Phil Vickery's duck and pickled cherry salad and cherry and almond cake
Cherries are everywhere at the moment, so grab them before they go and try Phil’s sweet and savoury ideas for tonight’s dinner.
Sweet pickled cherries
Serves: 4
Ingredients
600g cherries, stoned275mls cider vinegar115g dark brown Muscovado sugar115g light brown Muscavado sugar1½ tbsp salt10 cloves½ cinnamon stickjuice of 2 large lemons
Method
Sterilize a 750ml preserving jar. Wash the fruit well in plenty of cold water and dry well.
Place the vinegar, sugars, salt, cloves, cinnamon stick and lemon juice into a pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.
Add the cherries, turn up the heat and cook until the fruit softens slightly, but make sure the fruit stays whole.
Remove from the heat and use a slotted spoon to carefully pack the fruit into the warm preserving jar.
Place the pan back on the stove and rapidly boil for 2 minutes until slightly syrupy and thickened. You should end up with enough syrup to fill the jar perfectly, if not the syrup needs to be cooked for a little longer.
Pour over the warm cherries and seal the jar.
Cool and leave for a minimum of one week in a cool dark place, before eating. The cherries will keep for up to one year if kept in a fridge.
Roast duck salad with pickled cherries and feta
Serves: 4Preparation time: 20 minutesCooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
4 small duck breasts, criss cross cut, just trough the fat with a sharp knifesalt and pepper
For the dressing:
100g (from 175g cherries, roughly) fresh smooth cherry puree1 tbsp Dijon mustard2 tbsp red wine vinegar (approximately depending on the sweetness of the cherries)75mls safflower or sunflower oiltouch of water to let the dressing down if needed
For the salad:
75g watercress75g lambs lettuce3 Little Gem lettuce cut into long thin wedges75g crumbled Feta cheese75g fresh cooked croutons12 pickled cherries (see recipe)
Method
Heat a medium frying pan and the season the duck breasts really well with salt and pepper.
Place skin side down into the pan and gently cook for 4-5 minutes.
Turn over and cook for a further 4-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the breast.
When firm to the touch, remove the pan from the stove and cover with foil, leave for at least 12-15 minutes.
For the dressing: Place the puree into a bowl and add the mustard, vinegar and whisk together well.
Then add the oil so the dressing emulsifies, the adjust with a little water and season to taste.
For the salad: place the leaves into a large bowl, add a few spoons of dressing and lightly mix with a pair of tongs, the colour is stunning.
Add the cheese and croutons and lightly mix, season well with salt and pepper.
Slice the duck very thinly across the grain of the flesh.
Place a pile of salad on a plate then add half the pink duck slices, top with more salad and the rest of the duck.
Serve with 5 pickled cherries around the salad and serve.
Glazed cherry almond cake
Serves: makes one 23cm cake
Ingredients
Soft butter for greasing4 heaped tbsp cherry jam600g large cherries, pitted
For the sponge:
220g soft salted butter220g caster sugar2 tsp vanilla extract4 medium eggs, at room temperature120g ground almonds150g self-raising flour
To serve:
300ml lightly whipped double creamvanilla extracticing sugar to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 160C / Gas 3.
Line a 23cm round springform tin with baking parchment, making sure the parchment comes up the side of the tin by about 3cm (this holds in the juice as the cake cooks) Lightly butter the parchment paper.
Spoon the jam over the bottom of the tin, then add the cherries in an even layer.
To make the sponge, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together well for 2-3 minutes, no need to go mad. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Gently mix in the almonds and flour, then spoon the mixture over the cherries and the jam, nice and evenly.
Place the tin on a baking tray, just in case you get a leak, and bake for 50 minutes or until lightly browned.
Once cooked remove from the oven and leave to set for 15-20 minutes.
Carefully remove the outside ring and invert onto a large plate.
Serve at room temperature with sweetened vanilla cream