Five spice duck and Asian mushroom salad

Serves 4

This dish makes a nice, light summery main course, or you could take it on a trip as a packed lunch. You should be able to get your hands on Oriental mushrooms from a good supermarket or Oriental food shop. Shiitake seem to be the most common these days in fresh or dried form, but you will find others like enoki and shemegi in specialist shops.

This dish makes a nice, light summery main course, or you could take it on a trip as a packed lunch. You should be able to get your hands on Oriental mushrooms from a good supermarket or Oriental food shop. Shiitake seem to be the most common these days in fresh or dried form, but you will find others like enoki and shemegi in specialist shops.

4 duck breasts weighing about 160-180g each
2tsp Chinese five spice
2tbsp clear honey
150g fresh oriental mushrooms like shiitake, enoki, shemegi
15g dried black fungus, soaked in cold water overnight
3tbsp light soy sauce
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 stick of lemongrass, trimmed and finely chopped
30g root ginger, scraped and finely chopped
1 mild red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1tbsp chopped fresh coriander
250-300g soba noodles or similar
6 spring onions, trimmed and finely shredded on the angle
1tbsp rice wine or cider vinegar
3tbsp sesame oil
3tbsp vegetable or corn oil

If you are using shiitake, trim off the stalks and quarter the caps before putting them in a saucepan. (If you are using enoki they can be put in the salad raw at the end.) Add the drained black fungus, soy sauce and garlic. Cover with water and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander over a bowl and return the liquid to the pan.

Simmer the liquid until it has reduced to about three tablespoons. Put the liquid into a bowl with the rice vinegar and the two oils and whisk well. Add the ginger, lemongrass, chilli and coriander and put to one side.

Mix the honey with the 5 spice and rub over the duck breasts and season them with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy-bottomed or non-stick frying pan and cook the duck breasts with the skin side down for 2-3 minutes and then turn them over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Turn them over and cook them for another 3-4 minutes on the skin, then remove from the pan and put them on a plate to catch any juices. The duck should be medium to rare otherwise it can be a bit dry.

Meanwhile cook the noodles according to the cooking instructions, drain and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a large bowl. Shred the black fungus and add to the noodles with the other mushrooms, any cooking juices from the duck and the dressing and mix well.

Season the noodles and arrange on 4 serving plates. Slice the duck breasts as thinly as possible and arrange on the noodles.