Duck with Spiced Plum Jam and Watercress

I'm a little late in posting this but it was a meal served for Valentine's Day and went down exceedingly well. I'm usually a bit reticent about cooking duck at home as I once filled the kitchen with black smoke from all the fat. However, this was easy to cook and divine to eat with no nasty smoke to ruin the mood.

Photography is not my strong point ...
the perspective implies enormous pak choi and tiny duck 

The recipe is one that I've had sitting neglected in a file for a while, but now it has been given the attention that it so rightly deserved. So get to the butcher and order juicy duck breasts and get quacking!  As always the recipe is designed for four but I amended it to suit the two of us. I used a whole breast each but the recommended three would work well for four as we were very full!

Ingredients: 

• 2 heads pak choi
• 3 duck breasts
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a bunch of watercress to garnish

    for the plum jam:

• 200g caster sugar
• 200ml white wine vinegar
• 1 medium chilli, chopped
• pinch of chilli powder
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• squeeze of lime juice
• splash of soy sauce
• 6 plums, stoned and chopped
• 1 Tbsp chopped coriander
• salt and ground ginger

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180*C / gas mark 4. Break the pak choi into individual leaves, then split each leaf down it's length. Set aside.
• Prepare the duck breasts by removing any sinew from the underside of the breast; use a very sharp knife to score the skin with a series of slashes, being careful not to cut too deeply and cut into the flesh.

• ** This is where I would skip to the plum jam and start making that before setting off on meat cooking ... timings will overlap so read through the recipe thoroughly and decide how you want to time things**

• Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add the breasts, skin side down; and cook for about 3 minutes until the skin has caramelised. Pour off the excess fat and reserve.
• Lay the duck breasts, skin side down, in a roasting pan and place in the oven for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
• Pour the reserved fat and any fat in the roasting tin back in the frying pan and set over a medium heat. Once hot add the pack choi and toss in the hot duck fat. Remove from the pan and season with salt and pepper.

** To make the plum jam:

• Heat the sugar and vinegar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then cook until the mixture starts to thicken.
• Add the chilli and chilli powder, garlic and lime juice and soy sauce. Then stir in the plums and cook for 20-30 minutes until tender.
• Add the coriander, then remove the pan from the heat and season with salt and ground ginger.

Carve the duck into slices and divide between four plates, then serve with the pak choi and plum jam, garnished with watercress.

We both loved this, particularly the plum jam; we decided it would work really well with pork chops too ... see what you think.