Asian duck breasts

I’d never cooked duck before this day, and was always a bit nervous about it. I order it a lot in restaurants for that reason but the day came for me to take the challenge.

I went to Sainsburys and they were selling Gressingham duck breasts at half price…it was like a sign telling me my time had come to step up and cook the duck! We love Asian food and duck and Asian spices are a wonderful match, so after much consideration, here’s what I decided to do. There are several steps, but none of them are particularly difficult and honestly, the finished dish is so delicious and looks so stunning, it’s worth it. Go on, give it a try!

Serves 2

2 duck breasts

For the rub

1 tbsp Spanish paprika

Half a tbsp dry mustard

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp Chinese five spice

Half a tsp black pepper

For the glaze

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

Make the rub first by mixing all the ingredients together.

Next make the glaze. Heat the oil, adding the ginger and garlic and cook until they are soft. Whisk in the honey and soy sauce and cook until the honey has melted. Leave it to cool

Heat the grill to medium-high. Score the skin-side of the duck with a knife in a lattice pattern, being sure not to cut through to the flesh.

Rub the skin side of each breast with a few tablespoons of the rub and place on the grill, rub side down, and grill until slightly charred and the skin begins to get crispy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the breasts over, brush with some of the glaze and continue grill to medium-rare doneness, another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the duck from the grill and brush with more of the glaze. Rest for 5 minutes then slice 1/4-inch thick on the diagonal.

Serve sliced on top of this salad.

Salad to serve it with

You can use pretty much any combination of your favourite salad ingredients. Here’s what I used:

Mint leaves

Basil leaves

Radishes

Cucumber

Spring onions

Mushrooms

For the dressing

Mix together two thirds vegetable oil with one third lime juice. Add a dash of fish sauce, half a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of cayenne pepper or chilli powder.