I first met Ken Hom at a Department Store at a well-know shopping mall called Tyson’s Corner on the outskirts of Washington DC; he was fresh from his 1984 BBC series which had catapulted him to fame. We were both there to do cooking demonstrations and of course with his newfound fame Ken was headlining this local food festival. Between sets he came over and complimented my own cookery demonstration and graciously gave me every encouragement.
The idea for this dish comes from a Ken Horn recipe of Braised Duck, but I decided to make it more European, if you're not familiar with star anise and its mild anisette flavour, this is a great dish to try. • Preheat the oven to 180 C (gas mark 4).
Ingredients
2 duck breasts
500ml chicken stock
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
25g (1oz) finely diced ginger
4small star anise
1teaspoon Szechwan peppercorns
1teaspoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons Kikkoman soy sauce
a little chopped coriander
1 red chilli
4 pieces of purple sprouting broccoli
4 spring onions (washed and trimmed)
1 teaspoon of clear honey
2 cups cooked rice
METHOD
1. Grind the Szechwan peppercorns finely with four of the star anise.
Then, trim up duck breasts, removing any overhanging skin and score the skin lightly to create a crosshatch design.
2. Next, rub the ground up star anise mixture into the meat side of each breast and
refrigerate.
3. Gently poach the ginger, garlic, spring onions and whole red chilli in the stock.
4. When the spring onions and whole chilli are tender, remove and rinse them off.
5. When cool tie a knot into each of the spring onions and slice the chili into equal sized rings; removing as many of the seeds as possible.
6. Next, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and coriander to the broth.
7. Press the cooked rice firmly into lightly buttered ramekins and cling wrap them.
8. Part cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for three to four minutes then cooled down in cold water.
9. Next, heat a non-stick frying pan then put in the duck breasts in, skin side down. Fry them on a moderate heat until the skin in turning golden brown, turn over and cook meat side down for three minutes. Turn the duck skin side up again and brush the skin with the honey. Transfer the pan to the oven for about six minutes then allow to rest.
TO SERVE
Heat the broccoli in the broth. Microwave the two rice portions (45 seconds to one minute each). Now turn out rice into the centre of two large pasta bowls. Ladle some of the stock into the bowls. Cut each duck breast into two at an angle and carefully place on top of the rice.
CHEF’S TIP
I prefer to serve my duck breasts slightly pink but you can cook them for an extra three to four minutes if you wish.
