saturday night feast

Cooking meat is a skill most people take for granted, but I am struggling to get to grips with it. I've been vegetarian for around 13 years now, and was vegan for several of those years. While I've managed to get dairy and seafood back into my diet (and with great aplomb too!), I can't quite make the mental leap to eating meat. YET. I love the thought of hearty roasts and really rich cuts of meat, especially in winter. I'm not funny about cooking it or handling it, but I have a limited repertoire. So this week's cooking challenge might seem 'easy', but for me, it represented a great challenge.

I made a crispy duck leg with braised red cabbage, very crunchy roast potato and squash, all served with a redcurrant gravy. I had to take D's word for how it tasted, but there was nothing left except the bone!

In researching recipes for the cooking challenge, I found many varied schools of thought. Cook for 3 hours, cook for 45 minutes, cook under 200ml goose fat, crisp the skin in a pan first, don't fry it at all, bake then crisp. Very stressful! Finally, I decided to wing it (pardon the pun). I made my own marinade and checked the duck every 20 minutes or so.

For entree, we started with chilli prawns. I learned to make this when working at the restaurant. The chef (who I have already told you is one of the best chefs in the world, in my opinion) was kind enough to give me the recipe for her sauce, however she swore me to secrecy. I make the sauce often but keep the recipe to myself.


The main course (cooking challenge of the week):

For dessert, an English classic with a twist: banoffee meringue. So, so, so rich and sickly sweet but absolutely delicious.

This was a fun week and I am pleased to have made a start on learning to prepare duck. Next time, I think I will make a confit.

Happy cooking!dd.x