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Ingredients

• 6 duck legs
• Table salt
• 2 star anise, ground to powder
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled, roughly chopped
• Thumb fresh ginger, finely chopped
• Zest of grated orange
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 100ml rendered duck fat or lard

Method
Sprinkle the duck with the salt. Distribute the remaining ingredients evenly on the duck, cover, refrigerate overnight for up to 48 hours.

Rinse the duck well, wiping off all the seasoning. Pat dry on kitchen paper.

Preheat oven to 100°C. Put duck legs in roasting tin, the legs can be in one or two layers, the only critical factor is that you have enough fat to completely cover the duck.

Cover the duck legs with duck, goose or pork fat and bring to boil in the roasting tin on the hob.

Then place, uncovered, in the oven and cook for 6 hours or until the legs are completely tender. At first they float in the fat; you know they’re done when they sink to the bottom of the pot. 

Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature in the pot.

Transfer duck legs to suitably fridge sized storage containers, pour fat over legs, make sure duck is completely submerged in the fat.

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to a month.

To serve the confit, remove from the fridge several hours ahead to allow the fat to soften. Preheat oven to 220°C. 

Remove the legs from the fat. Place them on a baking sheet and roast until the meat is hot and the skin is crispy.

Ingredients

• 200g green papaya
• 100g carrot
• 100g daikon
• Handful ripped mint leaves
• Zest of a lime

For the dressing:

• 125ml coconut milk
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 small red chilli, deseeded & thinly sliced

MethodUsing a mandolin, shred the vegetables into long, thin, julienne. Place in a large bowl & evenly mix through mint & lime zest.

In a separate bowl mix the dressing ingredients & then fold through the salad.

Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids or more
• 8 egg whites
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 40ml Grand Marniere (optional)
• 200ml double cream – for serving with

Method
Break the chocolate into pieces, and on a low heat, melt in a Pyrex bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

At this point, of course, if you’ve run out of chocolate patience, you could just eat the melted chocolate – if so dilute the runny mess with 200ml double cream, stir it around, getting dipping strawberries, hob nobs and greedy fingers.

However! Back to the chocolate mousse recipe. For chocolate mousse – don’t add the 200ml of cream; hang onto that as the final accompaniment,

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate. Briskly whisk one-third of the whipped egg white into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the Grand Marniere if you’re using it, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture.

Pour the mousse into individual serving pots, place in the fridge and allow to set for at least 2 hours.

Pretty gorgeous served with thick cream.