and with a party to get over to, we decided against desserts. With a couple of cocktails each, our bill again reached around £50 / head.



After an afternoon of ice skating, we were ravenous. The temperature on our last night was around -5 C; I don't think I've been anywhere that cold. The streets of New York were windy, and as we rushed towards Locanda Verde in TriBeCa I had everything crossed that we wouldn't have to wait long.

The place is cavernous, dark - this is a recurring theme - but lively. Families dined with small children, couples were having intimate dinners and groups of friends were sharing plates. A long L-shaped bar was absolutely rammed, both with people having drinks waiting for a table as well as people eating at the bar. A mere half hour wait while nursing a Negroni was all it took before we were seated.

A tuna crostini with smoked cannellini beans and a hint of lemon was perfunctory enough to keep the hunger at bay. Proscuitto lent smokiness to the prawns they were wrapping, doused in romesco sauce and it was dotted with creamy white beans to give some heartiness to the dish.

Marinated beet salad was a textbook example. Tender beetroot was topped with slices of fennel and happily they didn't go for the obvious goats cheese, but instead smoked ricotta. Some welcome crunch was provided from the pistachio garnish, with a smear of pistachio puree hiding under the beets.

We had a lot of trouble trying to decide on mains, but we were pleased with our spiced duck choice. Huge slabs of flush pink breast arrived, garnished with pomegranate seeds, small faro grains and cavolo nero. The skin was crisp with sweetness with a hint of the exotic, and the meat as tender as butter. A side dish of roasted brussel sprouts was a hearty affair; strong mustard flavours with the slightly bitter brassica was reinforced further with chunks of pecorino and pancetta. It was the unheathiest vegetable side I've laid eyes on in recent times. Obviously I thought it was great.

Orecchiette was served with beans and fennel sausage and a hard strong cheese grated on top. These were gutsy flavours and the little ears held them well. With the beans and pasta combined, it was great comfort food. But good lord we were stuffed afterwards.

A pear, quince and cranberry crisp with vanilla bourbon ice cream sounds quite light and insubstantial, right? That's what we thought when we ordered it to share. A deep ramekin arrived with the aforementioned fruits in a crumble. Crisp, it turns out, is a crumble. Oof. We managed to polish it all off due to its own deliciousness caused by nuts being incorporated into the crumble topping, but I was rendered incapacitated after the meal and could only lie down and make small groaning noises.

Locanda Verde reminded me a lot of Polpo both in atmosphere and food; unsurprising really, as the recommendation to go there came from Russell Norman. Locanda Verde is a touch more expensive though, we hit £60 a head with a bottle of wine.



Now I shall be nibbling on dry bread and lentils until my bank balance recovers.

Gumbo a Go Go – Duck, Andouille Sausage, Smoked Pork Hock, Gulf Shrimp and Langoustine Gumbo

It’s not easy to pry gumbo-making secrets from a cook in New Orleans, but you should have better luck if you slip them some truth serum, in the form of several well-made sazeracs. 

This particular gumbo, featuring duck, andouille sausage, smoked pork hock, gulf shrimp, and langoustine, was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans, where I sampled a half-dozen varieties.

One rye whiskey-induced tip was to cook the famous Cajun roux in some duck fat instead of the more common and mundane vegetable oil. The roux is the soul of the gumbo and one of the challenges of this recipe is giving the fat and flour enough time to turn into that deep brick red-brown color.

My little trick here is to add a couple extra spoons of flour after the roux is browned. The dark roux gives the gumbo its signature flavor, but it doesn’t have much thickening power. I just cooked it a couple minutes, and then stirred in the stock.

Another tweak is using pickled okra instead of fresh or frozen. This particular perversion was born out of necessity rather than some brilliant thought on my part. Of course, if this technique catches on, that story will change. The pickled okra gave the gumbo a great flavor and added a little bit of acidity, which is always welcome in something this substantial.

This can be made with hundreds of different combinations of smoked meats, game, poultry, and seafood; and in my opinion, the more the merrier. As usual, I’d love to hear about any variations you may come up with. As you’ll see, the procedure is pretty straightforward, although you’re talking about a full day’s project. This is a dish that takes time, but I still hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

2 duck legs

1 tbsp vegetable oil, more as needed

1 cup flour, plus 2 tbsp for second addition
6 cups chicken broth

1 pound andouille sausage

1 large onion, chopped

4 green onions chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup diced peppers (any combination of sweet and hot)

1 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 smoked pork hock
2 cups water, or as needed
1 cup sliced okra, fresh, frozen or pickled
1 pound gulf shrimp
1 pound crawfish tail meat or langoustine
rice to garnish

Duck Fat Green Garlic Home-fried Potatoes - Skin for the Win

I'm just guessing, but I bet there's some old French kitchen expression that roughly translates to, "Hey, it has crispy, fried duck skin crumbled over the top, how bad can it be?" This video recipe for duck fat homefries is perfect when you find yourself in possession of this highly coveted ingredient.

The recipe is the easy part, finding duck skin is a little more challenging. The easiest method of attainment is to know a duck hunter. They can hook you up faster than you can say, "Nice Elmer Fudd hat." If that's not an option, try and make friends with line cooks who work at restaurants that serve duck. They can make it happen, and it will probably only cost you a couple draft beers.

Finally, you can go to a butcher that sells whole ducks, and have him break one down for you. Tell them you'd like two nicely trimmed breasts, two leg quarters, and all the excess skin from the rest of the carcass. They will smile knowingly, and say no problem (for extra credit, ask for the bones, which you can roast and make a killer stock).

Once you have your precious skin, the recipe is a breeze. If you can find green garlic, it's very nice in this, but regular onions, leeks, shallots, scallions, etc. are a fine substitute. These potatoes would sure make a memorable side dish to a seared, sous vide duck breast, or how about as a plate-mate to a creamy goat cheese omelet? By the way, I'm much hungrier now than I was when I started this post. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup duck skin and fat trimmings

4 small russet potatoes

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 cup chopped green garlic (light parts)

Stovetop "Sous Vide" Episode 1: The Best Duck Breast Ever

If you watch any food television at all, you've undoubtedly seen the "sous vide" (French for "under vacuum") technique many, many times. What was once a very unique procedure is now about as rare as a hung-over line cook.

Not so long ago, only a handful of pros using state-of-the-art sous vide set-ups, costing thousands of dollars, got to play this game. Today, there are many options for home sous vide kits, most costing hundreds of dollars, but what about the home cook who just wants to try this once and a while, and doesn’t want to invest that kind of money and space?

How about a simple, almost foolproof, stovetop sous vide method that requires no special equipment? Too good to be true? Well, I'm happy to report it's so very true, and produced what Michele and I agreed was the best duck breast we've ever had.

The principles behind this sous vide duck breast's succulence is quite simple. Put the meat in a watertight, vacuum-sealed bag, and place it in a water bath held at a temperature exactly equal to the ideal desired internal temperature. After a certain amount of time, the meat reaches that temperature and stays there.

That's it. Not only is there no real danger of overcooking the meat, but it cooks so gently, in a vacuum, that virtually no moisture is lost. The only real difference with our stovetop sous vide and the professional set-up, is the vacuum part.

We're going very low tech here; simply pressing or sucking the air from a ziplock bag. It's not a perfect vacuum, but as you'll see, it doesn’t have to be. As long as your package sinks below the surface, and no water gets in, you're good to go.

After an hour in the 135 degree F. water, my duck breasts were picture perfect inside. I crisped-up the skin, drizzled over some sweet and sour peach sauce, and ate in stunned silence. I could not believe how amazing the texture was. I won't even waste time trying to find the adjectives, as most of the ones I need haven't been invented yet.

I've only done this with one other meat (a NY Strip steak, also very impressive) so I can’t give you any info on other recipes/times/temperatures just yet. I will, however, post the quick and easy peach sauce seen in this clip soon. Anyway, I really hope you give this spectacular sous vide duck a try. Enjoy!




Ingredients:
2 large duck breasts, boneless, skin-on
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

In a Fowl Mood: A Fabulous Last Supper 2010

Just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all, and share what Michele and I enjoyed for our final meal of 2010. The first course was a superb Moroccan-style chicken crépinette seasoned with preserved lemon from Fatted Calf. I served it over a salad of raw, shaved asparagus, and garnished with kumquats candied in a chili syrup. 

For our main course I continued my exploration into equipment-less sous vide, which produced the finest duck breast I've ever eaten. I served it with a huckleberry gastric, and green lentils, The meat was perfect beyond description. I can't wait to show you how amazing and simple doing sous vide cooking at home actually is. Stay tuned!

Thanks to J. Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats for his "Sous-Vide 101: Duck Breast" post, which served as the guide for the duck technique.

Roka, Fitzrovia

Roka has been top of my I'd-like-to-go-there-but-will-never-afford-it list. I mean, god - the menu on the website doesn't even list prices. You know what they say about those kind of places; if you have to ask how much, it means you can't afford it. Which is why I leapt at the kind offer of lunch there.

Packed to the rafters one lunchtime, there were a lot of business meetings going on. We were sat at the bar in near the robata grills, chefs busy working away. The menu is long; split into sashimi, sushi, soups, rice dishes, seafood and meat grills, I stared dumbfoundedly for a few moments.

Edamame glistened with salt flakes and were lovely served warm. A red miso soup had a real punch to it, a depth that its white sister lacks.

Yellowtail, salmon and tuna sashimi was served on an enormous bowl of chipped ice. Cut thickly, the fish was beautifully fresh, though I winced at its price tag in the late teens.

Tuna, pickled mooli and shiso leaf sushi was gorgeous. Ever so lightly battered and deep fried so that the seaweed was crispy, I wondered how on earth they got this done without cooking its innards. The mooli had a slight tang to it, lifted by the minced shiso. I was glad our waitress recommended this.

Two scallops (at a whopping £13 or so) were served with wasabi mayonnaise. Big fat specimens, the char of the grill deepened the flavour of the flesh and kept them transluscent and juicy inside.

I'm not one to pass up on aubergine, you know that. These were soft, silken and sweet. A perfect example. I hogged it.

I found it difficult to taste the smokiness in the smoked duck breast, but the kumquat and persimmon sauce worked well in its tart sweetness with the richness of the duck fat. Sliced ever so thinly, the meat was tender, the skin crisp.

Sesame and honey chicken wings were the biggest bargain at £4.90. Dipped into the salt mixed with lime juice, these had me licking my fingers in the most unseemly manner.

Rock shrimp tempura'd was served with a chilli mayonnaise. While addictive (they reminded me of KFC's popcorn chicken in that sense) they were fairly one dimensional in flavour, though expertly and greaselessly fried.

Given it was a mid-week lunch, I had to rudely run off before we had even asked for the bill, leaving my companion sat on his own. Honestly, why can't we have two hour lunch breaks?

When I receive my unexpected windfall of dosh, I'll be back for the rest of the menu.

Roka

37 Charlotte Street
London W1T 1RR

Tel: 020 7580 0220

Eat Meet Supperclub, Brockley

Thus far, I've only been to two supperclubs. The first, in North West London, was well over a year ago. Following 5 months later, The Savoy Truffle Supperclub was closer to home in Blackheath. I heard about Eat Meet through Feast on Scraps, and hooray! Right on my doorstep.

A slightly sweaty, beautifully sunny summer's day, the seven of us dined in the garden after a refreshing gin cooler. The house looked newly decorated and was gorgeously colourful. I got some house envy. A salad of watermelon, halloumi and green beans was sweet, salty, juicy and crunchy all at the same time. The sweetness of the watermelon worked brilliantly with the halloumi.

Duck with puy lentils braised in cider was crispy skinned, though cooked more than I'd have liked. The meat lacked a little seasoning but was moist and tender. Lentils were suitably cidery, with sweet bursts from the pomegranate seeds and peppery hits from the watercress. Just the right amount of food too.

Earl grey pannacotta with boozy berries and poppyseed biscuits was well accomplished. The pannacotta had a proper hit of the tea flavour, and the berries, almost face puckeringly sour when eaten alone, balanced the sweetness of the biscuits and the pannacotta well.

Cheese, served with home-made spelt biscuits were all from the UK. A particular favourite was the Scottish cheddar, and the chutney served with it was delicious. Biscuits were a little too thick and therefore a bit heavy with the cheese, but I was so stuffed at this point I needed a less substantial recepticle to get the cheese in my face. My greed sees no boundaries.

Coffee followed, and we sat around chatting until darkness fell and goosebumps appeared. For £25 and to bring your own booze, it was a great evening; really interesting and chatty people, and lovely hosts in Julie and Sophie, who sat down with us at the end. Heartily recommended.

Eat Meet

Chinese New Year Feasting

An important part of Chinese New Year is feasting, and lots of it. There's a lot of symbolism in the Chinese culture. Lai see packets stuffed with money are given to people younger than you and singletons, though the above, kindly given to us by EuWen, were full of chocolate gold coins. To have a good year, auspicious foods should be eaten to help you along your way. Noodles symbolise longevity, black moss (more on that later) for wealth, whole fish served also symbolises prosperity, dumplings too. The Chinese like to be rich. The colour gold is seen everywhere (see previous point) as well as red, to be seen as lucky.

An important part of the festivities is to visit your family and friends. Unfortunately my family had no plans and didn't really celebrate the new year, so I was pretty pleased when I was invited to a big Chinese New Year dinner, organised by A Rather Unusual Chinaman. The main feature was to be whole suckling pig. I was beside myself with excitement.

Firstly - Pearl Liang, our venue, is in the arse-end of nowhere. I relied on my iPhone like the fool I am and got quite lost in the streets of Paddington. The website has far better directions. We were led straight to the private dining room to host 18 of us.


To start, we ordered the 'cold toss'. Cue much sniggering. This was a platter of cold appetisers - sliced pig's knuckle was slightly chewy and well seasoned. Five spiced beef shin was surprisingly tender and very moreish. 'Artic clam' was chewy and fishy, and jellyfish, interspersed with slices of chilli, cucumber and spring onion, were heavily flavoured with sesame and were just as I like them; like chewing on rubber bands. The star of the platters was the drunken chicken. The chunks were flavoured through with Shaoxing rice wine and were so tender and juicy.


Next, the two suckling pigs were paraded in, to be greeted by many cameras and "oohs". They were tantalisingly shiny, and the waitress looked as if the weight would buckle her arms. This was then taken away to be portioned up. Upon its return, big steamers filled with steamed sweetened discs of dough - much like char siu bao - accompanied them. A slick of hoi sin and a shard of crackling was placed in it and it was folded over. The warm, soft dough contrasted beautifully with the crisp glass-shatter of the laquered crackling. I had wondered if it would be at all chewy as it wasn't puffed like crackling you'd make at home, but it was completely smooth. All my fears were allayed after that initial mouthful. The pigs were again removed for further portioning of the sweet succulent meat.

Man cannot live on pig alone though, so next we had some salt and pepper tofu. The cubes were perfectly fried and greaseless, with a great tongue-tingling hit of Sichuan pepper, and some crispy squid, which I thought quite forgettable. This could possibly have been due to the arrival of two whole aromatic ducks, which were shredded for us to stuff into pancakes. A fine example of the dish of which we made light work.


At this point I started to fret. I was stuffed beyond belief and my shirt buttons strained worryingly. I abandoned my beer for oolong tea to aid digestion, and contemplated some Roman-style purging. Thankfully, after a short period I got a second wind, just as the seabass fried with garlic and soy sauce was placed before me. I preferred the steamed version we also had, with ginger and spring onion as it was a more delicate and fresh flavour, but both dishes were cooked well. The plain fried noodles revolved under my nose without assault. Gai laan (chinese brocolli) stir-fried with garlic was sweet and crisp and the water spinach, stir-fried with garlic and chilli made up for not having my favourite vegetable available, the pea shoots.

After this much feasting, wewere pretty replete but I couldn't resist some mango and grapefruit pudding with sago. Grapefruit wouldn't be my first choice, but in this instant the bitter sourness was a great palate cleanser and made me feel less full.

For the 18 of us, it was probably the heftiest bill I've laid eyes on, but looking back at all the food and merriment we had, it was well worth it. I was given a huge bag of leftovers too - no one wanted them, honest! - which will feed me for days.

That's what Chinese New Year is all about. Given the demonstration of excellent service and delicious food, I'll definitely be back to Pearl Liang, even if it is a schlep.

Pearl Liang

8 Sheldon Square
London W2 6EZ

Tel: 020 7289 7000

The Rest

I often prefer all the food around the main event of Christmas; cold cuts, our family tradition of Gravadlax, pork pie, cheeses... this year I still loved it, though the main event was as good.

Christmas Eve dinner of foie gras with duck breast, plum and star anise sauce. Yes, that was one portion...

Christmas morning - scrambled eggs with truffles on toast

Christmas day lunch - home-cured gravadlax with sweet mustard sauce

My home-made pork pie

Spaghetti with mushrooms and truffles

Boxing Day ham

Bubble & squeak

I hope you had an enjoyable holiday eating to your heart's content. A happy new year to you all!

Full Flickr set of Christmas indulgence is here.