asparagus

This bright, fresh, fruity and light duck salad is a great spring dish. It makes a great light lunch to enjoy in the early spring sun. It also makes a good first course of you’re doing one of those dinner party things 🙂 The savoury notes of the rich, tender duck meat, sweet potato pancake and the asparagus combine beautifully with the sharp fruit flavours of the raspberry vinaigrette and the caramelised walnuts. All the stages are pretty quick and easy to put together – make sure you’re careful with the duck and don’t overcook it or you’ll end up with tough, leathery meat. Not nice. If you did want to save a little time and effort you could always omit the sweet potato pancake… though I wouldn’t! You could also replace this element with a fritter or sweet potato bread or roti too.

INGREDIENTS

For the Duck:

2 duck breast
salt
mixed salad leaves to serve

Sweet Potato Pancakes:

500g of sweet potato
3 tbsp of milk
3 tbsp of single cream
3 tbsp of plain flour
3 eggs
4 egg whites
750ml of chicken stock
sunflower oil
salt
black pepper

Asparagus

4 asparagus spears
1 tbsp of unsalted butter

Honey Soy Walnuts

150g of walnuts
20ml of light soy sauce
2tbsp of honey
sea salt

Raspberry vinaigrette

1 punnet of raspberries
1/2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
200ml of olive oil
50ml of red wine vinegar
sea salt
pepper

Preparation Method:

To make the potato pancakes, peel and quarter the potatoes then cook them in a pan of boiling salted water/stock until tender.
Drain, then while still hot put them through a blender or use a masher to purée and set aside to cool. Do not over blend to avoid the texture becoming gluey
Once the potatoes are completely cool, put them in a mixing bowl with the milk, cream and flour. Beat in the whole eggs one at a time
In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form then fold them into the batter.
To cook the pancakes, heat a blini pan with some sunflower oil until hot, then tip out the oil.
Put a ladle of pancake mixture in the pan, leave on the heat for a few seconds, and then place in the oven (or under the grill) until the pancake is firm to the touch and lightly browned. Keep warm while you repeat with the remaining batter
Preheat the oven to 175˚C/gas mark 3 1/2. Mix walnuts, honey, soy sauce and salt.
Place onto a baking tray and bake for 5 minutes, remove and place back into their original bowl to mix with any left over mixture. Be careful to keep an eye on these so they don’t burn. Allow to cool on the tray.
Combine the raspberries, red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard in a bowl. Whisk gently, slowly pouring in the olive oil until thoroughly combined. Season to taste and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/gas mark 4
Place a dry pan over a medium high heat and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt.
Lightly score the skin and place the duck breasts, skin-side down, in the pan
The fat will slowly render out of the skin. As it does so, remove with a spoon to allow the skin to crisp up nicely- this will take 4-5 minutes
Add the duck breasts to the tray. Cook in the oven for 4-5 minutes, then remove and allow to rest for a further 5 minutes before serving.
To cook the asparagus, snap off the woody ends and peel the stalks
Blanch the spears for 1-2 minutes (depending on thickness) in a pan of boiling salted water, then drain and refresh in iced water. Drain again then trim the spears so that they are all the same length
Melt butter in a large skillet and add asparagus. Sautee over medium-high heat, until the asparagus begins to blister, around 2 minutes.
Combine the salad leaves and asparagus in a large bowl and mix in some of the raspberry vinaigrette.
Arrange the sweet potato pancake on the centre of the plate. Place the salad and walnuts around the pancake in the middle of each plate. Place the sliced duck breast on top of the pancake and then finish with the asparagus. Drizzle with some more vinaigrette, some flaky sea salt and serve immediately.

MUSIC I COOKED TO:

Staring at the contents of the fridge, and the sea bass fillets that were supposed to be used in yesterdays recipe, inspired me to come up with another quick, colourful and easy fish dish. The flavours here are really great, and work really well with each other – the sweetness and heat of the glazed fish softening the acidity of the sauce vierge and the saltiness of the anchovies within it. Then the slightly sweetened, glazed asparagus brings everything together in one blaze of tasty glory.

Glazing is a great technique to bring all sorts of foods to life and add a supreme, slightly smokey sweet flavour kick. Don’t worry if some of the fish looks a slightly blackened and “burnt” – this is supposed to happen (within reason), and is just some lovely caramelisation of the sugary glaze. Also Stripping the skin from the lower sections of the asparagus gives them a luscious tender quality, and also makes sure they soak up loads of flavour from the pan. Similar to the previous salmon dish, this makes a great mid-week, after work dinner, or a light, lazy lunch in the spring and summer. The colours from this dish really leap out at you and somehow seem to make those intense flavours even more intense. The sauce vierge (or green sauce) from this dish also makes an awesome accompaniment to pretty much any grilled or pan fried fish dish, and can be kept, in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to 5 days afterwards. And remember people – the better the source of your fish and ingredients the better the dish will taste. Anyway – just cook this one… its frickin awesome.

INGREDIENTS

For the chilli, lime and brown sugar glazed sea bass:

2 large sea bass fillets

4 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 limes, juiced
1 finely chopped chilli (you can cheat by using pre-chopped in a jar, but don’t)
200ml red or white wine vinegar
2 tbsp shaosing rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 small glass cider

For the Salsa Verde:

1½-2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small handful capers
6 anchovy fillets
2 large handfuls flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
1 handful fresh mint, leaves picked
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
8 tablespoons really good extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the Sweet Asparagus:

8 asparagus
salt
butter
chilli/lime syrup (from fish) to glaze
1 tsp sugar

Preparation Method:

For the Salsa Verde:

Finely chop the garlic, capers, gherkins, anchovies and herbs and put them into a bowl.
Add the mustard and vinegar, then slowly stir in the olive oil until you achieve the right consistency.
Balance the flavours with freshly ground black pepper, a bit of salt and maybe a little more vinegar.

For the glazed fish and asparagus:

Preheat the grill to hot and put a baking tray under it (choose a good strong one that won’t buckle).
Make the glaze by mixing all the ingredients together. If it tastes too sweet (some limes are sweeter than others), add a splash more of red or white wine vinegar.
Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce into a small bowl.
Rinse and dry the asparagus. Cut off the bottom 1/4-inch of the stalks. Using a vegetable peeler, or small vegetable knife, gently remove the tough green skin covering the lower third of each stalk. You can use the discarded parts and any other leftover asparagus as a base for a soup if you want.
Cook in salted boiling water (10g salt per litre of water) for about 1-2 minutes. Once cooked, refresh in iced or cold water to ensure that the asparagus does not lose its colour. Do this as soon as you’ve taken the asparagus out of the hot boiling water.
Brush the skin side of each sea bass fillet with olive oil.
Brush the flesh side with the glaze, keeping 1 tsp back. Season well. When the tray is hot, carefully slide it out and put the sea bass fillets on it, skin-side down.
Then slide back under the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. The timing on this will depend on the strength of your grill and how far from the heat your tray is.
While the fish is cooking, finish preparing the asparagus.
Melt butter in a large skillet and add asparagus. Dip the asparagus in the chilli/lime glaze. Sautee over medium-high heat, sprinkle with a small amount of sugar – just enough to dust all the stalks. Sautee until the asparagus beings to blister, around 2-4 minutes (if you like it on the softer side, sautee it longer). Serve immediately.
Transfer the cooked fillets onto warmed plates and top each with the sauce vierge, and place the asparagus beside the fillets to serve.