Tea-smoked duck breast

I haven't cooked a lot of duck, but with the plethora of duck dishes on Masterchef, I feel as best equipped as I ever will. The recipe is from the Masterchef Cookbook, Volume 1. I was running short of time making this dish, so sacrificed the ravioli which was supposed to adorn the duck. I was rushing so much I didn't take a photo, but Hayley grabbed this quick shot. The sauce was tangy and delicious, and the smokey flavour of the duck was excellent. I didn't have blood oranges so substituted navels. I didn't have any dried orange peel, so just left it out. I also changed the accompanying spinach in the recipe to whatever was on hand.


Tea Smoked Duck Breast

4 duck breasts
salt

Tea Smoking Mix
1/2 cup oolong tea leaves
1/2 cup jasmine tea leaves
zest 3 oranges cut into wide strips
4 pieces dried orange peel
1 cup jasmine rice
1 cup brown sugar
5 whole star anise
1 tbs Sichuan peppercorns
6 pieces cassia bark (I used cinnamon)

Orange sauce
1 1/2 tbs caster sugar
1 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 cup blood orange juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
grated zest of 1/2 orange
25g butter

To make smoked duck, line a wok with foil then place all smoke mixture onto the foil. Turn the heat to medium and wait until it starts to smoke. Place duck breasts skin side down on a rack in the wok. Cover and cook for 7 minutes or until rare.

To make orange sauce, place sugar in a saucepan and melt it slowly. Add vinegar and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Add orange juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half. Add stock and simmer again until reduced by half. Add orange zest and butter. Season to taste.

Place duck skin side down in a hot frying pan and cook until the fat has melted and skin is crispy. Rest a few minutes then cut into slices. Drizzle with sauce to serve.

Lemon Muffins with a cream-cheese centre

This is a recipe I've cut out of a magazine ages ago, and they disappear quickly.
Makes 12 muffins.

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 eggs
125g butter
250ml milk
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tsp lemon juice

Filling
150g cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven tp 180 C. Grease muffin pan or use liners.
Filling: Combine cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.
Sift together flour and bicarb. in a large bowl., then add sugar.
In a jug, lightly wisk together melted butter, eggs, milk, lemon rind and juice. Mix this into the flour until JUSt combined.
Spoon batter into muffin tray to half fill.. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into muffin, then top up muffin with remaining batter.
Bake for 20 mins. Cool 5 mins then turn out.

Gewurzhaus - Herbs and Spices

Ambling along Lygon Street the other day and came across a magnificent herb and spice shop - Gewurzhaus http://www.gewurzhaus.com.au/ 

This is the most gorgeous shop where you can serve yourslelf from the most amazing array of herbs and spices.  I was fascinated by the sichuan peppercorns (so fragrant), the spice mixes eg the bush pepeer, the salts, the dukkahs and the sugars, all beautifully presented.

I was so excited that I sent a text to Judy to tell her of my discovery.  The website is fantastic too, where you can order online and featuring recipes too.

Muesli muffins

Despite being the owner of numerous cookbooks, even one dedicated to muffins,  I googled 'breakfast muffins' in search of a recipe and found the following one at Taste.com: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13907/breakfast+museli+muffins

Of course I tweaked the recipe (as I always do), but the result was a quite wholesome substantial muffin that could be a replacement breakfast on the run.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup light olive oil

2 tbs honey

2 cups muesli (I used half bircher muesli mix and half cereal mix)

1/2 cup of sultanas

1/2 cup chopped nuts eg pecans, walnuts

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

1tsp baking powder

1 orange

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C or 180 for fan forced. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper cases.

2. Whisk eggs, milk, oil and honey together. Combine muesli, flour, dried fruit, nuts,soda and baking powder in a bowl. Finely grate orange rind into dry ingredients. Juice orange and add 1/2 cup of the juice to egg mixture.

3. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix together quickly using a wooden spoon until just combined. Mixture may be lumpy and does not have to be evenly mixed.

4. Spoon mixture into paper cases. Bake for 20 mins or until golden and cooked through. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely