Farmersgirl Kitchen

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Duck and Plum Salad for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year falls on the 19th of February this year, we leave behind the Year of the Horse and welcome the Year of the Goat. Duck is often featured in Chinese recipes and I would often choose it if I was eating out, however it's a meat I cook only occasionally.

This salad was so delicious, the tender roasted duck and juicy plums contrasting with the savoury vermicelli noodles and peppery rocket. All of the ingredients are available at Marks and Spencer, who provided also provided me with the recipe.

This would make a great dinner party meal as you can roast the duck and plums earlier in the day then you only have to assemble the salad before serving.

Duck Breast with Plum Salad
Ready in 30 minutes, Serves 4
Ingredients

· 2 tbsp olive oil
· 4 duck breasts, skin removed
· 8 plums, halved and stoned
· 1 star anise
· 3 tbsp port
· 2 tbsp soy sauce
· 125g rice noodles
· Thumb-sized piece root ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
· ½ x 25g pack fresh coriander, leaves only
· ½ x 25g pack fresh mint, roughly chopped
· 4 handfuls rocket leaves

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Fahrenheit / gas 5 (170 degrees Celsius for fan ovens). In a small, ovenproof frying pan, heat 1tbsp of the oil. Season the duck breasts and fry for 2 – 3 minutes each side, until starting to brown. Transfer to the oven for a further 15 minutes, then remove and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, sit the plums, cut side-up, in a small roasting tin with the star anise. Drizzle over the port and soy sauce. Roast for 10 – 15 minutes, adding a splash of water to the tin if it becomes dry. Set aside.

3. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions, then drain and refresh under cold water. Heat the remaining oil in a small frying pan and fry the ginger for 2 minutes, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

4. Toss the noodles with the herbs and rocket. Divide among 4 serving plates and add the plums. Slice the duck breasts and arrange on top with the fried ginger, then spoon over any pan juices from the plums.

Per serving
334 calories, 14.9 fat (3.5g saturated), 196g carbohydrates, 11.7g sugar, 2.9g fibre, 28.6g protein, 1.52g salt

I received the ingredients for this recipe from Marks and Spencer, I was not paid and all opinions are my own.

Labels: duck, Marks and Spencer, noodles, plums, salad

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Brodies of Moffat - my foodie adventure for Scottish Food Fortnight

It's time to celebrate Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight which runs from 6-21 September 2014 with events taking place across Scotland.

Each year I look forward to some September food excitement at events taking place throughout Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight. In previous years I've learned about The Art of Fungi visited a deer farm and taken part in a chocolate workshop.

The focus of this year’s foodie fiesta is to introduce the public to new food adventures and includes food and drink events, cookery demonstrations, promotions and offers from Scotland’s largest food and drink companies to its local craft producers. I was invited by Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight to undertake a new Food Adventure in celebration of the Fortnight. A Food Adventure could be anything from visiting a food tourism attraction or attending a Fortnight event to trying a new Scottish product, restaurant or recipe.

For my food adventure, I decided to visit a restaurant that I've heard a lot about but have never quite managed to visit: Brodies of Moffat. The opportunity to dine at Brodies came during a week off work, when having a night out during the week was a treat with no consequences. When we arrived at Brodies we were greeted by the server and seated in the 'wine bar' area at the rear of the restaurant where we were able to peruse the menu and order a drink while our table was made ready. As it was mid-week it was pretty quiet, but didn't feel uncomfortable. We were then taken through to our table and found ourselves seated by the window with a view up towards Moffat High Street. It can be a little disconcerting when passers by stop to read the menu in the window, but otherwise it was great to be sitting with so much light for photographs and the entertainment was watching the tractors and trailers thundering round the corner!

For my first course, I chose the Spinach Roulade with Cold Smoked Trout, Watercress and Radish Salad. The roulade was soft and delicious and contrasted well with the cold smoked trout which was sweet and not at all oily. I enjoyed the salad too, that acid crunch cut through the creamy filling in the roulade and the richness of the trout.

Brian chose Crayfish Tails with Melon, cucumber tartare and lemon sherbet dressing and reported that the melon was sweet (I love how finely sliced it is) I had a little taste of the crayfish tails which were good and worked well with the cucumber tartare.

Both of the starter plates were well presented and reasonably priced at £5.25. Other starters offered were Soup of the Day, Tomato Tarte Tatin, Rabbit Terrine and Aranchini Cheese

On to the mains and we were spoiled for choice, in the end we rejected the Pan Fried Steak, the Roasted Stuffed Chicken, the Venison and the Smoked Haddock Fillet, instead Brian chose the Oven Roasted Duck with Braised Red Cabbage and sauteed Pak Choi. He chose to have his duck cooked medium rare and it was very tender with a really tasty jus/gravy. The veg were also well cooked including two perfect roast potatoes.

My plate contained something that Brian doesn't like: Black Pudding, Pork Fillet, Houston's Black Pudding (local butcher) orange segments and rosemary. The vegetables were little baby carrots and perfectly al dente french beans. The pork fillet just melted in the mouth and wasn't overpowered by the little cubes of black pudding, gosh it was good!

There were also a good range of vegetarian mains: Roasted Tomato and Mushroom Stack with warm Borlotti Beans, Spinach and Mushroom Spring Roll with Moffat Ricotta and Vegetarian Tart with basil pesto.

We both felt that the portion sizes were perfect for us, we didn't feel over full and enjoyed every mouthful. As we weren't over full, we had room for some dessert.

I would say that this was the weakest of all the courses. The Raspberry Cheesecake was more jelly like than expected although the strawberry ice cream was really fruity. I chose the lemon tart, the filling was nicely tart, but the pastry was rather thick and not crisp (now I sound like Mary Berry on the Bake off!) it was accompanied by vanilla ice cream which was pleasant but not outstanding. This didn't spoil our meal, but given the high quality of the starters and mains, it was just a little disappointing.

Here is Brodies, it's set back from the High Street and, as you can see, despite a very traditional looking building, the interior is bright and modern, the opening at the back leads to the wine bar and additional seating.

Brodies serve coffee and cakes during the day, lunches, brunch all day on Sunday or book in for Sunday Lunch. Brodies also have an Early Doors fixed price menu and many of the dishes on the a la carte can be prepared gluten free. This might not have been the most adventurous of Foodie Adventures but it was a 'most excellent' adventure and I would certainly recommend Brodies and will be returning.

Here are some of this year’s major events where you could have a foodie adventure or check out the Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight website for more news of what's going on.

Best of the West Festival 13/14 September

Set on the banks of Loch Fyne this event offers a family friendly day out where visitors can enjoy the very best food from Argyll while sampling some excellent musical performances. For whisky lovers there is the Loch Fyne whisky bar where they can have a dram of the finest refreshment this area has to offer.

Loch Lomond Food and Drink Festival 6/7 September

The festival takes place at the idyllic Loch Lomond Shores and aims to showcase small artisan producers with big personalities. From Scottish chilies to gourmet dog treats this event has it all for food lovers and their four-legged friends!

Huntly Hairst Food and Farming Festival 6/7 September

The small Aberdeenshire town of Huntly has played host to the Huntly Hairst Food and Farming festival for the past 11 years. This event features a farmers’ market where visitors can even get into the competitive spirit by taking part in the annual World Stovie Championship.

City of Elgin Food and Drink Festival 20 September

Elgin’s annual food and drink festival has exciting cookery demonstrations using locally sourced produce, to give visitors ideas and inspiration to spice up their menus at home with the best Scottish fayre.

Dundee Flower and Food Festival 5/6 and 7 September

Last year saw thousands of locals and tourists flock to Camperdown Park for a day full of flowers and food goodies. This year is set to be even bigger with chefs like Nick Nairn and Paul Rankin in the cooking spotlight.

Living Food at Cawdor Castle 20 September

Living Food at Cawdor Castle gives guests a chance to sample the best produce the Highlands has to offer. Set in the picturesque grounds of the castle, this event looks as good as it tastes!

Created to highlight the healthy, locally sourced food and drink available from Scotland’s natural larder the 2014 Fortnight aims to be the biggest yet.

The festival will also act as an excellent introduction to the Scottish Government’s 2015 Year of Food and Drink celebrations.

To learn more about Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight and how you can be involved visit:

www.scottishfoodanddrinkfortnight.co.uk, like www.facebook.com/eatscottish

I was provided with £50 to have a foodie adventure, I was not required to write a good review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: black pudding, Brodies, duck, Food, Moffat, restaurant review, Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight, smoked trout

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Duck Legs with 'Bramble' Gin and Duck Fat Potatoes - Dish of the Month

Phew! I've finally managed to get my Dish of the Month made, half way through the month. I had four Goosenargh duck legs from Farmison in the freezer so adapted Nigel Slater's recipe from The Kitchen Dairies, 30 October.

The duck is marinated in brown sugar, vinegar, crushed juniper berries and sloe or damson gin. I didn't have any sloe or damson gin, but I did have some gin and some blackberry cordial that I had made the day before, so I added half and half gin and blackberry cordial. It seems to have worked well.

As I had duck legs rather than breast, as in the original recipe, I decided to follow the technique used by Tom Kerridge in his TV series Proper Pub Food, this involved cooking the duck legs on a tray over a roasting tin (I used my grill pan) at 200C for 25 minutes, then you drain off the fat and reduce the heat to 120C and cook until tender (1 1/2 hrs for a whole duck, about 40 minutes for the legs).

I only made a little change to the Duck Fat Potato recipe, using less fat, just what I gathered from the pan when roasting the duck legs, which I brushed over the potatoes and then baked in a dish in the oven.

I also put the remaining marinade in a pan and reduced it to create some sauce for the duck legs. I served the duck and potatoes with spinach and tomatoes cooked together with...a little bit more duck fat.

If you would like to take part in Dish of the Month, then please

Make a Dish of the Month from ANY recipe by Nigel Slater
Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen or A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate
Use the Dish of the Month logo in your post
If you use twitter, tweet your post with @FarmersgirlCook or @Heavenona_plate and #DishoftheMonth and we will re-tweet it to our followers.

Rules:

If you own The kitchen diaries II please do not publish the recipes on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
If you are using recipes from the BBC Food website, please link to the recipe on BBC Food rather than publishing the recipe. Likewise recipes on the Guardian Lifestyle website.
One entry per blog.
Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

Labels: Blackberry, Bramble, Dish of the Month, duck, Duck Fat, Duck Legs, Gin, Nigel Slater, spinach, tomatoes

Monday, 23 July 2012

Another dinner at the Kailyard by Nick Nairn

Cheers!

Here we are again, back in Nick Nairn's Kailyard Restaurant on our second night of feasting. We decided to forgo the bread so we could have a pudding each, definitely a good move!

I started with the Confit Scottish chicken terrine with baby leeks, crispy ham and pea vinaigrette. The peashoot bit round the outside was lovely, but I found the terrine a little bit bland 7/10

Brian went for the shrimp cocktail, but they had run out of shrimps and offered crayfish instead, which he enjoyed very much 8/10

For my main I chose Slow braised neck of Dornoch Lamb, beetroot gratin, asparagus, carrot puree and basil gravy. Oh my goodness, that was fantastic! The lamb was meltingly delicious, the beetroot gratin was full of flavour, it was lots of very fine slices of stacked up, not sure with what, but whatever it was it was delicious. This was a definite 9/10

Brian had Spiced confit duck leg, saute potatoes, cumin roasted carrots and celeriac, honey and sherry gravy. This was also deemed to be a 9/10 dish. We were both really pleased with our choices.

I finished my meal with this exquisite dessert, it looks pretty with it's spun sugar topping but the flavour was quite outstanding. This is a Spiced Pineapple Carpaccio with lime, chilli and anise sorbet and the flavours just burst onto your tongue, fantastic and for me, 10/10

Brian went for the warm chocolate pudding with nougatine parfait and berry fruits. He enjoyed it but agreed that my dessert had more wow factor and gave it 8/10.

I hope you have enjoyed dining with us on our weekend away. There are still a few pictures of Stirling Castle to post, but otherwise, breakfast on Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday. You don't have to vacate your room till 12.00 noon, so we also managed to have a lie by the pool reading the papers and then a final swim. We are planning to go back in the autumn as we enjoyed it so much.

Labels: anise, chocolate, duck, Dunblane Hydro, Kailyard, lamb, Nick Nairn, nougatine, pineapple, sorbet, Stirling, terrine

This Page

Farmersgirl Kitchen

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Duck and Plum Salad for Chinese New Year

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Brodies of Moffat - my foodie adventure for Scottish Food Fortnight

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Duck Legs with 'Bramble' Gin and Duck Fat Potatoes - Dish of the Month

Monday, 23 July 2012

Another dinner at the Kailyard by Nick Nairn

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