Thrift

After receiving stick for slacking, I decided it was about time I started blogging again! It may be a bit sporadic at the moment, but I'll try to keep with it.

When it comes to poultry I admit to being a leg girl! Roast a chicken and the first thing I'll tear off and chew from the bone is a leg - Artemis probably gets as much breast meat as I do. Duck breasts are a bit of a luxury, especially for those on a budget, but tasty feasts can be conjured up using the much cheaper legs.

I have a large bag of Szechuan peppercorns, begging to be used in my cupboard and some pak choi in the fridge so the duck legs were crying out for an aromatic oriental treatment. This is a fairly time consuming recipe, but can be done in two stages as the duck will keep for a few days after the braising. However, I would suggest it is done in one as I must say that the smells wafting around my flat as I made these were just magic!

Twice cooked duck legs

for 2

groundnut oil
2 duck legs
2 spring onions, sliced
1cm slice of root ginger
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 star anise
heaped tsp Szechuan peppercorns
2 tbsp rice wine, or very dry sherry (fino is good)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 dsp coarse sea salt
1 dsp Szechuan peppercorns

pak choi
sesame seeds (toasted in a dry wok)
sesame oil
noodles

First braise the duck legs. Heat a tablespoon of groundnut oil in a heavy based saucepan and fry the spring onions ginger and garlic until soft. Add the star anise and peppercorns and fry until aromatic then the rice wine or sherry and soy sauce, a little salt, then some water, about 100 ml and bring to the boil. Add the duck legs, skin side down first, keeping the heat up high for a few minutes then turn them over and reduce the heat so that the liquid just simmers and cover with a lid. Simmer the duck legs for about an hour and fifteen minutes, turning them over after 45 minutes.
Allow them to cool for a while in the braising liquid, them remove to a bowl and allow the skin to dry for a bit (they can be cooked to this stage in advance and refrigerated). Skim the braising liquid as there will probably be quite a lot of duck fat floating on it, then reduce until it is concentrated, but don't allow it to become over salty with soy sauce.

Heat a heavy frying pan until hot and add the salt and the Szechuan peppercorns. Stir these until the peppercorns turn fragrant and the salt goes off white. Place in a pestle and mortar or grinder and grind to a fine consistency. Have I said already that I find doing stuff like this in a pestle and mortar very theraputic, but I know not everyone can be bothered?!

Cook some noodles by the instructions given. Heat about 1 1/2 cm groundnut oil in a frying pan. Fry the duck legs for about 4 minutes on each side, turning the heat down if the skin is getting too dark. Quarter the pak choi and steam them for about 4 minutes, or until the stems are tender, then drizzle with some sesame oil. Drain the noodles and toss them with some of the reduced braising liquid.

To serve, place some noodles on a plate, top with some pak choi and scatter with the toasted sesame seeds. Top with a crispy duck leg and a little more of the braising liquid. Take to the table and sprinkle the duck with some of the peppercorn salt, a little goes a long way - breathing deeply as the citrus pepper aromas rise. Gorgeous! This makes a nice starter portion, or small meal, without the noodles, as in the picture shown.