FFWD - Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Oranges

French Fridays with Dorie this week quacks me up - it's Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Kumquats Oranges.  Apparently kumquats grow all year round, but I have never seen any where I shop.  Accordingly, as Dorie's inspiration for this dish was Duck a la Orange, oranges seemed like the natural substitution.

I have never cooked duck before either (umm, apparently I have for other FFWD dishes  but forgot!), but after having seen an ad featuring Justine Schofield cooking it, I was happy to give it a try.  However, I was not prepared for how expensive duck is - $18 for two breasts.  Ouch.

Cooking the duck, the candied oranges and the sauce were all easy enough.  As Dorie suggested, I cooked the candied oranges and sauce in the morning and cooked the duck in the evening.

The end result was really, really good.  Judging from the amount of fat that was on the duck and in the pan, it wasn't a low fat meal, but as a treat every now and again, it is worth it.  The oranges were the perfect foil for the richness of the duck, and the only change I would make would be to thicken the sauce slightly.

I served my duck with boiled mixed vegetables and microwaved baby potatoes.

To see what the other Doristas made of this dish, visit the LYL section of the website.

Banana Bread - Jill Dupleix recipe

Last week, The Age ran a Jill Dupleix recipe for Banana Bread with Salted Caramel which looked really good - a deep, dark and seductive loaf.

I had by chance bought some bananas for my mother which she did not eat, so I had the foundation to make Jill's banana bread recipe.  And it didn't disappoint - the brown sugar gave the banana bread some wonderful caramel undertones, which went perfectly with bottled caramel sauce and vanilla icecream:

The banana bread also tasted pretty good on its own.

If you are a fan of banana bread, give this recipe a go - it is a little different from the norm.

WWDH - Nicoise Salad

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, Sarah chose a classic - Nicoise Salad from Modern Classics I.  I do like a good Nicoise Salad - tuna, beans, tomato, olives, spinach, egg and potatoes.

This one uses fresh tuna, but I opted for canned.  The boiled egg was optional, but heck - what's a good nicoise salad without the egg?

I really enjoyed this, and I knew I would.  To see what Sarah, Margaret and Chaya thought of this salad, visit their websites.

TWD - Palets de Dames, Lille Stye

For the very first Tuesday with Dorie recipe from Baking Chez Moi, Dorie Greenspan's latest book, the assignment is to make Palet de Dames, Lille Style.  The recipe is online here.

The dough for these cookies is simple enough to make, but make sure you have an hour's chilling time to spare.  I made a half batch only.

I put my cookies on the tray a little close together, and baked them a bit too long, hence I ended up with misshapen cookies with browned edges.  However, they tasted delicious.  Rather than throw them out, or just leave them as is, I did what any self-respecting baker would do - I cut off the browned and irregular edges and just iced them as per the recipe.

I think the end result looks pretty good, as well as tasting good.  I am happy with the result, even though I know my cookies aren't perfect. As the recipe says, these cookies have a cake-like quality, a bit like black and white cookies.

To see what the other TWD bakers thought of these cookies, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

The Botanical - Melbourne Cup Lunch

On Melbourne Cup Day this year, my Mum was staying with me, so I wanted to do something special with her.  I knew that going to the track would really not be her thing, so I booked us into a Melbourne Cup Day lunch at The Botanical in South Yarra (the green awning-ed building above).

Our table was next to a large post, which wasn't ideal, but we were on the right side of the room to see the big TV - and hence The Cup when it was run!  Note the lady in the hat in the spirit of the event (we skipped the hats).

Here is the four course Cup set menu ($85 a head, including a glass of Mumm champagne):
 

We were given some crusty bread and butter for the table:

then out came the first course - Black Kingfish escabeche, pickled vegetables, bergamot gel and broad beans:

 

This dish was served cold.  I liked it (after all, it was poached white fish), but didn't love it.

 

The next course was lamb rump, char grilled baby eggplant, green olive tapenade, goats curd and rosemary lamb jus:

 

 
The lamb was tasty but very rich, so I as glad that the serve was very moderate in size.  Mum would have liked her lamb cooked more, although she appreciated that in the world of fine dining, lamb should be rare.  I liked how the olive tapenade helped to cut through the richness of the lamb.

The third course was a cheese tasting plate, with blue cheese, camembert, a soft washed rind cheese, fig and walnut roll and delicious biscotti: 

This course was my favourite - I enjoyed all of the cheeses, and the fig roll and biscotti were the perfect accompaniments.

The dessert course was my mother's favourite - goat's milk cheesecake, macerated strawberries, strawberry sorbet and liquorice:

The goat's milk cheesecake sat atop a shortbread style biscuit, and was the highlight of the dish.  I liked everything except the liquorice, which thankfully appeared only as a smear on the side of the plate, and to me tasted like nothing so much as penicillin.  I told Mum to avoid it, so she had no quibbles about this dessert at all.

We also tried a glass of Hills Cider ($6) each, which washed down smoothly.

All of the food was beautifully presented, as befits a fancy Cup lunch.

The service was friendly and efficient, with the only hiccup being chased to pay when we got up from our table to go to the bathroom before leaving.  It would have been fruitless for me to try and skip out without paying because they had my credit card details to secure the booking, so I think their anxiety in this department was a little unwarranted.

We didn't win any money on the races, but it was a nice, relaxing way to spend our Cup Day.

The Botanical

169 Domain Road
South Yarra VIC 3141
Ph: 03 9820 7888

FFWD - Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Parsley Coulis

For French Friday with Dorie this week, we are once again visiting the unattainable Jerusalem artichoke for Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Parsley Coulis.

Well, I made Potato Soup with Chopped Parsley - near enough, eh?  This soup turned out thick and brown, and looks like nearly every other Dorie soup that I have ever made.  it tastes OK, but it is not a favourite and won't be repeated in my house.

To see what the other Doristas thought of this soup, visit the LYL section of the website.

WWDH - Spicy Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Pancetta Soup

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay pick comes from Chaya, who selected Donna's Spicy Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Speck Soup.  You can find the recipe online here.

I really liked the body that this soup had.  I made a half serving, subbed pancetta for speck and subbed cous cous for quinoa.  It made two hearty servings, which made for two very good lunches.

To see what Chaya, Sarah and Margaret thought of this recipe, visit their websites.