Duck and Wild Mushrooms in a Thai Red Curry

I first cooked this dish in Brussels when I was planning on cooking the chicken and bamboo shoot recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible from memory. Popping in to my local Carfour supermarket however, I found some superb duck breasts and wild mushrooms on sale. Hence this variation was born. Feel free to revert to using chicken if you can't get any decent duck breasts though.

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Ingredients

• 1 x 400ml (14 fl oz) can of full fat coconut milk left untouched for at least 3 hours. This will cause the cream to float to the top.
• 2 tbsp peanut (a.k.a. groundnut) oil
• 5 tbsp Red Curry Paste (if you don't make your own buy a good quality Thai brand)
  
• 450g duck (or chicken) breasts cut into thin slices.
  
• 1 250-300g pack of wild mushrooms (if you can't get wild use normal field mushrooms)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (Use fresh lemons to get the juice. Do not use that abomination you can find in a bottle or plastic lemon thingy.)
  
• 1 tsp of palm sugar (or if you can't get it, use any granulated sugar)
• 4 fresh Kafir Lime Leaves or 1 tsp julienned lemon rind (if you use the rind, remember to buy unwaxed lemons)
• 15-20 fresh basil leaves chopped after removing the central stalk.
  

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Preparation

• Very carefully open the tin of coconut milk, trying not to disturb the cream which will have formed on top.
• Take out 4 tbsp of the cream and store in a bowl, stir the rest of the milk and put to one side.
• Heat the oil over a medium heat in a wok or wide non-stick pan.
• When hot add the coconut cream and curry paste and stir fry for about 4 minutes or until the oil starts to separate and the paste is lightly browned.
• Reduce the heat to low and add the duck (or chicken) fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar and the reserved milk.
• Stir and bring to a simmer.
• Cook over a low heat for around 15 minutes.
• Add the Mushrooms.
• Optional steps, if you're in a flat in Brussels.
• Realise you've forgotten the Basil and head off to get some from the supermarket.
• Then discover that the second key to the flat has been left in the door and that you're thus locked out as your key will now not open the door.
• Find someone who speaks French and call a locksmith telling them that the flat will burn to the ground if they can't get around quickly enough.
• Suffer their sarcastic comments and glances, on seeing the contents of your wok is barely bubbling and unlikely in the extreme to come to the boil, let alone burn the house down.
  
• Pay the locksmith 80 Euros and bid him au revoir.
  
• By this time the duck will be cooked to perfection.
  
• Continue to cook until the chicken / duck is cooked through.
• Add the Basil and serve.
  

Cooks Tip: Thai food is a marriage of hot, sweet, and sour flavors. Here the curry paste adds the heat, the sugar the sweet and the lemon the sour. Before serving, taste the food and adjust to balance these elements. If it's too sour add some more sugar, if it's too sweet add some more lemon juice.

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Butternut Squash Soup

Here's an easy soup that's always popular whenever I serve it. I don't know its origins, but it works a treat.

Ingredients
1 medium onion
1 oz butter
1 butternut squash
2 pints of vegetable stock
6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
salt and pepper
chili powder

Preparation
Chop the onion and sweat it in 1 oz butter for ten to fifteen minutes. Shred the bacon finely and add to the butter and onion. Peel the butternut squash—a job that will bring strength to your wrists and orange to your fingertips. Scoop out the seeds and chop into inch cubes.

Add the butternut squash pieces to the pan containing the onions and continue to sweat them all for a few minutes. Add half a teaspoon of chili powder (the curry powder given below works very nicely, too, although you may need a bit more of it than the chili powder), a pinch of salt and a twist or two of black pepper.

Now add the stock. You could use either chicken or vegetable stock, but it helps to use a reasonable one. In the absence of any home-made stock—I have a job, a daughter to get to school, and a conspicuous absence of kitchen staff—like George I cheat and use a shop-bought concentrate. The Greasy Truckers' current favourite is the Knorr 'Touch of Taste' liquid concentrate range. Three tablespoons of it will make a couple of pints of stock. The beef one works well in the French Onion Soup recipe below.

Simmer gently until the butternut squash is cooked. This should take around twenty minutes or so. Liquidize it until it's smooth—I use a stick blender, but a liquidizer or food processor would do. Season to taste and serve.

Japanese Style Curry

It is said that the Japanese love curry and from my experiences of the Toyota canteen in Brussels I wouldn't argue with that. Coincidentally I also love curry. Result.

The following recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. It follows two of my favorite philosophies in cooking, one, it's easy to do and two it's extremely tasty.

I think I'm turning Japanese.

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Ingredients

Marinade for the Beef

• 450g / 1lb of beef (use a good quality cut like fillet if you can, this recipes is good enough to deserve it!) cut at a slight angle into 1/4 inch (3 mm) slices
• 5 tbsp tamari - tamari is a brand of Japanese Soy Sauce and has a very distinctive mild taste. Although you can substitute a light soy here, I'd recommend you get hold of the real deal as it does make a big difference to the taste. If you're in London this can be bought from the Japan Centre at Picadily Circus (this also has a useful on-line shop), if not check out your local Asian shops.
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp hot curry powder
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp con, peanut or olive oil
• 2 peeled, crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated, or, as I prefer, hacked to bits with my trusty cleaver
• 1 large Onion, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 3-4 Carrots peeled and cut into 3 cm pieces
  

Sauce

• 2 tsp cornflour
• 6 fl oz (175 ml( beef stock) I cheat and use the bottled liquid stock that's readily available these days.
• 2 tsp tamari
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• 4 tbsp whipping cream

For final Cooking
3 tbsp corn, peanut or olive oil
1 medium Onion cut into thin half rings
2 medium carrots roll cut into 3 mm (1/4 inch) slices

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Taking Care Of Business

• Start by marinading the beef. In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients and add the beef mixing well. Leave to marinade in the fridge for up to 2 hrs.

• Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside. I tend to leave out the cream and add this in at the last minute of cooking. Then set aside.
  

• When the beef has marinated heat the oil over a medium heat in a large non-stick pan

• Stir fry the Onions and Carrots for around 4 minutes until the Onions are slightly translucent.

• Add the beef with its marinade and fry, stirring all the time, for a minute.
  

• Lower the temperature to medium, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Lif the lid and stir periodically in this time.

• Take the pan off the heat and pour in the sauce.

• Stir and cook on a medium low heat for another minute. This will heat the sauce and thicken it a bit, courtesy of the cornflour.
  

• If you've not included the cream in your sauce, add it now. The last time I did this I forgot to add the cream and it still tasted exceptional. Good news if you're on a diet other than see food.

• Stir once more and serve immediately. The Japanese would serve this with rice and Japanese pickles called fukujinzuke (sounds like a word that Ricky Gervais would use in When the Whistle Blows), I found it also works pretty well with some Jalapeños on the side.

Enjoy !!!

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Curry Powder

It might be a bit of a grind, but there is no substitute for using freshly made curry powder in your cooking. Whether it's a parsnip soup a-la Elizabeth David, or, believe it or not, a curry, home made is the real deal.

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
• 1tbsp whole cumin seeds
• 2 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp whole brown mustard seeds
• 5-6 whole cloves
• 3 dried, crumbled, hot red chillies
• 1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp ground tumeric
  

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Preparation

• Heat a small hard bottomed frying pan over a medium heat.

• When hot add the: -

• coriander;
• cumin;
• peppercorns;
• mustard seeds;
• cloves;
• chillies.

• Stir until spices emit a light roasted aroma. Some of the spices will darken slightly. Take care to roast very lightly or the mix will turn bitter.

• Add the:-
  
• fenugreek;
• tumeric.

• Stir for 10 seconds.

• Empty on to a clean plate to cool.

• Grind as finely as possible in a clean coffee or spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

• Store in a clean jar keeping away from heat or sunlight.

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Note: To make a spicier blend add from 1/2 to 2 tsp of good quality chilli powder to the mix.

If you can't take the grind, try the pre-grounhd mix I posted, Curry Powder 2 that I took from Pat Chapman's The New Curry Bible: The Ultimate Modern Curry House Recipe Book (Curry Club)

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Bread Sauce

There's never enough bread sauce, and I think Delia's recipe is one of the best. It reheats well and I think it suits cold meats of all sorts. I've modified it a bit, though, both to make better use of the onions and to ensure you have enough for the turkey (or goose or whatever) on the day, and for a couple of days afterwards.

Ingredients
2 large onions
lots of cloves - try 8–10 per onion half
2 bay leaves
black peppercorns
2 pints of full cream milk (although semi-skimmed will work)
4 oz butter
8 oz of breadcrumbs (some bread whizzed up in your food-processor is ideal)
4 tablespoons of double cream

Preparation
Start this the day before you need the sauce. Put the milk in a pan and add the bay leaves and peppercorns. Cut the onions in half and stud the round surface with cloves and put them in the milk. The onion will float flat side up so the cloves need to be on the underside. Warm the milk until it's about to boil and then remove from the heat, cover and leave it overnight.

The following day, remove the onions and bay leaves and keep them handy—chasing around after the peppercorns is a bit fiddly so I leave them in. Add the breadcrumbs to the infused milk and stir over a low heat for fifteen minutes or so.

Pick the cloves out of the onions and throw the cloves away. Carefully chop the onions; they'll be soggy with milk and very slippery and fry them gently in half the butter until they're as cooked as you like them, adding a twist or two of black pepper. Add them to the milk and breadcrumbs.

Beat in the remainder of the butter and the cream and season if necessary.

Pete Wright
Portsmouth

Turkey Soup

The highlight of the Christmas Turkey for me is the Turkey Soup you make with the carcass. Distilling the very essence of the bird down into a golden nectar that is fit for the very gods themselves.

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The Stock

Ingredients

• Turkey Carcass Including any bits of stuffing still hanging about. Try to keep some meat on the bird when stripping it. The more meat, the more flavor.
  
• 1 Carrot split in half length ways
  
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 12 black peppercorns
• salt

Preparation

• Break the carcass up and put them in a stock pot or other large pan fit for the job.
• Add the rest of the ingredients
• Cover with water & bring to a simmer
• Skim off any scum that floats to the top and simmer for two hours
• Using a sieve lined with a piece of paper kitchen towel strain the stock, replacing the towel periodically
• Discard the debris.

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The Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450g) of vegetables per pint of stock - (a mix of carrots, leeks, swede, celery & onions) chopped
• 1 heaped tsp of Turkey Dripping or butter per lb (450g) of vegetables
• Salt & freshly milled black pepper

Preparation

• Melt the dripping or butter in a large pan and sweat the chopped vegetables, with the lid on, on a low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add the stock and leave to simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours
• Liquidise the soup in batches
• Season to taste

1 pint will serve about 4 people. If eating over several days, keep in a cool place and bring to the boil for around 5 minutes every day, to stop it turning.

Optionally add chopped cooked turkey meat to the soup before serving and a spot of cream.

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Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Marsla Wine

I caught this recipe on Nigella Lawson's TV show last year. Even sprout haters will love this one.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 pounds Brussels sprouts
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 9 ounces pancetta, rind removed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• About 8 to 9 ounces vacuum-packed chestnuts
• 2 fluid ounces Marsala wine
• 1 large handful fresh parsley, chopped, divided
• Freshly ground black pepper

Cooking

• Parboil the Brussels sprouts for 5 minutes

• Take pan off the heat and drain the excess water

• Heat oil in a largepan. Add the pancetta and cook until crisp and golden, but not cooked to the point of having dried out.

• Add butter and chestnuts and use a wooden spoon or spatula, press down on them, breaking them into pieces.

• Once the chestnuts have warmed through, increase the heat up and add the Marsala.

• Cook until reduced and thickened slightly.

• Add the sprouts and half the parsley to the saucepan and mix well. Season the Brussels sprouts with freshly ground black pepper.

To serve, place the Brussels sprouts onto a warmed serving plate and sprinkle the remaining chopped parsley over the top.