Five-spice seared duck breasts with honey & raspberry sauce, wilted pak choi & spring onions
Catherine says: “For a good few years now, I’ve been able to grow pak choi in our vegetable garden. Having grown up with a vegetable patch full of the old reliables – turnips, carrots, potatoes and the like – pak choi seems delightfully exotic. It’s amazing what the climate in Ireland can produce! This dish is decidedly easy and once again great when entertaining as it is full of colour and flavour”
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 x 200g duck breasts, skin on
1 tsp five-spice powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce
1 tbsp butter
1 orange, zest and juice 2cm fresh root ginger, grated 3 tbsp honey
200g raspberries
For the vegetables
Rapeseed oil, for sautéing
1 red chilli, finely sliced
½ tsp ground cumin
6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced lengthways into 3 2 pak choi, trimmed and sliced lengthways Bunch of coriander, chopped
Method
1 To prepare the duck, score the duck breasts diagonally each way with a sharp knife and rub with the five-spice powder, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the duck, skin side down, into a large, cold frying pan and leave to cook slowly on a low heat until the skin is golden and the duck fat has melted into the pan. Turn the duck breasts over, increase the heat to medium and cook for a further 5 minutes approximately, until tender but still pink in the middle. Remove from the pan, cover and keep warm.
2 To make the sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the orange juice and zest and simmer for 2 minutes before adding the ginger, honey and raspberries. Simmer for 2 minutes and set aside. To prepare the vegetables, heat some oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the red chilli, cumin and spring onions and sauté for 1 minute before adding the pak choi and sautéing for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped coriander.
3 To serve, place the wilted spring onions and pak choi on a large platter, then slice the duck and arrange
the slices on top. Spoon over the raspberry sauce and serve immediately.