22nd April 2013

It was a lovely sunny weekend in London, and so for dinner on Sunday I felt like making something summery.  It’s got to that time when the extra hours of daylight in the evening are making a big difference and I start wanting a glass of wine outside rather than an early bed time with extra blankets…

Quick, easy to make, delicious – those were the key words when it came to FDT (Food Decision Time). I do love an acronym.

Ingredients required:

• Bunch of spring onions
• 1 x cucumber
• 1 x mango
• Salad leaves (a bag of mixed leaves from the supermarket will do fine)
• Hoi Sin sauce
• Crispy aromatic duck (I used half a duck)

These ingredients make enough salad for 3-4 people, depending on how hungry you are.  I made salad for 2 people, and used the leftovers for packed lunch.

Please note the duck is where the ‘easy to make’ comes in to play!  I ordered mine from a Chinese down the road.  This way you get the duck hot and perfect, ready to add to your salad.  The Hoi Sin will probably come with it as well.  However, if you’re organised, an alternative is to buy one of the ‘Ready to Roast’ aromatic ducks from a big supermarket – I know Sainsbury’s do a good one.

So, step 1 is either (a) Order half a duck from your favourite Chinese, or, (b) Pop your duck into the oven, following instructions as to temperature/time.

You then have about 30 – 45 mins (depending on cooking/waiting time) to rustle up the salad.  I’d estimate the actual salad preparation takes about 12 mins so you can use the remaining time to enjoy a beverage of your choice.

           Beautiful glasses from Anthropologie

Chop the cucumber into small cubes and toss with the salad leaves. Chop the spring onions – some into discs, and some lengthways into thin strips.  Chuck the discs into a frying pan with a dash of olive oil and cook till slightly golden around the edges. You can then add both the cooked and raw strips of spring onion into the salad.

Now cut up the mango into cubes.  Cutting fruit is something I am not brilliant at! If you’re so inclined, you can watch a video on how to cut up a mango like a hedgehog here.  This will give you pieces of a size that I think work well for the salad.

Add the mango to the salad and serve on to plates.

When the duck arrives or is ready, shred the meat using two forks.  Again, not something I’m brilliant at!  But if cooked properly, it should fall off the bone quite easily and there should be lots of nice crispy skin.

Pile the duck onto the salad portions, and mix in a little.  If you ordered the duck and it came with salad, you can add this too (more cucumber and spring onion never hurt anybody!).  Then drizzle the salad with Hoi Sin sauce – keep a light hand as you can always add more later and you don’t want the taste of the mango to be overpowered.  No other dressing is really needed, because the cucumber gives the salad lots of moisture.

Enjoy!  If the weather’s fine, why not eat outside?  I think next time I’ll also add a sprinkling of sesame seeds.