Crispy duck stir fry

 Since it is Chinese New Year on Friday, I thought it was only fitting that I treat myself to some duck, and thankfully, the supermarkets agreed. In Sainsbury's the crispy aromatic duck is half price at £5 so I bought it and decided that instead of sitting there by myself and scoffing duck pancakes, I would make a delicious stir fry that I could share with you all!

It was super yummy - I love duck because it's so tender and full of strong flavour, and you can make it really crispy. Don't worry if you don't have a whole or half a crispy duck to cook, you can buy duck breasts and cook them like you would chicken and this stir fry would be just as good. If you haven't tried duck before, I really recommend it - I have only enjoyed it in recent years since my mum unfortunately got really bad food poisoning from duck once (not to put you off) and so we never had it in the house so I never got to try it. But now I love it and will always choose it in restaurants if the opportunity is there. As a student, duck is an expensive meat and a luxury but I thought it was time to treat myself! (Make sure you buy some prawn crackers too)

This recipe made a portion for my dinner and two others which I have frozen - all were quite big portions so I will say this serves 3 but it could stretch to feed 4, or if you have an even bigger appetite than me or are eating with a man then perhaps it would serve 2, but there was a lot of duck!

Serves 3

- half a crispy aromatic duck (or any duck equivalent)

- olive oil

- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

- bunch of spring onions, chopped

- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced lengthways

- 1 red pepper, sliced

- 300g beansprouts (or as many as you desire)

- pack of fresh egg noodles (410g)

- sachet of hoisin sauce

- splash of soy sauce

1. Start by cooking the duck - if you have the crispy duck like me then you will need to oven cook this for about 40 minutes on 180 degrees, until crispy. If you have different duck meat then follow packet instructions or if duck breast then slice and fry until browned.

2. Once the duck meat is cooked, set aside, or if you used crispy duck then you will need to shred it and then set aside (and try not to eat all the crispy skin before you even start cooking the stir fry).

3. In a wok, or large saucepan, heat a generous amount of oil, then fry the garlic, most of the spring onions (leaving a few raw to garnish) and carrot for a few minutes. Then add the red pepper and beansprouts and cook until softened.

4. Next, add the duck meat and cook for a few more minutes to heat through. Then stir in the egg noodles and the hoisin and soy sauce. I used the hoisin sauce sachet that came with the duck - but you can buy it in sachets or in bottles at the supermarket and can use as much or as little as you like, but don't forget that it has quite a strong flavour and the egg noodles and duck are quite moist without a lot of sauce.

5. Serve immediately and sprinkle the remaining chopped spring onion on top!

Enjoy :)

Egg fried rice

My mum bought some 'sticky pork belly slices' from Sainsbury's the other week which you just bake in the oven, so I decided to whip up some egg fried rice to go with it. Usually I would add peas but I felt like using carrots and green beans for a change. This is super easy to make - probably not the best egg fried rice ever because if you make it properly you should let the rice cool down etc etc but who has time for that.... this is fine if you just want some yummy rice very quickly!

Serves 2

- 185g wholegrain rice

- 1 carrot, sliced

- large handful of green beans, chopped

- sesame oil (or olive)

- 1 egg, beaten

1. Cook the rice according to packet instructions in salted water, with the green beans and carrot. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the rice, stirring until coated. Gradually pour in the egg, stirring and frying until the egg is set. Voila!

Enjoy :)

Pan-fried duck breast and noodles with plum sauce

This isn't quite as fancy as the title makes out - you know in Tesco they do the 3 for £3 on noodles, stir fry veg pack and a sauce - well, that is really all this is - plus the duck! So it is egg noodles, the plum & hoisin sauce which is delicious and a vegetable mixture of spring greens, bean sprouts, carrot, broccoli, onion and pepper (we added mushrooms too). The duck breasts were from a pack from Costco, and I have never cooked duck until last night so I was a little concerned... The meat was tender though and the fat crisp, so it turned out well and of course went perfectly with the stir fry. This is a perfect stir fry if you want something a little more special than just chunks of chicken or pork.

Serves 2
- drizzle of olive oil
- 1 tsp chopped ginger
- 2 duck breasts (with the fat)
- 1 pack of egg noodles
- range of stir-fry vegetables (see above for details)
- plum and hoisin sauce

1. In a large shallow pan, heat the oil and fry the ginger for a few minutes.

2. Score the fat on the duck breasts, then place fat-side down in the pan. Cook for around 10 minutes, or until the fat is crispy.
3. Heat some olive oil in a wok and stir-fry the vegetables for a few minutes. Add the noodles and cook for another few minutes, then add the sauce and continue to cook on a low heat.
4. Turn the duck breasts over and cook for around 5 minutes. Cut open to check the colour inside - depending on how you like it, cook for longer or serve. I found that it wasn't cooking so well in the pan so we put it in the oven for around 5-10 minutes on 200 degrees, then returned to the pan fat-side down to crisp up again.
5. Once everything is cooked to your preference, Serve the stir fry and place the duck breast cut into diagonal strips on top.

Enjoy :)

Soy, honey and garlic salmon

This marinade was a bit of an experiment, and it worked out really well. The sweetness of the honey with the salty soy sauce went perfectly well along with the garlic which I didn't expect! The salmon was incredibly moist and tender - I wished I had someone to share this with! I was just cooking for myself, since my mum doesn't eat fish. So please try this and let me know what you think. I wasn't very hungry at the time so I just served it with broccoli that I stir fried with sesame seeds, but this would be lovely with wholegrain rice.

(Sorry for the lack of posts - can't believe I only did 7 in June! I have been on holiday recently as well so quite a lot of these recipes are from a few weeks ago that I just haven't had the time to post. Hope you enjoy and sorry again for being so silent recently)

Serves 1

- 1 salmon fillet 

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp honey

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 clove of garlic, crushed

1. In a small dish, mix all the above ingredients half an hour before cooking to allow time to marinate.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4. Wrap the salmon in foil and place on a baking tray in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through and flaky

Enjoy :)

Simple sweet and sour chicken

I've been having a lot of Chinese-style food recently, and although this is nothing particularly clever or special, I thought I would post the recipe I used anyway, because it was delicious! This dish is best served with rice; any style you like.

Serves 3
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large, or 3 medium chicken breasts, sliced
- 2 small red onions, chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, sliced
- 1/2 yellow pepper, sliced
- 1 large jar of sweet and sour sauce e.g. sharwood's, chicken tonight, uncle ben's. (we used Sharwood's with pineapple and pepper pieces)
- frozen peas (as many as you like)
- 1 small tin of pineapple rings (usually has 4 rings), chopped


1. Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan, and add the chicken, cooking until brown all over.
2. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, then add the pepper.
3. Once the chicken is cooked through, and the onion and pepper is soft, add the sweet and sour sauce. (TIP:  instead of scraping round the jar with a spoon to get the remains of the sauce, add a splash of water to the jar, screw on the lid and shake. Then pour into the pan!)
4. Add the peas and pineapple and cook until the sauce is bubbling and the peas are cooked.
5. Serve with rice and a side of prawn crackers!

Enjoy :)