Earlier this month, I received a cookbook for my birthday! And what a corker it is… “Skinny Weeks and Weekend Feasts by chef and award-winning food writer: Gizzi Erskine.
Gizzi is a Scottish-born, cat-loving, super-cool babe who looks like a 1960’s pin-up model. Oh, and she also cooks the most fantastic feasts. She writes for the Sunday Times Magazine and trained at Leighs School of Food & Wine.
Recipes in the book range from Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Indian influences to her stylish, modern take on British and American classics.
I’ve tried her Buttermilk Fried Chicken recipe which was amazing. Can’t wait to give the fish pie a go too!
Skinny Weeks and Weekend Feasts – my kinda concept
The concept of the book is simple – quick, nutritious, low calorie but full-flavours in the week. Then, indulgent feasts at the weekend.
Although it was a Friday night, I wanted something quick to put together, so, after much deliberation, decided on the Roast Duck Noodle Soup.
I thought I’d share the recipe with you, as it really was delicious and so easy! It’ tastes just like something from the most authentic of Japanese noodle bars!
The book says all in all the recipe takes 45 minutes to prep and cook, and it serves 2. However, as we couldn’t find duck leg that evening, we opted for a duck crown which took a little longer to cook. It also upped the portion size and gave enough leftover duck to have Saturday night crispy duck pancakes! WINNING!
What you need:
- 1 x 250g duck leg (I substituted this for duck crown and used half of it)
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 100g egg noodles
- 1L chicken stock
- a thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp star anise
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame sauce
- 3 shitake mushrooms, quartered
- 50g enoki mushrooms (although I couldn’t find these, so I just doubled up on the shitake)
- 2 heads pak choi, thickly shredded
- 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
- a few chives, thinly sliced
- 1 red Thai bird’s-eye chilli, sliced
- a few sprigs of fresh mint (Bradley’s not too keen on mint, and this is just a garnish, so we left it out)
What to do:
Heat the oven to 180*C/Gas 4. Season the duck with salt and pepper, lay it on a roasting tray, pop in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, until the skin is crispy and the meat is tender and almost falling off the bone.
Mix together the honey, five-spice powder and half of the soy sauce in a bowl. Heat a saucepan over a medium heat and place the duck in the hot pan. Pour over the honey mixture and cook gently until sticky and glossy.
Remove the duck from the pan and shred the meat. (IF you are being ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ – this is the part where you REMOVE the skin, which harbours most of the fat). As it was Friday night, we decided not…
Pour over the honey mixture and cook gently until sticky and glossy. Remove the duck from the pan and shred the meat. (IF you are being ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ – this is the part where you REMOVE the skin, which harbours most of the fat). As it was Friday night, we decided not…
Cook the noodles in a saucepan of boiling water with a pinch of salt until tender. Drain well.
Heat the stock, ginger, garlic and star anise in a large saucepan, add the oyster sauce, sesame oil and remaining soy sauce and stir to combine. Add salt TO TASTE (I didn’t, as I thought it tasted great already!) Simmer for a few minutes.
Remove and discard the ginger, garlic and star anise from the broth using a slotted spoon. Add the shitake mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the pak choi, enoki mushrooms (if using), spring onions, chives, noodles and duck. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Divide between bowls and garnish with chopped chilli and mint (if using).
Enjoy!
