Monday, September 21, 2015

Peking duck tart & pancetta, goat cheese, arugula tart / More relatively cheap foodstuffs of the UK

Pancetta, goat cheese, & arugula tart, and peking duck tart
Continuing from my last post, this past summer I again wanted to take advantage of some of the delicious ingredients that are both more readily available and cheaper in the UK than in the US.  For a dinner party with my wonderful roommates, I combined a number of these sort of ingredients:
  1. Puff pastry - available in all convenience stores, ~$2 for a sheet that I've seen at $10+ at Whole Foods
  2. Duck legs - available in most regular grocery stores, 2 for $6 (~$6.50/pound)
  3. Pancetta - available in convenience stores in small packets for $1.50
  4. Goat cheese, creme fraiche, both available in convenience stores for $1.50, which I've seen at $10+ for comparable quantities in the US.

The assembly of each went something like this: 
  1. Two duck legs were prepared as described previously (Note: I have read that duck skin can be dried out much faster using hairdryers,than with fans or circulating air within a fridge, a technique pioneered by Marcella Hazan), and could be done either earlier in the day or a day in advance. 
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
  3. Cut puff pastry sheet into two rectangles of about 12" x 4". 
  4. Use a knife to score a 1" border, and a fork to prick the interior of the border
  5. Apply an eggwash to the border 
  6. Bake puff pastries for 10 minutes
  7. Meanwhile, fry 100g/3.5 oz pancetta in a pan until crispy
  8. Mix the base sauces (2 tbsp + 2 tbsp hoisin and creme fraiche for the duck tart, 4 oz goat cheese + 2 eggs for the pancetta/arugula tart).
  9. Prepare a ginger scallion sauce (1/2 cup finely chopped scallions, 1/8 cup finely chopped ginger, and 1/8 cup oil lightly heated in a pan until softened, then seasoned)   
  10. After 10 minutes or after pastries have browned, lightly punch down any pastry within the border that has risen
  11. Spread each sauce on a separate pastry
  12. Top one with roast duck and ginger/scallion sauce, top the other with fried pancetta 
  13. Return to oven for another 10 minutes, then top the pancetta tart with fresh arugula and goat cheese dollops