JUST JULIA COOKS: Duck a L'orange

Eating out is something I adore doing. It's like shopping for fashion addicts or the latest lip-kit release for beauty fanatics. However, I do love to spend time in the kitchen experimenting with new dishes. As part of my New Year's resolutions - many of which have already been panned - I've decided to challenge myself to cook more, without putting too much pressure on myself of course.

This challenge is something I'm really excited about, and although I usually live off stir fry's I want to cook dishes I've never tackled before.

Having a really busy work schedule, I sometimes find it hard to fit in time in the evening to cook so dishes that are quick and easy to make are a must for me. With Spring slowly creeping in - providing the Beast of the Beast.3 doesn't make an appearance later on this week - I've turned my attention to light, fragrant dishes. Queue Duck a L'Orange, a delicious French dish with a stunning sweet yet slightly tart sauce.

I served mine with hasselback potatoes, but I'd also recommend having it with rice too or stir fry vegetables.

Recipe:
Serves: 2

Pre/cooking Time: Around 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 120ml of honey
• 2 large oranges (1 peeled and separated into segments and 1 for juicing)
• 2 shallots (finely chopped)
• 2 duck breasts seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1 small handful of chopped thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons of orange zest

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Score the skin of the duck breasts and lightly season with salt and pepper.
3. Peel one of the oranges and separate the segments of the orange. Zest the second orange and cut in half. Juice both halves of the orange into a cup.
4. Cook the duck on one side in a pan on a low-medium heat until the skin is crisp and the duck is cooked. Flip over and seal the duck for about 30 seconds.
5. Put the duck in the oven on a baking tray for around 5 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Whilst the duck is cooking, put the squeezed orange juice, honey, orange zest, shallots and thyme. Once simmering, add the orange segments and continue to simmer until sticky. Take off the heat until needed.
7. Remove the duck from the oven and glaze some of the sauce over the skin. Place back in the oven for 2 minutes to crisp up more. Take out of the oven and allow the duck breasts to rest.
8. Bring the sauce back up to heat and place the duck breasts on a plate - serve the sauce on top of the duck. Add rice, potatoes vegetables or anything else you would like to the plate to finish the dish off and enjoy! 

  For Now...

Just Julia

Boozy Gin Brownies - Recipe

Oh gin, you popular wee thing you. The boom in this particular drinks trend is far from over, and with more than 70% of all gin in the UK now produced in Scotland, it's no surprise half of us have gone gin mad. 

It just so happens that I've now decided to eat the stuff, never mind consume goblets of it at the weekend.

Not the most experienced of bakers, I wanted to incorporate one of my favourite spirits into a simple recipe which bakers of all levels would be able to tackle. And with a slight addiction to chocolate, I opted for my very own Boozy Gin Brownies.

There are of course numerous different ways you can make brownies, and if you've got your recipe nailed then that's totally cool. But for those who don't, I've pulled together a recipe for simple, slightly gooey brownies below.

And as well as gin, I've also added some white chocolate chips and mini marshmallows for those who really want to have fun with this recipe.

To make the boozy gin brownies you will need the following...

Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate (I used Bournville)
• 100g unsalted butter
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs (or five medium)
• 60g cocoa powder
• 3 tsp vanilla essence
• 60g plain flour
• One handful of white chocolate chips
• One handful of mini marshmallows
• Any premium gin (I used Cocoa Gin from Hotel Chocolat)

You will also need one square/rectangular baking tin lined with grease proof paper to bake the brownies in.

Below is the step-by-step method you will need to follow - however I've left out the gin and tonic I'd poured myself to drink whilst baking.

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C and line your baking tin - set tray to the side.
2. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate gently over simmering boiling water in a pan, or microwave the chocolate in bursts of 30 seconds. Set the chocolate aside to cool.
3. Put both the butter and the caster sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one after the other. Add in the vanilla essence and beat well.
4. Slowly pour some of the melted chocolate into the mixture and mix it in. Do this until all of the melted chocolate has been added. If you would like, feel free to add white chocolate chips and marshmallows at this stage - or any other confectionary you would like.
5. Sift in the cocoa powder and flour and gently stir into the mixture ensuring it has completely combined.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin and put into the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
7. Once cooked, place the brownies on a wire cooling rack. Leave the brownies to cool for about 8-10 minutes and then, depending on how strong you would like your brownies to be, pour/drizzle your favourite gin over the brownies. The mixture will soak up the gin. For this recipe I used Hotel Chocolat's Cocoa Gin which is infused with cocoa shells.
8. Cut into pieces and serve.

To confuse things a little, I decided to make two batches when baking these brownies - both containing gin, however only one contained the mini marshmallows and white chocolate chips.

These brownies are a great fine piece to take to any tea party and can be made with numerous other spirits including rum, reposado tequila and even a dark beer. I used Hotel Chocolat's Cocoa Gin due to it being infused with cocoa shells, but next time I'll definitely think of using a more floral gin or one with lots of botanicals from the sea, as I think they would work extremely well. I can imagine the Gin Bothy amaretto gin liqueur would also be a winning combination too.

Enjoy your boozy baking folks, but remember, please bake and drink responsibly.

  For Now...

Just Julia