Glazed Duck with sweet & sour blackberry sauce and pak choi

To make the blackberry sauce put all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Put the saucepan on the hob over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often until the sauce is thick and glossy. Remove the sauce from the heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the aromatics. Clean the saucepan and then put the strained sauce back into the pan, ready to warm up later.

Rinse the rice in a sieve for a minute until the water runs clear. Put the rice in a small saucepan with 250ml water. Turn on the heat to medium and bring to the boil. Give the rice a quick stir and then turn the heat down to very low and put a tight-fitting lid on the saucepan. Cook for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave the rice in the saucepan, with the lid on, for at least another 5 minutes before serving (it will continue to cook). If you aren’t yet ready to serve keep the rice in the saucepan with the lid on, it will stay warm for at least 20 minutes.

Using a sharp knife score the duck skin in a diamond pattern and then season the duck breasts with salt and pepper. Place the duck breasts, skin side down, in a cold heavy-bottomed frying pan. Cooking duck breasts in a cold pan, rather than pre-heating the pan, ensures that you render our some of the fat and results in a nice crispy finish on the skin. Cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes until the skin is crisp and golden, periodically spoon out some of the duck fat. This can be saved and used for cooking roast potatoes.

While the duck is cooking prepare and cook the pak choi. Cut the pak choi in half or into quarters if they are very large. Put a tablespoon sunflower oil into a wide, lidded pan over a medium-high heat and add the crushed garlic. Cook the garlic for 30 seconds and then add the pak choi, soy sauce and two tablespoons water. Put the lid on and cook for two minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another couple of minutes until the pak choi is tender and the liquid is reduced. Keep the pak choi warm in the pan until you are ready to serve. 

Turn the duck breasts over and cook to your liking, probably another 5 minutes to cook medium. Drizzle one teaspoon of honey over the skin of each duck breast and turn back onto the skin side in the pan for 30 seconds to glaze the skin of the duck. Allow the duck to rest somewhere warm for 5 minutes.

Warm up the blackberry sauce. Slice the duck and arrange on two plates. Add the pak choi, steamed rice and then drizzle over the blackberry sauce. Sprinkle over the toasted sesame seeds and the sliced spring onion. Serve immediately.

Cook’s tip: This sauce can also be made with Mrs Bridges Victoria Plum Preserve, just replace the blackberry preserve with plum preserve and proceed as per the recipe.