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Crispy Duck Salad

Serves 4, as a starter

Ingredients:

2 confit duck legs
4 tbsp hoi sin sauce

For the salad:

1 tbsp sesame seeds
Table salt
100g watercress or rocket, stalks trimmed (you can also add fresh coriander if you fancy)
6 large radishes, sliced
4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced into batons

For the salad dressing

2 tbsp olive oil
1½ tbsp sherry vinegar (white wine vinegar is a good alternative)
1 tsp sesame oil
Sea salt

Method:

1. Gently toast the sesame seeds in a dry cast iron frying pan, over a medium
   heat. Keep watch. They burn easily. When most of them are lightly golden
   brown, remove to a bowl, add a pinch of table salt, and set aside. Wipe down
   the pan to remove any stray sesame seeds that are hanging about. They don’t
   taste at all nice when burnt.
2. Separate out the duck legs and place them skin side down in the frying pan
   over the lowest heat. Do not add any oil. They’ll produce more than enough
   fat of their own. Turn every 5 minutes or so, as they start to colour. After
   about 10 or 15 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Using a fork and a sharp
   knife you should be able to pull the meat away from the bone. Break it up into
   smaller pieces, with the skin down. Put back on to the heat. Use a spatula to
   continue breaking up the meat into smaller pieces. Attend to any pieces of
   skin that come away from the meat. They may look a bit fatty, but gently
   increase the heat and they will crisp up, though do keep an eye on it all so it
   doesn’t burn.
3. Once crisped, remove the leg bones and keep them as a chef ’s perk. Stand
   by the stove, chewing off the last bits of meat while no one else is
   watching. You’ve earned it. When the duck is broken up and crisped take
   the pan off the heat.
4. Put the ingredients for the salad dressing into the bottom of a bowl,
   including a good pinch of sea salt. Pile the leaves and sliced radishes on
   top, then toss and turn to coat in the dressing using your hands or, if you’re
   a little uptight, salad servers. Portion out on to four plates or flat bowls.
5. Put the hoi sin sauce in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the duck and mix
   to coat every piece completely.
6. Top each portion of the salad with a quarter of the duck. Sprinkle on the
   toasted sesame seeds and decorate with the batons of spring onion.

From Nights Out At Home, Recipes and Stories from 25 years as a Restaurant Critic (Fig Tree)

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