Gary Rhodes, like him or not?

He does tend to make his food 'fancy' with all that frothy stuff all over the food.

Underneath all that, I say, he is one of our greatest chefs.

His recipe books are easy to follow and the ingredients are easily available and not to expensive (most of the time).

Cantonese-style Duck, Special Fried Rice and Spinach, I saw it on TV and thought I'd try it out.

After a quick trip to our local supermarket I returned with 2 organic duck breast (and they were on special offer)
First, turn on the oven 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5 and get a hand full of peas out of the freezer and let them defrost.

Start with the sauce, finely chop some ginger, about 1 tbsp, quickly stir fry (I used a wok) in 2 tsp of vegetable oil for one minute then, turn the heat down and add 1 clove of garlic (crushed) gently cook for 2/3 minutes, transfer to a dish and leave to one side.

Using the same pan, on a medium heat, put the duck in, skin side down, cook until golden brown, turn the duck over and cook until golden brown, remove from pan, place in a shallow baking tray and put in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the duck fat from the wok.

Put the wok back on a medium heat, put in the garlic and ginger, add 3 strips of orange zest (no pith), 8 tbsp of water, and half a chicken stock cube (crumbled up) stir and bring to a boil.
Add 2 tsp of cider vinegar. I always use Aspall organic cider vinegar.
1 tbsp of honey and a dash of soy sauce, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add a squeeze of lime juice and season with salt and ground black pepper and leave to one side.

For the rice, boil 4oz's long grain rice until al dente, drain and leave to one side.
Stir fry a handful of chopped spring onion in a knob of butter for 1 minute, add a handful of defrosted peas and heat through.
Stir in the rice, add a squeeze of lime juice and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the spinach, melt a knob of butter in the wok on a medium heat, add the spinach and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To serve, slice the duck and drizzle over the sauce, add the rice and spinach.

What do you think?