Duck in a Pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I had some left over duck to use up and was wondering how to prepare it to serve for dinner.   It’s very hot at the moment so I was looking for something hot and tasty to ofset weather.

I remember that many years ago…..far more than I am going to admit I often stayed in a family run hotel in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast.   I probably visited there six or seven times a year  with my work and usually stayed for a week.  Of course, visiting that regularly allowed me to get to now the family and staff of the hotel very well.  It was a lovely hotel right on the seafront at Aberystwyth.

One evening, I went down to dinner and the chef told me he had prepared duck in a pineapple and ginger sauce, which was truly delicious.    I guess this was about 35 years ago so maybe the fact I still remember it is testament to just how delicious it was!!!

This is the recipe for my own version.   I hope you enjoy it.

 

Duck in a pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I used left over duck cut into small chunks.

First, prepare the sauce:-

Ingredients

1 large tin pineapple pieces
3 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh red pepper (cut finely) (no seeds)
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/4 cup cold water

Method

Set aside the red pepper, cornflour and water.

Put the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix the cornflour and water before slowly adding to the sauce. Make sure to keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps forming The aim is to just thicken the sauce and you may not need all the cornflour/water mixture. The sauce should become thicker and coat the back of a spoon.

Bring back to the boil for about a minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the red peppers.

Once the sauce is ready put the chunks of duck in an oven to table dish and pour over the sauce.

Place in the middle of a hot oven and allow to cok for about 30 minutes.  Ensure the meat is piping hot

 

I served it with some boiled new potatoes and a few broad beans,  however, the sauce would also be delicious as a pouring spicy/sweet accompaniment to many other meats especially pork.

Spag Bog… Well, not really.

Spaghetti Bolognese is a popular dish across Europe, the USA, Australia and as far as I know, much of the rest of the world, and just as it is popular in many countries and households so, there are just as many recipes for it.

Spaghetti Bolognese, however, is not truly an Italian dish.  Any self respecting Italian will politely explain that if you are making a rich meaty sauce, such as Bolognese, then you need to marry it with a broad pasta tube which is capable of swallowing the sauce whole!  I’m not very well up on Italian pasta names as I have never lived in Italy, and indeed, despite it is only a few hours drive away, have rarely visited it.  All that having been said, I love the textures and flavours generated by the thin spaghetti and the rich sauce.

The next thing is that, apparently, a Bolognese sauce should have little if any tomato content.  Well again …  I’ve never been served Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy (surprise surprise), but I have eaten it in France, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the USA and every time it has been a delicious tomatoey meaty sauce!

Finally, I know that a true Bolognese sauce takes many hours to make.  I never have enough time, although I do prepare this sauce in advance and leave to develop overnight.  I finish the sauce, store in the fridge, and then gently reheat it when I’m ready to serve.  But I also know that, following the recipe and cooking the sauce immediately before serving is great too.

Many years ago I had a young lady staying here with me and one day I duly served my version of Spaghetti Bolognese.  She watched me cook it with interest and not a small smile on her face, before announcing that what I had made looked delicious but was not Spaghetti Bolognese, which got us into a big discussion about what it truly was. However I duly continued with my recipe and after lunch there were several clean plates.   It’s also true to say that the same afternoon, (It was the middle of summer) we were all sunbathing by the pool when the said young lady got in the pool, immediately complaining that my lunch was making her sink.  I simply pointed out that as she was swimming sans maillot, she didn’t have the added buoyancy afforded by such apparel.

So here is my recipe for a  dish I better call

Spaghetti with a rich meaty sauce

Serves 4 people

Preparation about 15 minutes

Cooking time about 30 minutes

 

For the Sauce

400g minced beef (lean)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cloves of Garlic (finely sliced)

4ozs mushrooms (chopped)

4 rashers streaky bacon

Herbes de provence

Tinned tomatoes

Tin Tomato puree (4oz)

Cup of sweet white wine

Grated parmesan cheese

For the Pasta

You need a pasta that is large enough to hold the meaty sauce, or, do like I do and ignore everybody and use Spaghetti

 

Method

Chop the bacon into small pieces then In a large casserole, fry till crisp,

Add the minced beef and onions and fry everything till the onions are translucent

Add the apple, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces

Add the wine, garlic, herbes de provence and tinned tomatoes

Bring to the boil and stir in the tomato puree

Bring to the boil again and add the mushrooms

Simmer about 15/20 minutes(while you cook the pasta)

(At this point the sauce can be kept overnight to allow the flavours to develop)

Bring a pan of water to the boil

Add the pasta and boil for 7 to 10 minutes depending on preference

Drain pasta and rinse with more boiling water, then add a small amount of olive oil to the pan and heat. Add the pasta back into the pan with the oil and shake pan to coat pasta

Serve pasta, and sauce, and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top

 

I often add chorizo, but on this occasion I knew one of my guests didn’t like Chorizo so I omitted it.

I served it with garlic bread and a glass of wine!

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did

Tartar Sauce

Friday here is fish day and today was no exception.

I love fish and seafood in virtually any way that it arrives but I am particularly fond of traditional British Fried Fish and Chips.

However, those of you who know me, or who have seen my photo on the blogs, will know that fried fish and chips is not something I should be sampling every week.  My compromise comes in three forms: one - the fish I choose these days is coated in breadcrumbs and grilled, rather than coated in delicious succulent beer batter and deep fried to perfection... two - the chips I go for these days are lightly fried in oil, then frozen... then oven baked to serve.  Although they are still fried, they contain about 50% less fat than the traditional chip of potato, cut into slices, deep fried in animal fat, then, after the fat has been reheated, deep fried a second time until they are golden brown and crunchy.... three - well, the third compromise is to replace the tartar sauce with a slice or two of lemon.... but hey, lets stick to two compromises shall we?

I always make my own tartar sauce as part of preparing the meal and have developed an incredibly easy recipe which is fabulously tasty

Here it is:

Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

3 or 4 small pickled gherkins
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon of the pickling vinegar
a few capers (if liked)

Method

Finely chop the gherkins and put them in a ramekin.

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, fresh dill, vinegar and capers and blend together.  Chill for an hour or so.

This recipe makes a small serving suitable for a dinner for 4 (or me!!!)  It's incredible easiness, belies it's great taste.

Fish in a kind of Provencal sauce

It was Friday and I was running out of food....  Well it would be an exaggeration to say running out of food....  My garden is loaded with salad stuff, I had the few last leaves of cabbage growing and the new crop of Broad Beans was ready for it's first picking.....  but....

So, it was Friday and I was running out of food and I had to prepare lunch.  The solution in my mind was take a look at what I actually had and then create something...which would hopefully be tasty.

There were the last couple of pieces of coley, which I quite like.  I had Courgettes (zucchini), lots, I found a fennel in the vegetable rack and as I dug into the freezer, I found the last few tomatoes from last year,  3 large Marmande, a tomato I find very tasty and which freezes and keeps well.

I could create a fish in a kind of Provencal sauce.

  I got down my big old heavy frying pan from the rack and set it on a medium heat

Provence is olive country so a good tablespoon of olive oil was the first thing in the pan, quickly followed by a generous dose of "Herbes de Provence"....(what else??)

Next I peeled and sliced 4 cloves of garlic and chopped a medium onion, throwing them in the pan as I went.

The pan had now warmed sufficiently to turn down to a low heat.

I chopped the onion and tomatoes and added those.  I really needed more tomatoes but I didn't have any so I opened a tin of Italian plum tomatoes and chopped them before adding them, along with all the liquid

I chopped half the fennel and added that.

When I found the tomatoes, I also found a small aubergine (egg plant) from last year...although, I didn't actually grow aubergine last year!!! so that got chopped and added

A few dates, pitted and chopped and the sauce was beginning to come together although it lacked something...  I added a teaspoon of sea salt and a generous cupful of a sweet white wine I have.

The wine is a home made wine made by a local farmer....  It is made in the same way that Monbazillac is made.  Sadly, he lives a few kilometres outside the Monbazillac Vignoble limits and as he isn't a registered wine producer it remains as a home made wine which he can't sell.   This particular bottle was 25 years old and beautifully mellow and smooth.

The fennel was added next and then the sauce left to simmer gently until the liquid had reduced quite a bit.

In the meantime, I lay the fish fillets in the bottom of an ovenproof dish and scattered a good handful of peeled prawns (shrimp) over them.

Once the sauce was ready I covered the fish with it and then baked in a medium oven for about 20 minutes (180C).

I started off calling this a "kind of Provencal sauce" but I'm not sure anyone from Provence would give it a seal of approval....

Hot Sauce

This is a nice little hot sauce to serve with shell fish, smoked salmon etc..

It takes about 5 minutes to make and keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days.

Ingredients

Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Horseradish Sauce
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
Worcestershire Sauce
a couple of drops Tabasco Sauce

I usually make this in a small ramekin.

Half fill the ramekin with Tomato Ketchup.   Add all other ingredients and mix together.  Let stand for about 30 minutes.