Slow-cooked Duck Legs, Spiced Orange, Walnut Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For preserved oranges:

Orange 5 pc

Shallot 30 gm

Garlic 10 gm

Red chilli 30 gm

Cinnamon stalks 2 pc

Star anise 2pc

Brown sugar 50 gm

Corn oil 10 ml

Orange juice 100 ml

Gravy 100 ml

For walnut salad:

Toasted walnut halves 120 gm

Celery, julienned 100 gm

Orange zest 25 gm

Olive oil 20 ml

Chopped parsley 5 gm

For slow-cooked duck legs:

Duck legs 4 pc

Rock salt 100 gm

Oranges 3

Star anise 3 pc

Orange juice 200 ml

Duck fat 1 kg

Method

To make the preserved oranges, take a saucepan, sauté the shallots with corn oil. Add garlic, chopped red chilli, brown sugar, star anise, and cinnamon stalks. On low heat, pour in the orange juice and simmer until reduced to half the amount and add the orange seasoning and let it cool.

Cut the pulp out and, in chunks, mix it with the gravy. 
Set aside but keep it hot. For the walnut salad, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, season with the lemon zest and keep it aside in the refrigerator.

To make the duck legs, first clean the duck legs and marinate them with rock salt, orange segments, star anise, and orange juice. Marinate the duck for 12 hours in the fridge.

Wash the legs under cold running water. Put the legs in a pot and cover them with the duck fat.

Cook in the oven for two hours at 90°C, remove them and drain the oil. Place baking paper on a pan and place the legs in the oven until the skin becomes crispy.

Place the duck legs on a plate and drizzle the sauce on top. Garnish with the walnut salad.

Cheese Kunafa with Strawberry Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Fine kunafa dough 200 gm

Clarified butter or ghee 30-50 gm

Buratta cheese 75 gm

Ricotta cheese 75 gm

For the sugar syrup

Water 500 ml

Sugar 600 gm

Lemon 1 pc

For the strawberry salad

Strawberries 6 pc

Blended strawberries 6 pc

Sugar 30 gm

Lemon 1 pc

Method

Mix the kunafa dough with some clarified butter or ghee and rub it in with your hands. Cut dough into small pieces and place in a bowl. Butter a fire-proof dish lightly. Take some of the dough and press it, starting with the rim, firmly into the fireproof dish; ensure the whole dish is covered.

Mix the burrata and ricotta cheese, and make a ball with the mixture; flatten to the size of the dish, and place on the dough. Take the remaining kunafa dough, and put it on top of the cheese filling. Press it down lightly. Bake in the oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes until the dough is golden brown.

Take it out of the oven and flip it onto an equally sized plate so the bottom of the kunafa is facing upwards. Bake for another 20 minutes till the colour of the dough turns golden brown and becomes a bit crispy. Pour sugar syrup (mix ingredients and boil till thick) over the kunafa. You can pair it with a strawberry salad. For the salad, cut strawberry into small pieces; squeeze the lemon into a small cup. Mix cut strawberries with blended strawberries, sugar and lemon juice.

Green Olives Stuffed With ChilLi, Anchovies, Lemon, Za’atar

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Green olives 120 gm

Lemon zest 3 gm

Red chilli 3 gm

Bread crumbs 50 gm

Fresh za’atar 20 gm

Anchovies 20 gm

Method

Stuff the green olives with chilli paste, anchovies, lemon zest and fresh za’atar. Roll the olives in bread crumbs, and deep fry until it turns golden brown in colour. Serve it in a bowl and garnish with lemon zest and fresh red chilli.