Tag: duck

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Crispy Duck Stir Fry

Crispy Duck Stir Fry

I was going to call this dish Crispy Duck Donburi and then I realised I had no real idea what make a donburi a donburi?

Anyhow onto how I cooked this dish. I took my sliced duck breast pieces and coated them in some plain flour. I use gluten free flour, but I would have thought wheat flour would work just as well. These pieces I cooked in the wok in some oil. The idea being to both cook the duck, but also with the floured coating make them a little crispy. After the duck was cooked I put them to one side. I then stir fried some mushrooms and when nearly cooked added some soya sauce. These were put to one side as well. In the wok I then added the vegetables and these were stir fried for a while before adding back the duck. I added a pouch of Wagamama Korean BBQ sauce.

I served the duck with the mushrooms, some sticky rice dressed with crispy onions and a soft boiled egg.

Was really nice.

Now to discover what makes  a donburi a donburi.

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Cassoulet Toulousain

Cassoulet Toulousain

I bought this can of Cassoulet Toulousain when I was on holiday in France in the summer. Having had some legs from the roast duck left over from Christmas, I decided I would heat up the legs in the oven and heat the contents of the tin in a pan. As well as beans it also contained some sausage and duck meat.

The Cassoulet Toulousain was very tasty, but also very rich, almost too rich. It had been cuisiné à la graisse de canard, as in cooked in duck fat. I think I would have preferred to tone down the richness with some stock. I do like cassoulet, so it was interesting to try one of these cans from France. They are something you don’t see for sale in the UK, except in specialist French grocery shops or delicatessen.

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Easy Carve Stuffed Duck

British Easy Carve Stuffed Duck

One of the dishes I like at Christmas is a partially boned stuffed duck. I had my eye on the Aldi version, mainly down to the price, but also the other stuffed ducks I had seen were slow cooked (as in pre-cooked), whereas the Aldi version was fresh (as in raw).

Aldi have a dynamic pricing when it comes to some of their Christmas specials. When the duck first went on sale it was £24.99, within a few days it was down to £19.99. However, I waited until Christmas Eve, when it came down to £9.99. That was the right price for me.

Of course there is a risk that they will sell out before Christmas Eve, but I usually have my eye on a range of specials, so don’t worry too much if I can’t get the one I want. 

It was very easy to cook and the final glaze made the dish. The duck was very tender and full of flavour. It was a lovely main course for the festive feast.

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Crispy Duck with Noodles

Crispy Duck with Noodles

This was a quick and easy meal using a stir fry deal from Waitrose.

I took some duck strips, and coated them with beaten egg. I then dusted them with some plain flour. These were then shallow fried until cooked. These were removed from the pan. 

I cleaned the pan and then stir fried some vegetables. Once they were nearly cooked, I added a Wagamama Korean BBQ stir fry sauce. After stirring I added the cooked duck and some cooked egg noodles.

Mixed in and served.

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Roast Duck and Rice

The Hare and Tortoise is a chain of Japanese restaurants across London. I was at the Ealing branch and went for their lunch deal. I had the roast duck and rice dish; I have had this dish before at their Kensington branch.

It is slices of roast duck, served on steamed rice with a homemade sauce mixed with cinnamon, aniseed powder and ginger, garnished with Chinese greens and spring onions.

roast duck and rice

The duck is nice and crispy, though I think the homemade sauce needed a little more oomph. However, as a quick lunch time meal, it is rather good. The lunch deal also included some gyoza and a drink.

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Duck Takoyaki in my Bento Box

If you are a regular visitor to the blog then you will know I am a fan of the bento box from She Sells Sushi, one of the regular stalls at Finzel Reach (and Temple Quay) street food markets.

On a recent visit to Finzel Reach, it was raining, so the queues were shorter, so I didn’t have to wait too long for a bento box for my lunch. This time in my bento box I went with the beef donburi and some duck Takoyaki.

The beef donburi was slow cooked teriyaki beef rib on a bed of rice, topped with crispy onions and pickles.

I have had this dish many times, and it was delicious. The beef is cooked until it is tender. It is served on a bed of rice, and the pickles and crispy onions enhance the dish.

Usually in my bento box, I have the hirata bao bun. Having had that last time, this time I decided I would go for the Takoyaki dumplings. She Sells Sushi offer a choice between octopus and duck, I went with duck. It had been a while since I last had them in my bento box. I had enjoyed them then, so was looking forward to having them again. I was tempted by the XL Bento Box, in which you can add a third dish. I did think about getting a hirata bun alongside the beef and the Takoyaki. However I wasn’t overtly hungry, so I went with the standard bento box.

The Takoyaki were very nice. Nicely presented with sauces drizzled over them and garnished with seaweed and bento flakes.

I really enjoyed my bento box, and it was nice to have a change from my usual bento box.

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Scotch Duck Egg Royale

I was up in Birmingham for a roundtable event and staying at the Edgbaston Park  Hotel which is on the University of Birmingham campus. This is a modern conference hotel with a restaurant and a bar, as well as meeting rooms.

I had the scotch duck egg royale; this was a soft boiled duck egg wrapped in a duck and truffle mince, breadcrumbs and deep fried. It was served on top of a leek and chive velouté with some dressed leaves.

Well, there was a lot of leaves on that plate, though difficult to make out there was a scotch egg on that plate.

I really liked the idea of this scotch egg, the description sounded delicious, despite the leaves, I think the food looked good. However, the execution wasn’t as good as the description or the way it looked.

This wasn’t the best scotch egg I’ve had in a restaurant. The best thing about the dish was the egg. It was a delicious soft boiled duck’s egg. The mince wrapping was quite thin, I think too thin. As a result, not only was the crumb was quite crunchy, the duck mince was crunchy as well in places. Also, I didn’t really get any truffle flavour in the duck mince.

The flavour of the velouté was overpowered by the addition of mustard. I couldn’t taste the leek or chives.

Yes, this wasn’t the best scotch egg I’ve had, it wasn’t awful, but it could have been so much better.

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Well that was nice

I was working in Bristol and for lunch I headed out to the Temple Quay Market. I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, so looked around. I really liked the idea of Big Nath’s BBQ, however they had (basically) sold out. This was both disappointing and reassuring, in that I didn’t get my food, but it must be good if it had sold out!

I looked around, and did think about getting some fried fish from the Kingfin stall, but in the end I went to She Sells Sushi.

Having not really enjoyed the hirata bun on my last visit, this time in my bento box I went with the beef donburi and some Takoyaki in octopus and duck varieties.

The beef teriyaki donburi was delicious.

This is tasty tender beef rib on a bed of sushi rice and served with pickle and spring onions.

The Takoyaki were very nice too. Beautifully presented with sauces drizzled over them and garnished with herbs and bento flakes.

I had two duck dumplings and two octopus ones.

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Crispy Duck Leg Cassoulet

Staying at the Drayton Court Hotel having had a great starter for my evening meal, it was then onto the main course.

I had ordered the Crispy Gressingham duck leg, which was served with a bacon, sausage and bean cassoulet.

It was supposed to come with a parsley crumb I think, but there was crispy kale instead.

I had had a really nice duck cassoulet at Côte Brasserie at the end of last year, so it wasn’t too surprising that I compared the two dishes as I tucked into the cassoulet from the Drayton Court Hotel. The duck was tender, but I do think the skin onto could have been crispier. The cassoulet though was rather good, filled with bacon, sausages and beans. I also enjoyed the crispy kale that garnished the dish. 

Overall I think both dishes were great, I preferred the duck at Côte, and it was difficult to choose between the cassoulets, but Drayton Court had the edge.

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What we had for Christmas Lunch

I like to record what we had for Christmas lunch, so next time I can improve on what we had.

This time we ordered from M&S and had three roasts.

For the third year running we had a Three-Bird Roast.This year was turkey, stuffed with chicken, duck and (gluten free) pork, orange and panettone stuffing).

This was rather good, not enough duck, but still very good. I felt I cooked it well and leaving it to rest meant it was easy to carve and the slices stayed together.

I also cooked a Dry-Aged Rib of Beef. This I sealed in a hot frying pan before moving to the oven. After cooking I let it rest and carved. The beef was beautifully tender, though not as much flavour as I thought it was going to have.

The final of our trio of roasts was the Stuffed Pair of Partridges. These were smaller than I thought they would be, almost quail sized. I think I overcooked these, so they were a little dry.

We had a range of stuffing and trimmings. Though I forgot to cook the Yorkshire Puddings.

Overall I was pleased with the meal (I was catering for ten) though I was disappointed with my roast potatoes. I think I didn’t par-boil them for long enough, and the oven was a little too crowded as well. Something to think about for next year.

We now have a tradition of having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We’ve done this for ten years now. We do this for a few reasons. On Christmas Day itself, the children are often too excited to sit down for a long meal, so don’t eat or enjoy the meal or the occasion. It also usually means I spend a fair few hours in the kitchen, which means I miss them opening and playing with their presents. I also find it quite demanding to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, whilst creating a wonderful dining experience.

Having the meal on Christmas Eve means that we can both spend a bit more time preparing the meal (less stressful in itself) and enjoy eating the meal (as do the children). As a result for them it helps pass the time on one of the more exciting days of the year as they anticipate the arrival of a sleigh full of presents being pulled by eight tiny reindeer!

As to what we eat on Christmas day itself, well we have lots of lovely leftovers, cheeses, pickles, hot bread, etc…. quick and easy to prepare and delicious.