Duck, duck, go

This weekend, I excavate duck breasts from the freezer to create a great summer salad, and serve it as part of a relaxed summer lunch menu.

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After our week of parties and guests, my little freezer was in a crisis situation. I had to excavate down to the Jurassic layer to make room for leftover breakfast croissants which I will, at some point, turn into bread and butter pudding, ice cream from the birthday sundaes, and delicious bits of roast lamb for future pies and parmentiers. So last week, we had a lot of red fruit smoothies and oven chips, not always at the same meal. I boiled a lot of stock from old bones and carcasses, because neat cubes of gelatinous stock are easier to store than the charnel house that was the freezer’s lower drawer.

In my digging, I found two lovely-looking duck breasts I’d quite forgotten about and decided it was time for their moment in the sun, or at least in the pan. I don’t cook a lot of duck in summer, other than that quick, delicious standby dinner of tinned confit of duck with potatoes roasted in their fat, so I enjoyed dreaming up a treatment that didn’t involve a side of mash – a main-course salad you can serve warm or at room temperature, for which you can do most of the preparation ahead so you can serve it to guests without any last-minute panics. I couldn’t resist using new potatoes, because I love them, but I did give it a zing of vibrant green with lots of leaves, peas, beans and herbs.

And just in case you have your own freezer situation going on…

Some things to do with a duck breast or two

• Mix a shredded, cooked duck breast into a salad with blackberries or pickled cherries (I’m going to share a recipe for pickled cherries next week, so stand by caller), watercress, celery, walnuts, croûtons and a shallot vinaigrette made with sherry vinegar

• Shred a cooked duck breast and serve in tacos with a salsa of lime, coriander, chillies, garlic and spring onions.

• Cook the duck breast in a frying pan and pour off some of the fat. Put the duck to one side to rest. Add a little butter to the pan and sauté some slices of apple until golden on both sides. Splash in some cognac or calvados and carefully set it alight. Serve the duck with the apple slices, some roast potatoes and a green vegetable for health.

• Shred or slice cooked duck breast into rice seasoned with ground cumin, coriander and a little cinnamon, mix in onions sautéed until golden, chopped green olives and dried apricots, and lots of chopped parsley.

Duck, endive and walnut salad