Light Bites

Spiced Duck Breast, Cherry & Watercress Salad

This duck salad recipe is perfect for entertaining. Brining the duck overnight and pickling your own cherries are the gourmet touches that really help the salad stand out, and we love the colour contrast between the vibrant watercress and ruby red cherries. We would recommend serving this with some crusty bread for the ultimate summer lunch.

45 minutes (but cherries need to be pickled and duck needs to be brined overnight) prep, 20 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 duck breasts

3 tsp sumac

1 tsp brown sugar

½ tsp salt

100g macadamias, roasted at 160C for 20 minutes

200g watercress

100g olives, pitted and halved

½ cucumber, julienned

For the pickled cherries

300g fresh cherries, pitted

450ml white wine vinegar

50g caster sugar

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

For the cherry vinaigrette:

4 tbsp cherry juice (from a carton is fine)

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt & cracked black pepper to season

Method

Begin the day before you wish to eat by dry brining the duck. Mix the sumac, sugar and salt in a bowl and rub over the duck flesh, leaving the skin. Turn, skin side up and refrigerate uncovered for 12 hours.

For the cherries, bring everything apart from the cherries to a simmer in a small pan. Pour over the cherries in a sterile jar and leave to pickle for at least 12 hours, although they will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge.

The day you wish to eat, add all the dressing ingredients to a jar and shake to combine.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Pat the duck skin dry and score with a sharp knife, taking care not to penetrate the flesh. Lay, skin side down, in a cold pan and set the heat to medium. Cook for 4-6 minutes, or until the fat has rendered and the skin is crisp.

Transfer the entire pan to the oven and cook for 4-5 minutes for rare. Remove and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes.

To assemble the salad, mix the watercress, cucumber, macadamias and olives in a bowl and drizzle over 2-3 tbsp of dressing. Slice the duck and arrange on top, with some pickled cherries and extra dressing on the side.