Duck with apple and sauerkraut

Multiple courses this evening!I was feeling celebratory as I have a lovely new 22inch wide screen monitor which makes the food photos look fabulous.

Let's begin with the soup. It was sublime! Carrots are not my favourite vegetable, but we've been having a lot of them in the weekly vegetable bag. I took three medium ones, and half a bunch of celery, and sliced that all up. Then I put them in a pot over gentle heat to let them soften a bit while I peel about an inch of fresh ginger and chopped it quite finely. I added it to the vegetables with about 750 ml of chicken stock. You could easily use water; I just happened to have stock in the fridge. Bring that to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer till the vegetables are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste, then purée it till smooth. Add about half a cup of cream, then reheat very gently. I served it in a glass, and floated a little cream on top, sprinkled with ground ginger. This I will make for Gordon Ramsay should he ever come to dinner. Any famous chef, I don't care.



This orange and goat's cheese salad is finicky more than anything else, because you need to prepare the orange carefully. I used one orange for two people, but you can use as many as you like. You need to peel them, and then separate the flesh from the membranes. Do this over a bowl so you can catch the juice. Check out how much juice you have, and add about half as much lemon juice to it, then twice as much oil. Blend till smooth. Toss the oranges in some of the dressing, and drizzle the rest over the plate and the goat's cheese.



Duck breast is always quick and easy, so it made up for the care that went into the oranges. I use one duck breast for two people because I find it so rich. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, then put it in a pan over low heat, skin side down and just leave the fat to sizzle out. After about ten minutes you can turn the duck breast over and cook the meaty side in the fat, also slowly. While you're doing this, you can chop some apple and mix it with sauerkraut, and heat that. I used half an apple to about a cup of sauerkraut. The other half I cut into thin slices.

When the duck stops looking red on the outside, after another 7-10 minutes, take it out of the fat and let it rest. While it does that, fry the apple slices in the duck fat, also over low heat.

Slice the duck, and serve it on the sauerkraut topped with the apple.

Don't season the sauerkraut at all: I did this and it was too salty. Otherwise, the combination was nice and a different take on duck.