Duck in Plum sauce

The quickest way to impress with zero effort! This is for 2 people, just scale up proportionally to whichever number of guests you're having.

Ingredients:

• 2 chopped up plums (no need to peel them)

• half an onion

• 1 cup of red wine

• 2 cups of chicken stock (a good quality stock cube can do)

• 1 little branch of fresh rosemary

• salt and pepper

• 2 tsb of brown sugar

• 2 tsp cornflour and 2 tsp water

• 2 Duck breast (no need to marinade, just make sure the skin is criss-crossed with the tip of a knife (don’t reach the red meat when cutting it though)

• 2 Tsbp olive oil

• Noodles to serve it with

Method:

For the sauce: Finely chop the onion. Put 1 Tbsp of oil and the onion in a pot and stir-fry a little until it becomes translucent and starts to take colour.

Add the plums, then the wine, the chicken stock, the rosemary and the sugar – bring it to the boil and let it happily boil for some 5 mins. At this point lower the temperature until it just simmers, cover with a lid and let it simmer away for a good 40 mins (check every now and then: it should just simmer, not boil).

Drain the content of the saucepan through a fine sieve into another saucepan, squeezing the pulp so to get the last drop.

Mix the cornflour and the water in a small cup until it’s a dense liquid (NOT a paste) – if needed add another tsp of water. Add this to the drained sauce and bring it to the boil, stirring very often. As soon as it has reached the right consistency for you, take it off the heat and cover it with the lid.

The duck: put 1 Tbsp of oil into a non-stick pan, ensure the pan is really hot, then place the duck skin side down. Cook on that side for 4 minutes at a high temperature. At that point have a peek to see if the skin has reached a good colour, if not leave it to cook for another minute.

Turn the duck breast upside down and cook for a further 2 minutes (3 minutes if you don’t like it rare in the middle).

In the meantime (I do it before I cook the duck) prepare your noodles (boil it if dry, stir fry it if fresh) and dress it with just a little sesame oil.

Leave the duck to rest on a plate for a minute or two, while bringing the sauce back to the boil. Serve with the sauce spooned over the duck, which you’ll serve skin side up.

Enjoy!