Salakee duck with Thai Red Curry Sauce

Today Cory discovered the beach. We've been fairly lucky with her stages of development vs beach visits. For most of the early summer, when the weather was blisteringly hot, Cory was happy for a couple of hours sitting in her sun tent playing with toys. We could sunbathe next to the tent occasionally swapping toys while she babbled to her favourites.

 Then one fateful day on Samson she realised she could crawl out of the tent and have a whole beach to shovel into her mouth. As she did the weather turned, the clouds arrived and frankly it hasn't been as hot or beach tempting since.

 For about a month I've avoided the beach. I've scooped so much sand out of Cory's mouth I could have my own garden sand pit. But tonight she was scratchy. I was scratchy. We went for a walk across Rushy Bay Green and the sun had come out in the hazy September way it does. I kicked my shoes off and took her down to Great Par. We sat down below Great Cairn. The first scoop of the sand went into her mouth. Then she looked around and it was like something had clicked. Her face lit up and she started throwing sand around and crawled off at top speed to examine a limpet shell, a pile of seaweed, a sea worn pebble. After several attempts of keeping her away from the sea I just let her. She crawled in confidently and as the little waves lapped over her crawling body she laughed and splashed her hands getting completely soaked. I had to forcibly remove her (with much howling) and I think we now have a real beach baby on our hands. Much to her kitesurfing Daddy's delight...

As we gear up for the autumn and winter I'm starting to cook again in the evenings. In the summer we tend to just live on barbecues and salads and whatever I can be bothered to put on a plate. At the Food Festival last week I bought lots of Salakee Farm duck for the freezer, breasts, legs and a whole duck to enjoy when the dark evenings arrive and I want something rich and warm. We used the breasts and made a quick red thai curry sauce to go with them. They were spectacular. The texture of the duck is like nothing I have ever had before. Buttery and soft. If you are on holiday on Scilly this autumn it's really worth ordering some (either straight from the Farm or from restaurant menus). 

Salakee Farm Duck Breasts with Thai Red Curry Sauce (serves 2- actually would serve 3 at least but we were really hungry)

Paste:

1 red chilli

1 inch fresh ginger

2 tsp galangal paste

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 lemongrass stalk 

1 tsp paprika

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

the juice of 1 lime

Other:

1 tin of coconut milk

2 duck breasts

more fish sauce

another lime

First make a paste. In a mini chopper put all the ingredients and pulse until you have a smooth paste. Put a heavy based frying pan on a hot hob and add the duck skin side down. Cook for around 4-5 minutes until the skin is golden brown. Flip over and cook for another 3 minutes. Put in a 180'c oven for around 5-10 minutes or until cooked how you like it. 

Use the frying pan (with the duck fat still in it) and fry off the paste for about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and reduce the heat and let it simmer while the duck is in the oven. Add the last minute stir in the remaining lime juice and fish sauce (to taste). Pour over the duck breast and serve with green beans and rice. 

When the chips are down...

This morning I sat with my head on the steering wheel of my car at 645am in the pitch dark and pouring rain. I'd hardly slept last night because the wind was howling around the roof of our flat. Rowing this early is as close to hell as you can get. It's cold. It's wet and everyone's grumpy. An hour later and everyone's smiling, buoyed by exercise. We're all happy to be returning home. Now I'm back into my pyjamas with a hot water bottle. On a day like today comfort food is the only option and what better than a bowl of chips?

This week's National Chip Week and I decided to give chips a go as I don't think I have ever made them from scratch before. I still had a big jar of duck fat left over from that roast duck last month so I gave it a go....

* Please be really careful with deep frying anything. Obviously only for adults and don't leave the pan!

Triple cooked Cornish duck fat chips......

2 medium potatoes

enough duck fat to half fill a pan

Cornish Sea Salt

Scoop the fat into a saucepan and put over a very low heat to melt slowly.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut into chip shapes. Pop into a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and place on a clean tea towel to cool. Once all the fat has melted increase the heat until it starts to bubble. Add a little bit of potato to test. If it sizzles carefully add the chips. Fry for about 5 minutes until they are light brown. Carefully scoop out and drain again. Turn up the heat again. After about a minute carefully lower the chips in again. Keep a really close eye on them and when they turn a rich brown, take them out.

This only took about a minute for me. Turn the heat off. I wouldn't move the pan until it's cooled quite a lot.

Sprinkle with Cornish Sea Salt and serve with garlic mayonnaise. These are crispy and delicious and are everything chips should be.

Love a duck.....(part 1)

"We loved your enthusiasm, never lose that". I remember being told that after (another) failed job interview. At the time I brushed it off focusing on everything I had done wrong. But over the years I've realised that a little bit of enthusiasm can go a long way. Roger from the Cornish Duck Company seems to live by that mantra. I meet him at Farmers Markets and food events sometimes and his enthusiasm for his duck products is infectious and you can't help but get your wallet out. He's always inviting me up to the farm to have a look around and I've finally done it.


It was about as muggy a day as you could pick. The fog was as thick as the mud on the ground. But it didn't seem to worry the ducks. After weeks of freezing temperatures they were probably just happy they could splash about again.

And Roger's enthusiasm rubs off on anyone around him. The ducks he cares for are outstanding to eat. The fat is thick and crispy when roasted and the meat tastes like it's had a happy life. If you're eating out in many of Cornwall's restaurants and you see Terras Farm duck then order it and you'll taste just how amazing Cornish produce is.

Perfect Roast Duck (serves 4)......

1 medium Terras Farm duck
1 tsp Cornish sea salt

Make sure you remove the giblets! Put the duck in a large bowl and pour a kettle of boiling water over the top. Carefully lift out. Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the duck upside down (breast side down) in a baking tray and season with a little salt. Bake for about an hour and a quarter until the juices run clear. Then carefully turn over and bake for another 20 minutes or so.

Leave to rest for 20 minutes. Then carve. I served this with some of the boozy cranberry sauce leftover for Christmas and a little of the pan juices.

Porthleven Food Festival Part 1

I've never been good at the planning side of cooking. My icing's always lumpy because I can't be bothered to sieve it. My bread could be better if I spent five more minutes kneading it and my fudge is always on the soft side because I get bored beating. So I get a thrill when I have done something right and it pays off. Today I opened a jar of the plum sauce I made in the autumn. I'd forgotten about it to tell you the truth. But there it was hiding between the courgette chutney and the sweet chilli sauce...peering out, hoping to get a look in. I'll tell you what I did with it in a minute....

First I have to tell you about the Porthleven Food Festival. It was lovely to go to a festival and find some different stalls, new producers, new faces. Like this stall of foraged goodies....


I should have done my shopping early on. I was allowed into the tent before it opened and I wish I had because by the time I got my wallet out so had thousands of other people and I couldn't battle the crowds.

There were loads of amazing fish stalls. What I loved the most was there were so many stalls selling unusual hot dishes rather than just food to buy.

I was on stage with Mr Worrell Thompson who was lovely!

Roger from the Cornish Duck Company was there. His ducks are amazing. I read somewhere they are raised on a diet on Classic FM and TLC. I'll write more about them another day because he's invited me along to see the farm...

I love the name of the duck scratchings!

I came home feeling completely inspired. I bought some of Roger's smoked duck. Thin slices of soft, smokey deliciousness and I had to have some for my lunch....

Smoked Cornish Duck and Nduja Salad.........serves 1

6 slices smoked duck

80g nduja sausage I had to use a spicy chorizo but if you can find nduja do so because it's much better for this dish..and if you find somewhere in Cornwall that sells it let me know! I have to ship mine in from London.

A big handful of salad leaves

1 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp homemade plum sauce

Break up the nduja. Pop it in a pan and fry it (trying not to let it break up). Put the salad in a bowl. In a small bowl whisk the oil, vinegar and the plum sauce. Pour over the salad and toss with your hands.

Add the smoked duck slices and the crispy sausage. Toss.

Serve with a glass of water (it's quite spicy!)