Duck, cabbage and potato stir fry with chilli, garlic + ginger

I saw the duck breasts in the shop and just wanted to see what I could make with them.

And I LOVE experimenting with cooking with what you have, not wasting food.

What I had was about a third of a cabbage and a cooked potato in the fridge - they were the main things that needed using up, so I thought I’d do some kind of stir fry but using potato instead of having it with rice or noodles.

Cabbage is so good stir-fried and I definitely think it should have the chance to be the hero, the star, every now and then, given how it’s so often over-looked or relegated to a bit part.

And of course, if you haven’t got leftover cooked potato, do cook a potato or two before starting to make this - just cut into smaller pieces and boil for ten minutes of so in salted boiling water on quite a fast boil.

Quantities are quite vague, as often, just go with what you’ve got and taste and see if it’s good … but this was a good big dish for one (moi) and I started with the duck breast.

I just patted dry with kitchen paper, then scored the skin with a sharp knife, rubbed in some salt and black pepper and then sprinkled over some soy sauce.

Get a non-stick pan over a medium heat on the hob and when hot add the duck breast, skin side down and cook on a low to medium heat for five minutes. Try not to touch it but obviously if it’s really sticking (it shouldn’t be, it has a lot of fat in that skin), then just ease it away from the bottom of the pan.

When you flip it over it’ll be nice and browned already and then just remove from the heat, pop it skinside UP this time onto a baking tray and put into a medium oven for ten minutes.

This cooked mine perfectly for me, just a little pink still, but you can always check it and cook for a couple of minutes more if you want it well done.

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What you’ll need for the stir fry is:

lots of chopped fresh chilli (amount to your taste!)

lots of chopped fresh garlic (same! I had two cloves)

a good piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

a little oil (you could use the duck fat in the pan, up to you)

a slosh of fish sauce

lime juice 1/2 - 1 depending on how juicy it is

cabbage, sliced and cut into smaller pieces

granulated sugar, just a pinch

cooked potato, cut into small pieces

2 spring onions, sliced

fresh coriander leaves to serve, if liked

Get everything ready and then put that good non-stick pan back over the heat - you can use some of all of that lovely duck fat to cook the stir fry, or get rid of it and use a little fresh oil, up to you.

When it’s hot, add the aromatics (I love saying this, I don’t know why, I just love putting it all together as ‘aromatics’) and stir fry for a few seconds on a medium heat until it smells amazing!

Add a little slosh of water, plus another slosh of fish sauce, squeeze in the lime juice and then throw in the cabbage along with a pinch of sugar.

Stir, reduce heat, put a lid on the pan and let it cook for about five minutes. Stir every now and then and check if it needs a little more water.

Whenever the duck is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave on a chopping board to rest. Take it out a few minutes before it’s exactly cooked to your liking as it will continue to cook while it rests. The skin should be gorgeous and crispy now too!

Take the lid off the pan and add the chopped potato and the spring onions. Taste too and see if you want any more water, any more fish sauce, any more lime juice …

Cook, stirring, for another minute or two, then put into a bowl.

Slice the duck and add to the stir fry - yes I did eat a couple of pieces even as it made its way from chopping board to dish!

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and a few more slices of red chilli, if liked.

I really liked having potato in the dish itself and not making separate rice or noodles and just LOVED the duck breast - what a treat. And exciting for cabbage to make it into a treat dish too!

Er, confession - I’m wondering looking at this photo if I added a little light soy sauce too along with the fish sauce and it’s very likely but I’m afraid I can’t say for sure. It wouldn’t do any harm though - I’ll try it next time I make it so I can update this recipe if need be …

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Lamb (leftovers) stir fry

I love a good roast dinner.  Lamb is probably my favourite - and my step-mum makes possibly the best roast lamb ever ... it's testimony only to the size of the lamb that there were leftovers at all!

We had the roast lamb last Sunday with mint sauce - of course - and roast potatoes and vegetables and an incredibly good gravy.

And on the Monday evening I made a simple stir fry with the leftovers (even simpler for me as my dad had done the work slicing all the meat into small-ish strips). 

I really like using fresh mint leaves in this - it's a sort of nod to the mint sauce of the day before.

We had enough lamb to serve four as a stir fry with rice.

Here's what you need:

1 garlic clove, minced

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 stalk of lemongrass, outer tough parts removed and finely chopped

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced

Some chopped vegetables-  we had peppers and mushrooms

2-3 spring onions, sliced

cooked lamb, cut into strips or diced

fish sauce

light soy sauce

zest and juice of a lime

a handful of coriander leaves, chopped

a handful of mint leaves, chopped

rice, to serve

Heat a pan, add a little oil and when hot, tip in the garlic, chilli, lemongrass and ginger and stir over quite a high heat, moving the ingredients around in the pan constantly to prevent burning.

After about 30 seconds, when it starts to smell good, add the chopped vegetables and a little splash of water, enough to loosen it and make it easy to turn in the pan.

After a minute or so, add the cooked lamb, a couple of sloshes of soy sauce, one of fish sauce and the lime zest and juice, and continue cooking until the lamb is hot right through. 

Do taste and taste and taste as you add the sauces and lime - add half in first, stir and taste, before adding the remainder of each so you can check you're happy with how it tastes. If you think it's a bit too sour, just add a pinch of sugar.

When it's all ready, throw in the fresh herbs, immediately remove from heat and stir in to wilt.

And that's it! 

Serve with rice .... this is such an easy delicious dinner - I do hope you try it!

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1 roast chicken / 5 recipes / 7 meals

Food waste. Shocking stats - the latest numbers I remember are that here in the UK alone we throw away 5,000 chickens and over 1m sausages every single day.  Plus around 4m apples and potatoes - again every single day.

Whatever we can do individually to combat this, no matter how seemingly small, has got to be worth doing. 

Not buying too much in the first place is easiest, buying more food fresh as it's needed. Planning ahead for the week.  

And, of course, using up leftovers.  

Leftover rice can become a kao pad.  Risotto turns into Arancini (stuffed rice balls), and stale bread into that lovely Italian salad, Panzanella.  So many good things to make through being aware of not wasting food. 

I decided to see how many meals I could make from one roast chicken, and it was more than I'd expected! There was probably a little less meat at each meal than I would usually serve, but that's no bad thing and something I'd like to consciously continue to do.

Last weekend's roast chicken started off being cooked in my remoska.  I love my remoska - I asked for it as a birthday present over ten years' ago and it makes the best roast chicken and the best jacket potatoes.  I think it's because it's a small space so it really steams beautifully as it cooks.  Whatever the reason, chicken is incredibly moist and the skin perfectly crispy.  I also use it for one-pot dishes like a savoury rice or stews - in fact I feel a whole remoska post of its own coming on one day soon!   

But back to the roast chicken ...  

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I mixed up some lemon/thyme salt that was in the cupboard with butter and rubbed that under the skin of the chicken (careful not to tear the skin) and put a couple of squashed garlic cloves (no need to remove the skins) in the cavity along with a quartered lemon, after squeezing the juice over the bird.  

I also massaged it with a little olive oil.  And then cooked for an hour and a half or so.

Sorry about the horribly unappetising photo!

I totally forgot to take any when it was cooked, or looking delicious with a colourful fresh salad - but I did want to show how snugly it fits in the remoska which is why it cooks it so beautifully.

We had slices of hot chicken with a big couscous salad - couscous cooked and cooled with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, chopped fresh mint and parsley leaves, a little olive oil, black pepper and lots of lemon juice.

Roast chicken + couscous salad: for two

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I just put the whole board of leftovers in the fridge that night and the next day made myself a noodle soup for lunch, using a packet of instant noodles.

Put the kettle on so you'll have boiling water when you need it.  

Then just stir fried a squashed and chopped garlic clove and a chopped chilli in a little oil for a few seconds until it smells good.

Add the noodles, their seasoning packet and a small pinch of sugar, some sliced spring onions plus boiling water (I just put in as much as I think I want depending on if I want it soupy or not, rather than measuring it out).  

Simmer for a few minutes until the noodles are done and just at the end throw in some spinach leaves or pak choi and coriander (if liked). 

Chicken noodle soup: for one

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That evening, I needed something just for me, so cooked some rice and made my favourite fakeaway, a chicken jalfrezi.  

I changed the recipe a little as I was using cooked chicken so added it later on in the timings.

Chicken curry: for one

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Next, time to make a very simple stock.

I'm a bit lazy when it comes to stock making and don't spend ages getting every scrap of meat off.  I tend to just stick the whole carcass and all the meat and bits straight into a big pan.

Add one roughly chopped onion, carrot and celery stick, a few black peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves and then cover with water.

Bring to the boil, skim off any scummy bits that have risen to the surface, and then simmer very gently for an hour or two. 

I then turned off the heat and left the stock overnight on the hob with a lid on it as it was late and I wanted to get to bed! 

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The next day, the stock had become very gelatinous so I warmed the whole thing for a few minutes on the hob until it was liquid again, then strained.  Before throwing away the bits in the strainer though, I picked out all the meat I could and threw it back in the liquid.

To make my Thai-influenced soup, I started with sweating half a chopped onion and a clove of garlic in a big pan - oh and one chopped chilli too!

When these were soft, I poured in the stock liquid, added half a chicken Knorr stock cube and some more boiling water - to increase the volume to what's needed.  If you don't need more, you might not need to add the extra stock cube too.

Once this comes to a simmer, I added cooked rice, some spring onion, a little dash of fish sauce and one of soy and some black pepper.  Taste and taste and see what you think!

I'd meant to add a squeeze of lime juice ... but forgot .. 

Served in bowls with coriander leaves (just omit if you don't like coriander; I know a lot of people don't) and some sliced red chilli.

Kao tom gai / chicken rice soup: for two

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There was only a little left in the pan, after we'd gone back for seconds (that's why it's worth adding the extra water and a bit of stock cube) ... and normally, I might well have thrown it away.

But it looked enough for a bowlful and it is so cold at the moment - I thought it would make a good and nourishing breakfast.  

So in the morning, I just turned the gas on under the kettle for tea, and the gas under the soup pan to heat the chicken rice soup.

Do make sure it boils and heats through thoroughly.

I cracked an egg into a bowl and ladled the boiling soup on top, which on stirring, lightly cooked the egg.  I added coriander leaves and some sliced chilli and that was that.

Very simple and very good. Especially on a very cold morning! 

Rice soup for breakfast: for one

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So, my one roast chicken made made five recipes (roast, noodles, curry, stock, soup) and seven meals.

(Oh, and Tiny Dog loves chicken and had a little piece chopped in with his biscuits for five meals too!)

Would love to know your favourite leftover recipes too so do reply in the comments! 

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