Mid-holiday time wasting

 Working in a school is great for a number of reasons. One of them is MASSIVE amounts of time off! Possibly too much time off. A 3 week easter break leads to a large amount of boredom, and therefore, I tend to do plenty of cooking. 

 Yesterday was proof of this. I went to the cinema in Berkhamsted to see the new Oz film with my brother (If you haven't been to The Rex, it's amazing), and realised when I was leaving that I had far too much time left in the day; cue, a trip to Waitrose. 

My workstation

 Probably my favourite item in the house is the oven. I love it. As you can see from the picture though, im not the most organised cook. Things get a bit crazy when it comes to plating up. There are pans literally everywhere. Anyway. Food......


 I decided to cook a duck dish, mainly because I was watching masterchef in the morning and saw someone cook duck. 

 Sooooo this is just Pan-fried duck breast with a confit duck leg hash, fondant potato, broad beans and a red wine and plum reduction. 

 Duck breast part is easy, just fry skin side down on a fairly high heat for about 5 minutes, or until crispy. Then fry on the flesh side for 30 seconds before placing in a 180 degree oven for 7 minutes or so. Resting the meat afterward is important.

 The duck legs were more complicated. Put legs in roasting pan and cover with oil or fat, cook on a low heat for a few hours, then allow to cool in the oil. Scrape of oil or fat and shred, then roll in cling film and chill in fridge for a few hours if possible. When close to serving, remove from fridge and roll in flour, then egg wash, then seasoned panko breadcrumbs. Deep fry until golden brown.

 The fondant potato was just like a nice roast potato to be honest. Cut into the desired shape, then shallow fry in a pan on all sides until nicely coloured, then place in a hot oven for half an hour or so.

 Broad beans are broad beans. Just boil in salted water.

 The sauce was a different matter, it required some saving. I made a standard red wine reduction (onion and garlic sweated down with bay leaf. Then add red wine and reduce by half, add beef stock and reduce by half again), and then added plums that I had softened earlier. I had to add a lot of different things to save it, but it tasted pretty good in the end. From experience, I would recommend making a cherry sauce out of a red wine reduction to go with duck, it's easier and less stressful.

 This wasn't the end of my meal, because my mother had made pudding the day before, and we had lots left. It was apple and blueberry crumble. It was amazing. I ate a lot of it.

 I don't know a whole lot about how she made it, what I do know though, is that she uses grated marzipan in with the crumble mix to give it more taste and texture. Its literally amazing. It helps that I LOVE marzipan.

 Unfortunately my mother doesn't have a food blog. Maybe she should. She is well known for her baking ability. 

 I apologise for my photography once again, I have absolutely no idea what to do with a camera. I shall learn.

 Planning a trip to Costco this week to buy an outrageous amount of seafood for a meal, I shall write a post about it if it happens.