Duck Leg Confit with Mixed Fruit Garnish

This is one of my favourite dishes as it is so flavorfully delicious. The meat literally falls off the bones, the skin is thin and crispy and you do not get the fattiness one would associate with duck skin.

Almost all French recipes for duck leg confits are seasoned with thyme. I could not get fresh thyme in the days I was to make the dish. So I used Ajwain seeds instead. Ajwain, a thyme flavored seed of the Carom family, is common in Indian and Middle Easter cuisine. I also added crushed bay leaves, chopped parsley, black pepper and of course, sea salt. The legs are marinated in the mixture for 24 hours. I cooked the duck legs in its own fat at 85 deg C for 4 hours, with skin side up, adding a bulb of garlic and and one or two cloves.

For the mixed fruit garnish, I use fresh apples and dried prunes, golden raisins, wolfberries, white wine, and crushed almonds. I simmer the dried fruits in fresh orange juice and a little chicken stock before adding diced apple cubes, without over cooking it to retain some crunchiness. The roasted and crushed almonds are added last.

Australian Wagyu Ribeye with Mustard Flavored Watercress Salad

For this dish, I want a twist between a sweet-tart flavor of a Japanese steak sauce and a tangy mustard dressing for the watercress salad.

The wagyu steak is simply seasoned with salt and pepper, then sous vided at 59 deg C for 45 min. I added a dash of smoked paprika before grilling it on a hot cast iron skillet for a minute each side. I reckoned a minute is a bit too long for a tender wagyu steak about 20mm thick. While the meat tasted great, it could have been better if I have reduced the grilling to just 30 seconds each side.

For the watercress dressing, I use a homemade Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, honey and extra virgin olive oil. The mustard was made a couple of weeks ahead from black and yellow mustard seeds, mustard powder, yellow onion, garlic, dry white wine, worcestershire sauce, salt, vinegar, sugar and a dash of ground mace, all spice, tumeric, white pepper and cinnamon.

To serve, I added shiitake mushrooms sauteed with a little sea salt and garlic.

Humphead Wrasse with Fennel Salad

I bought a kilogram of frozen Humphead Wrasse at the airport in Sabah, Borneo. I was intrigued to find out how it tastes like. The fish was seasoned with salt, pepper and tumeric, dusted with flour and then pan fried in a nonstick skillet. As it turned out, the meat was firm, between that of monkfish and grouper.

Firm white fish and fennel is a classic combination. Here, I made the baby fennel salad with a mandoline grater, seasoned it with orange juice, white wine vinegar and olive oil. I added a few crunchy baby tomatoes. For the sauce, I used lemon juice, mirin, chilli, garlic, and soy sauce to give it a tangy hot and sour flavour.