Something a little bit new for the blog! One of my (belated) new year’s resolutions was to cook more. More specifically to try out more new dishes. I have an array of cookbooks which usually sit gathering dust, whilst we have the same old boring fare week-in-week-out. Every Tuesday I’ll be looking to let you know what I’ve been trying out that week, how much it cost and most importantly – how it tasted!
Just some of my many cookbooks
This week I cooked up this fantastic duck dish from, possibly the most-hypenated cookbook in all the land… Best-Ever 30-Minute Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood. I’d never cooked duck before, but I’m pleased to report it was scrumptious and easy! Watch and learn…
Ingredients:
- Duck breast portions x 2: £7.00 (this is a bird which certainly ain’t cheap!)
- Fine-cut marmalade: FREE (We already had some in the fridge)
- Light Soy Sauce: £0.69
- Salt and Ground Black Pepper: Free (Well, doesn’t everyone have these in the cupboard?)
- Pak Choi: £1.25
- Rice: FREE (again, a store cupboard staple, no?)
Total cost: £8.94 (Cost per serving (based on two): £4.47) – Not exactly ‘Feed your Family for a fiver’ but oh-so-worth the extra money!
How to do it…
1.) Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas5. Place the duck breasts on a grill rack over the sink and pour over boiling water to shrink the skin (this helps the skin to crisp up during cooking). Pat the duck dry with kitchen towel and transfer to a roasting tin.
2.) Mix together 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of fine-cut marmalade (this makes enough for two breasts, so increase as necessary). Brush this over the duck breasts.
3.) Put the duck breasts in the oven for 20-25 minutes, basting occasionally with the mixture in the pan.
4.) Meanwhile cook your rice and pak choi (we used boil-in-the-bag rice and stir fried the pak choi in a little olive oil).
5.) Once cooked, rest the duck for five minutes and then transfer to your plate, pouring over any of the remaining juices from the roasting tin. Serve with rice and pak choi and enjoy!
Unfortunately the picture of the finished product hasn’t saved for some reason, so you will just have to take my word for it that it was scrumptious! It’s not tart as duck in plum sauce can sometimes be, but still has a gorgeous, sticky-sweet Oriental flavour. The pak choi balances out the slightly fattier duck perfectly. Try it!
Let me know how you get on if you cook this… perhaps send me a photo so we can show people what the end result looks like in a ta-da stylee.
P.S. Happy Valentines Day! Need something cheap to do tonight read this.
BABE ON A BUDGET 
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