Roasted Duck Breast

Roasted Duck Breast

I do enjoy duck and a simple roasted duck breast is a relatively quick and easy dish to make.

Having taken out the two duck breasts from the fridge, using a fork, prick the skin side of the duck breast.

Duck can be quite fatty and as a result if you simply roast the duck breast it will be too fatty and greasy. So heat a frying pan, but don’t add any oil. Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down.

Frying the duck breast in this way renders the fat out from the duck and as a result you get nice crispy skin and little fat or greasiness.

The breasts will also shrink slightly as they cook. There is technique that you can use to stop the meat curling up, but I can’t remember what it is! Something about cutting away something. If you know post a comment and let me know.

Once the skin is nice and brown, place the duck breasts skin side up in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about ten to twenty minutes (depending on how you like your duck).

Serve with your favourite accompaniments.

…but I don’t want a panini

Ten years ago no one in the UK knew what panini was. Today the place is awash  with them.

Yes we had toasted sandwiches, anyone for a Breville? However the popularity of the toasted Italian panino has grown considerably over the last few years.

In the main the thrust of this growth has come from the coffee chains of Starbucks and Costa, though now it appears that everyone is selling panini.

And there lies the problem…

It’s all you seem to be able to buy in some places, as every outlet is selling them. If you want something different, tough!

It’s not all stodge…

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall talks about winter comfort food in the Guardian.

When temperatures drop, it’s only natural to dish up a trusty hot pot or jam roly poly. But thanks to crisp winter veg, comfort food needn’t be all stodge.

Some nice recipes there.

Curry Webcam

An Indian takeaway in North Staffordshire is offering customers the chance to see their food being cooked online via a webcam in the kitchen.

See the video (UK only).

Hot Stuff

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in his weekly Guardian column plays with hot stuff and does stuff with chillies.

There’s a lot more to chillies than how hot they are – the range and complexity of flavour from pepper to pepper really has to be tried to be believed.

Great article which shows that there is more to chillies then the mouth burning Friday night curry or the green ones available at the supermarket.

Final word on nutrition and health

After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.

  1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
  2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
  3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
  4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
  5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
  6. The French eat foie-gras, full fat cheese and drink red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Noisy popcorn to be banned!

The cinema is suppose to be one place which needs to be quiet so that everyone can enjoy the film.

You are asked to not chat, turn your mobile phone off.

And then….

So why do cinemas spoil it all by serving one of the noisest snacks around, popcorn?

Popcorn

Luckily, sense has come to some of then and they will ban popcorn!

According to a BBC report

It’s been a cinema staple for a century, but now popcorn is being banned by Britain’s biggest chain of arthouse screens.

Can’t wait until others follow suit, can’t stand popcorn, it’s not just the noise, but also the smell!

Photo source.