I have to confess I’ve always been sceptical of putting fruit into savoury dishes, in very few cases does it actually work, apricots in a Moroccan tagine for example, but if you want to start chucking strawberries in a salad I really can’t get on board with that. I will, however, admit that I can be won over if the combination is right.
Fancying something a bit different I bought a couple of duck breasts and when I got home quickly set about googling duck recipes looking for inspiration. Sadly when you have a less common ingredient the same bunch of recipes crop up over and over again, duck à l’orange and a variety of Chinese five spice based dishes. None of these were calling to me. It wasn’t until I spotted a dish that paired the duck with grilled peaches that a light bulb went off in my head and I began building this dish up in my head.
The most difficult thing about this dish is cooking the duck breasts, but they don’t take long and if you give it your full attention and don’t try to assemble the rest of the ingredients at the same time, the method I’ve given is pretty foolproof. The beauty is that everything else is so quick and easy to throw together so I’d recommend you cook the duck, get it right and then set aside to rest while you finish off the remainder of the dish.
Ingredients
2 peaches, sliced into wedges
2 duck breasts
Sea Salt
1/2 tin broad beans, drained
100g lambs lettuce (or similar)
50g pre-prepared cauliflower rice
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Method
1. Gently score the skin of the duck breasts in a criss-cross pattern taking care not to slice into the meat. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and leave to rest for at least half an hour. If they’ve just come out of the fridge, you’ll want to rest them until they’ve come to room temperature and are no longer fridge-cold.
2. Bring a pan to a medium-high heat and place in the duck breasts skin side down. Push down for a few seconds to ensure all the skin is in contact with the pan.
3. Fry for approximately 4 minutes or until the skin no longer appears fatty.
4. Flip over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until browned.
5. Remove from the pan and set aside to rest.
6. Bring a griddle pan to a high heat and gently grill the wedges for a couple of minutes on each side until grill marked.
7. Meanwhile cook the cauliflower rice. This can be done by steaming the cauliflower rice in a bowl covered in cling film or sautéing gently (oil-free) in a pan.
8. Spread the lambs lettuce between two plates and scatter over the cauliflower rice and broad beans.
9. Arrange the grilled peach wedges around the edges. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
10. Thinly slice the duck breasts and rest one on each plate on top of the salad.
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