Harissa-marinated Asparagus

Slow-roast Duck with Rhubarb, Ginger and Sage, Aubergine Chermoula, Braised Spring Greens

 

Not my finest dinner – some tasty components but it didn’t really hang together.

Harissa-marinated Asparagus
Harissa-marinated Asparagus is from Sabrina Ghayour’s Persiana. It’s incredibly simple: asparagus marinated for ½-1 hour in a mix of 2 tsp harissa, 2 tbsp honey, the grated rind and juice of a lemon and some salt, then griddled.

However, I found it bland, even with some of the marinade splashed over the cooked asparagus. To be fair, Ghayour suggests it as an accompaniment rather than a starter but it doesn’t deliver the fabulous flavours typical of other recipes from Persiana – including the aubergine dish below. If I did this again, I would probably up the harissa and halve the lemon juice.

Slow-roasted Duck with Sage, Ginger and Rhubarb

I have been revisiting some old cook books and came across this Slow-roasted Duck with Sage, Ginger and Rhubarb from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef. I remembered cooking it many years ago and gave it another go.

But what to serve with it? I really couldn’t decide. Despite the mix of duck and copious ginger, it’s not an Asian dish, but, despite the rhubarb and sage, it’s not typically British either. Clearly, there would be sweetness, but some powerful ginger too, plus there’s quite a lot of garlic in the stuffing that later infuses the sauce.

I wondered whether something Middle Eastern might work, and after browsing various recipes opted for another dish from Persiana: Aubergine Chermoula, a dish we had loved the last time I cooked it. And then some Spring Greens with Garlic, to be seasonal.

The aubergine was a reasonable match – not perfect, but an interesting combination, with the two dishes offering up different types of sweetness. But the spring greens, with their slightly ferrous note, were a clash.

I followed the recipe for the duck pretty closely, but halved the quantities for two of us. I grated a small rhubarb stick and about 60g of ginger. I mixed this with a small handful of chopped sage leaves, a finely-sliced red onion and the cloves from a bulb of garlic, unpeeled but each clove cut in two.

I seasoned the duck, stuffed it with the mix and roasted it for 1 hour at 180º/160º fan/gas mark 4 and a further 1½ hours at 150º/130º fan/gas mark 2, draining the fat a couple of times. The duck ended up meltingly soft but with good, crispy skin.

I drained the remaining fat from the pan, scooped the stuffing and juices out of the duck and into the pan, added a glass of Marsala to deglaze and c.150ml chicken stock. I let the sauce simmer for a few minutes to thicken before passing it through a sieve. This sauce is gorgeous – there’s distinct ginger and rhubarb piercing through the richness of the duck juices.

Just before serving, I fried another 60g of ginger, finely sliced (I’d use a little less ginger next time) and as it browned added a finely sliced small stick of rhubarb, then a small handful of sage – I kept some leaves whole and roughly roughly chopped the rest. The sage leaves should crisp up. I scattered this mix over and around the duck and a little of its sauce.

This is a really lovely way to serve duck. But I had a problem with presentation. I am a terrible carver and even though I let the duck stand for 20-plus minutes, I still found it too hot to handle easily. My hands are clearly too sensitive for me to be serious about cooking! So, as ever with poultry or game, the look of the plate left plenty to be desired.

Aubergine Chermoula
Aubergine Chermoula from Persiana is a fabulous, silky melange of sweet and smoky flavours. I more-or-less halved the quantities, and we still had plenty left over (it made a couple of good lunches in pittas with leftover shredded duck).

 

I sautéed an aubergine cut into roughly 1-inch cubes in a good glug of olive oil, adding some salt when the aubergine had started to colour. (This recipe doesn’t suggest salting the aubergine first, but I heard a good Radio 4 discussion about this recently: the consensus was that it’s worth salting and draining when you are slicing an aubergine and want to retain a firm, meaty structure, but not when using the aubergine in dishes where you expect it to break down a little).

I removed the aubergine, added a little more oil and cooked half a thinly-sliced small onion until caramelised. When the onion was brown, I added two garlic cloves crushed with a little salt, ½ tsp ground cumin, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and ½ tsp sweet paprika. I gave this a good stir then added a little under half a red pepper, sliced. When the pepper had started to cook, I threw in a small handful of raisins (the recipe suggests golden raisins, but I used normal), after 5 minutes added half a tin of tomatoes and after another 5 minutes stirred in 1½ tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp caster sugar and 1 tbsp honey.

I did everything up to this point a while ahead of serving. When I was closer to serving the duck I reheated the contents of the pan on a highish heat and – following Ghayour’s instructions to the letter – used a potato masher lightly to crush the mixture before stir-frying for a minute or two. I lowered the heat, stirred in the cooked aubergine and cooked for a few more minutes. I find it best to allow the finished dish to cool very slightly before serving.

This is such a lovely dish, full of bold flavours and sweet textures. And it wasn’t a bad match with the duck.

Incidentally, there is also an Ottolenghi dish of the same name, which is very different and which we sometimes have for a midweek supper. This made me wonder about the term ‘chermoula’. Perhaps I should have known this, and indeed Ghayour says as much in her recipe intro, but it refers to variations of a North African rub, usually including garlic, cumin, lemon (often preserved), other spices, herbs and salt.

Spring Greens
I used my basic way with any greens: I steamed the greens, then when close to serving fried a chopped garlic clove in a good glug of olive oil and added the greens to heat through and get nicely coated in the oil and garlic. But, despite it being a reliable way to serve greens, this just did not work with the duck.

 

So, a bit of a mix. Would I cook duck this way again? Definitely. Would I serve it with the aubergines? Possibly, although I’d definitely serve the aubergines as part of a Middle Eastern dinner. And braised spring greens? Definitely not. In fact, the best accompaniment might be plain white rice.