I cooked this crispy duck breast salad for our 12th anniversary dinner. Our anniversary dinner was a day late because we both forgot our anniversary, until the end of the day when I remembered. I, of course, played the “I was just waiting to see if you’d remember” card… but Dwayne saw through it!


What I had aboard… duck breast, cabbage, carrot, chilli, star anise, cinnamon sticks, chicken stock, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and soy.
What I did…
I made a master stock of :
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup dark soy
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cm ginger, sliced
- 2 garlic, crushed
- 6 peppercorns
I mixed all the stock ingredients together and marinated the two duck breasts for 12 hours. Then I removed the duck and put the marinade into a pot and brought it to the boil. I simmered this stock for 10 minutes before adding the duck breast. I then added the duck and simmered for a further 5 minutes. I removed the duck breasts (reserve the stock) and dried them on a paper towel and sat them before a fan to dry.
In the mean time I made a salad of shredded cabbage, carrots and julienne chillies.
To serve I placed the salad on plates and set them aside. I heated oil in a fry pan and fried the duck for a few minutes on the underside before turning it over and frying the duck breast, skin side down, until crispy. Once crispy, I sat the duck aside for a few minutes while I heated the reserved stock, reducing it. I sliced the duck and placed it on the salad and ladled some of the reduced master stock over the salad.


Bon appetite!