Eating In – that’s me

Eating In is a beaut little book by Philip Johnson that was published last year.  It’s a book that was designed for entertaining at home.  As such, its recipes are not overly complex but produce good looking and tasting food.  We really like this book and have used it quite a bit.

The dish I made on Monday night was Duck breast, pumpkin puree, balsamic braised red cabbage and candied walnuts.  These were the four main elements of the dish plus some jus was also required.  The recipe can be found here.  To make the candied walnuts combine 100g of sugar with 100ml of water and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 1cup of walnuts gently in syrup for 45mins until liquid reduces and nuts are glazed.  Deep fry in vegetable oil at 165C in small batches for 2 mins.  Remove to baking paper and season with sea salt while still warm. 

It’s fair to say I didn’t execute all the elements well on this dish in that my pumpkin puree was too runny and my walnuts might have been a bit overdone.  Nonetheless, it tasted good and it is a challenge not to eat all the walnuts before plating up – they are very moreish.