Recipe corner: Duck breast with tomato harissa sauce

Whenever D goes away for the night, you can almost guarantee that my supper will consist of one of two things. Either pizza or filled pasta (tossed in butter, cheese and black pepper of course). Cooking for one person, even when that person is myself, has never been of particular interest to me which is daft really. But I am a bear of very simple brain and all I want, when I am on my own, is something delicious, easy and comforting. Maybe one day I will branch out but...maybe not.

Whenever I go away for the night, as I did recently, D comes into his own. A delicious meal, usually involving a large slab of protein, a bottle of fine wine - the man knows how to party solo. His latest creation was this very delicious looking duck dish that he has promised faithfully to cook for me soon.

He is rather obsessed, and with good reason, with his Meater probe as it guarantees perfectly cooked meat. If you don't have one then you will need to just go with testing and cook's instinct!

Ingredients

Handful of cherry tomatoes - halved

Generous splash of olive oil

Garlic cloves - finely sliced

Shallot - finely sliced

Tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp harissa paste

Duck breast

2 tsp harissa

To serve (optional) - frites, mayonnaise cut through with hot sauce

Serves 1

To cook the duck - first, preheat your oven to 180. Insert the probe and then place skin side down in a cold pan. Set to a medium heat (this will be a 5 or 6 on our induction hob). Cook for 10 minutes to allow the fat to start to render. As it sits in the pan, paint the flesh side with harissa paste. After 10 minutes, transfer to the oven and cook until it is blushingly pink (the timings will very much depend on your duck breast, and my notes from D just say - "Remove when the probe tells you to.") Brush the skin with harissa and set aside to rest.

For the sauce - heat the olive oil and then add the shallot and garlic, with a generous amount of seasoning, and allow to soften for a few minutes. Stir through the harissa paste, then add the tomatoes along with the cumin seeds. Use the back of a spoon to gently crush the tomatoes. Reduce, over a medium heat until the sauce has reached its desired consistency - at least ten minutes. Do a final seasoning check - you may need a touch more salt and pepper and even a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes aren't quite sweet enough.

Serve the duck atop the sauce - with optional fries and spicy mayonnaise on the side.

Easter Sunday, a feast of duck

It has been so long since I last posted that I’m not even going to bother commenting. Onwards!

The big news chez nous is that we have recently replaced our kitchen. Gone is the poky little galley with the slightly yellowish walls. In its place a big, bright room with a huge island and a statement radiator. I’ll share some before and after pictures at some point.

Easter Sunday lunch, then, was a chance to flex some cooking muscles which we haven’t been able to do in a while. And it was delicious.

Duck and black pudding bonbons with sweet and sour roasted plums. We often make these bonbons at Christmas and, once the  confit legs have been brined, slow cooked in duck fat and then roasted the final stage is simplicity itself. The meat is so tender that it only needs a bit of black pudding and a pinch of Chinese five spice and it holds itself together perfectly in a sphere which can then be bread-crumbed and fried. You may note that head-chef D favours bonbons that tend towards the snooker-ball size.

Brined duck breast with cabbage, ginger cream and chilli oil. An Ottolenghi accompaniment - sounds odd, proved absolutely delicious. 

Cherry frangipane tart with clementine ice cream. D has conceived something of a passion for pastry recently and he does it very well. The ice cream is simplicity itself and lovely both on its own and as an accompaniment. 

After months of ready meals, sandwiches and takeaways, utter bliss.