Much more tomorrow (or the next day, as something reminds me that I promised a friend to help her cater some enormous political event tomorrow?!). Since I wrote last I’ve had countless teas, coffees and lunches with blogworthy friends, we’ve been to an amazing concert at Royal Albert Hall, survived Michaelmas Fair, and of course…
We have had a fabulous birthday celebration weekend for Avery in Somerset (10th century castle ruins as our venue! guarded over by a 14th century house that we actually stayed in, guarding my first real… MOAT). The girls came, they unpacked with abandon, they saw Exmoor ponies as you see, and they jumped in sloshy mud to the extent that their boots had to be… poured out, upside down. I have never seen such mud.
I must collapse. We dropped off one girl, then Avery and me, I rushed to bake chicken, steam broccoli, soak some beets in balsamic vinegar, mash potatoes, and DINNER once Avery was scraped clean-ish in her bath. Now we’re all wilting. But what a weekend. I wish we could keep Anna and Jamie, her intrepid girlfriends, forever.
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2 boneless duck breasts (these usually come vacuum-packed)
sea salt
2 cups tightly packed baby spinach leaves
1 small purple cabbage
1 small white cabbage
2 red bell peppers
1 avocado
1 dozen small tomatoes
handful chives
dressing: juice and pulp of a lemon, 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, 1/4 cup olive oil, dah balsamic vinegar, tasp Dijon mustard, sea salt
Place the duck breasts on a cutting board (NOT the one you will later use for preparing the salad; always use separate boards for raw meat and veggies). Score the skin in four horizontal slices, till you can just see the meat beneath. Sprinkle the skin with sea salt.
Heat a large skillet till nearly smoking, then put in duck breasts skin side down and sprinkle with sea salt. You would be wise at this point to cover the skillet with one of those grease screens, since duck is very fatty and you (and your priceless Armani jacket) will get splattered. Turn heat down to medium and let duck cook for 8 minutes. Resist the temptation to play with it, poke it, and above all DO NOT pierce it.
Meanwhile, pile the spinach on a large platter. Shred the…
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