Duck breast, with figgy greens and mash

More experimenting with the "pudding with me dinner concept", and I'm sorry to say, but in general I am still on the anti team .... this was perfectly pleasant, but ....

The sherry, fruit and cinnamon do give the greens a nice slightly spicy sweetness, but I still don't have a sweet tooth.  On the upside - 6 of my 5 a day in one dish.

Potatoes
Butter
Olive oil
Onion
Sherry
Vegetable stock
Figs
Raisins
Cinnamon
Chili flakes
Cavolo nero
White cabbage
Spinach

Duck breasts

1.  Peel and dice the potatoes, boil - when cooked mash with butter and put in the oven for the top to crisp up.
2.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil.
3.  When the onion is soft add a splash of sherry and a cup of vegetable stock.  Add a small handful of raisins and 2 whole figs, simmer briefly.
4.  Remove figs, turn off the heat.
5.  Cook the duck breasts on a high heat, skin side first for a couple of minutes.  Turn the heat down, turn them over for a couple of minutes, then transfer to an oven dish and roast for 10 minutes.
6.  Cut figs into pieces.
7.  Add green veg to the stock, and simmer/steam for 5 minutes, stir the figs back in and heat through.
8. Serve, scoff, watch veg dodger eat seconds of cabbage mixture.

Late night snack

Blue cheese and figs go really well together - so though this is butter some crackers and layer cheese and stuff on top - I have included it in this blog as it is tasty, tasty, tasty.

Fabulous cheese, as ever, from The Crumbly Cheese, Todmorden Indoor Market.








Crackers
Butter
Cheddar
Tomato
Cucumber
Basil
Blue cheese
Figs

Todmorden tapas

What kind of an idiot sets out to do a whole tapas tea mid-week?  Well, it appears I'm that kind of an idiot.  To be fair, I did pull it together in 30 minutes, but it was quite a busy 30 minutes.

Figs - stuffed with blue cheese - Montagnola, from The Crumbly Cheese is perfect - wrapped in parma ham, with almonds and honey.

Smoked haddock - from Paul the Fish, of course, with chickpeas, red pepper and spinach.

Patatas bravas
Kalamata olives

Olive oil
Onions
Garlic
Paprika
Chili flakes
Bouillon powder (or other stock)
Potatoes
Red pepper
Chickpeas
Figs
Blue cheese - montagnola
Parma ham
Almonds
Honey
Chopped tomatoes
Smoked haddock
Spinach

To do it in 30 minutes:-  turn on your oven, and get 3 biggish frying pans at the ready.

1.  Start with gently frying onion and garlic in olive oil in 2 frying pans.
2.  Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces, and fry in olive oil in another pan.  Let them brown a little, then put a lid on to help them cook through a bit more quickly.  Shake every now and again.
3.  Into one of the pans of onion add red pepper, about 1/2 a cup of stock and a little paprika.  When the red pepper has had a couple of minutes, tin in a drained tin of chickpeas, keep on a low heat.
4.  In the other pan add a pinch of chili flakes and a tin of chopped tomatoes, stir and let simmer very gently while everything else cooks.
5.  Cut a cross in the figs to about a cm from the bottom, and stuff with blue cheese, wrap with parma ham and place in an oven dish.  (In our case it was 2 x stuffed with cheese and wrapped, 2 x stuffed with cheese, no ham, for the veggie, and 2 x wrapped in ham but no cheese for the lactose intolerant!).  Add a few almonds and a teaspoon or so of honey.  Bake in a medium oven for 20 minutes.
6.  Place the haddock onto the chickpea mixture, put a lid on top and let it steam for 8-10 minutes.
7.  Add spinach leaves to the chickpeas and fish, put the lid back on for 2 minutes as it wilts.  Stir the mixture together, breaking the fish up slightly.
8.  Serve the potatoes with the spicy tomato sauce, add a dish of olives and some crusty bread... and tah dah!  Tod tapas.

All sourced from Todmorden market.