Salivate! Duck
Kite Surfing Tarifa
In the south of Spain between the Rock of Gibraltar and the Portuguese border is a small village called Tarifa.
Three facts about Tarifa:
Fact 1: It is the windsurfing/kite-surfing capital of Europe
Fact 2: It is located where the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean meet
Fact 3: On a clear day you can see the cars driving down the road in Tangiers, Morocco
I managed an exclusive boutique hotel when I lived in Tarifa.
Cortijo El Aguilon
It was amazing place and an amazing job. We had a wonderful chef who cooked every night for the guests, creating a different menu with what was fresh in the market. Every morning Antonio and I would sit together and discuss the menu. We would come up with a 3 course meal and write it up on the board near the kitchen for the guests to see and decide. In the afternoon I would ring him with the numbers for dinner and he would go off to the market to get the produce.
What a fabulous way to cook – local and fresh.
The following recipe is an adaptation of one of Antonio’s incredible dishes. I have played around with it a bit and really like the Asian tastes. It’s light and simple and I think it really suits where we live.
serves 4
INGREDIENTS
4 magret of duck (breast skin on)
2 fresh pears peeled and sliced thinly
8 french shallots – small onions – sliced thinly
1tsp sugar
4 hearts of firm lettuce – baby cos is good
METHOD
· Score the breast skin on the diagonal, season the flesh and fry skin side down first for 3 minutes. You don’t need to use any oil as the fat will render from the skin. Turn and fry on the flesh side for a further 5 minutes.
· Place the duck in a pre-heated 180˚oven and continue cooking either in the same pan (if it has a metal handle) or on an oiled tray. Duck should be ideally served medium rare - about 8 minutes in the oven. Leave it in longer if you want it well done but it won’t taste as good!
· When it is cooked to your liking slice the duck at about ½ cm thickness
· Meanwhile, in a pan sauté the shallots and the pear in a little olive oil over a medium heat. Do not let the shallots brown. Add the sugar and continue to stir until sugar has dissolved and the pears are glazed.
· Cut the lettuce hearts in quarters lengthwise
Dressing
1 chunk ginger about 2cms grated
Splash Sesame oil
1 lime juice
2 tbsp sugar
Splash fish sauce
Splash of water
The dressing is a matter of taste. What is salty to you may not be to me. The thing to do here is to add a little of everything at a time and taste until you have the right mix. The dressing should be a balanced blend of salty, sweet and sour, so trust your tastebuds and go for it!
· Place all the ingredients into a jar and shake well. The dressing should be made at least an hour before you cook the duck. It can be made the night before and stored in the fridge – will taste better if you do, as everything gets a chance to marinate and the depth of flavours will increase.
To serve
On each plate, share out the lettuce hearts and spread along the plate. Spoon over the pear and shallot mixture and then lay the sliced duck over that.
Give the dressing a good shake and then pour it over the duck making sure that each plate gets some of the grated ginger.
Hand the plates around and get stuck into it. Fantastic! The bite of the ginger combined with the sweetness of pears and sugar is a fabulous taste sensation.