Smoked Duck Salad

Those of you who know me very well know that I have an obsession with smoked duck. It was one of the things I craved the most while in New Zealand for the last five months (along with good bubble tea and fried chicken and chicken rice and satay... and this list could go on for a while, so I'll stop here).

Since I'm back, and have access to my absolute favorite smoked duck again (sorry Jess, I know you love ducklings and abhor that I eat ducks), I thought I'd make a smoked duck salad.

So here's the smoked duck breast I got from Cold Storage at $6.95.

I decided to take Joanna's mom's advice to wrap the meat in foil, leaving the skin exposed as such.

Then I popped the whole thing in my toaster oven at 200°C for roughly 20 minutes. I say roughly because I put it in, turned the timer and then promptly forgot about it because I'm easily distracted.

This was how it looked like when it came out of the oven, a far cry from the pale poultry that made it in ~20 minutes ago. The skin was crisp, and it was swimming in a bath of its own fat. *drool*

I then sliced it up. You can slice it thinly or thickly, anything you like(: I prefer mine sliced a tad thick so there's more bite to it.

Look at the skin on this! yum!

Chopped up some Romaine lettuce and mandolined some carrots

Here's how it looks like after assembled in a bowl. I added some of my favorite Brie as well.

For the dressing, I just added lemon juice and pulp. I like my salads plain.

This was a really good lunch.

Lemon Cheesecake

So my best friend requested that I bake a lemon cheesecake for her, and here was the result. I honestly feel I've outdone myself this time. This cheesecake is the perfect creamy texture, not too dense or too light and is sandwiched between a sour cream topping and digestive biscuit base. 

The adjustments I made to the original recipe were to increase the amount of lemon juice used in the filling and in the glaze by one or two tablespoons (mainly because I like lemon juice) and used a little less sugar for the cheesecake (because 1 1/3 cups is ALOT of sugar). 

I also left out the 1/4 cup sugar as called for in the crust, and sprinkled in a pinch of salt instead. I don't know what brand of digestive biscuits you'd be using though, so it's always safe to do a taste test and decide if you would like your biscuit base to be saltier or sweeter. I always prefer mine to have just a hint of salt so that it contrasts nicely with the sweetness of the cheesecake.

And I skipped the vanilla extract because for the life of me I couldn't find proper vanilla extract at Phoon Huat or Cold Storage. The ingredients for one Redman bottle actually had the audacity to read: genuine imitation flavor. That's great, but doesn't tell me what's inside that bottle. If you do have the good stuff, go ahead and use it. If you don't, don't sweat it. This cheesecake will still taste absolutely divine.

Personally, I didn't quite like the glaze. It tasted good, giving a tart touch to the cake, but it looked strange. I wouldn't use this glaze again, so I recommend you give it a miss. I think what makes the glaze a turn off is how opaque it is. If it were clear, or yellow, it would look appetizing. As such, it kindaaa looks like glue. If desired, you could try adding yellow food paste and let me know how that works out.

I also don't have an electric mixture, so I beat everything by hand. It's tiring, but hey, you get a workout while you bake. So that's pretty cool. This reminds me of that terrible joke though:

Why are cooks cruel?
Because they beat the eggs and whip the cream.

Note of caution though, the recipe below was more than enough for me to bake two thin cakes - one 9 inch round springform pan and one 7 inch square springform pan. Either use the 11 to 12 inch pan as called for in the original recipe, or adjust your baking times accordingly!

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

For the Crust:
• 2 1/4 cups digestive biscuit crumbs (about 25 biscuits, crushed)
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
For the Filling:
• 3 8·ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
For the Sour Cream Topping
• 1 pint sour cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
For the (very very optional) Glaze:
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water 
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

PREPARATION

Prepare the Crust:
1. Combine biscuit crumbs, and melted butter. Press into bottom of an 11 to 12 inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Cool before adding filling.
Make the Cheesecake:
2. Beat cream cheese until completely smooth.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.
4. Continue to beat, gradually adding 1 1/3 cups sugar, then lemon juice and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
5. Stir in lemon rind.
6. Pour into cooled crust and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
7. Blend sour cream topping ingredients.
8. Remove cake from oven. Gently spread sour cream over top of cake. Return to oven and bake about 12 minutes.
9. Cool on metal rack for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until topping is cool but not completely chilled.
10. Make glaze if you want to by combining sugar and cornstarch, blending in water and lemon juice until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cook 3 minutes. Chill until cool but not set.
11. Spread top of cheesecake with lemon glaze. Chill several hours or over­night. May also be frozen.

Credit goes to Creative Culinary for posting the recipe.