Roasted Duck Salad

Happy New Year everyone! Let me start the new year with some healthy eating. This is what I had for lunch yesterday. Oh no, I did not roast the duck hah..hah..too much trouble and I would rather pay someone else to do it. The duck was actually leftovers from last year :D

Don't you worry one bit. I wasn't eating stale food as last year was pretty much only 3 days ago. I did not want the duck to go to waste as it cost me RM55.00 for a whole duck. These were the last bits left and it was the breast portion. As you know, I don't like chicken breasts. I totally hate it but somehow I am fine with duck breast. They are actually rather good. 

I had a bag of pre-washed mixed salad greens in the fridge which I bought from Aeon. These days I buy these pre-washed salad mix for convenience. There are 12 types of leaves in there and it costs RM7.99 per bag. I know they are expensive but worth it. It saves me the trouble of buying a few varieties of salad greens and going through the hassle of washing and drying them. One bag is good for two servings  if you add other vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and onions.

By the way, did you notice that Mandarin oranges have already made their way into the supermarkets since December? That means Chinese New Year is coming soon. In fact last weekend while I was looking after our shopping cart when my partner went to the loo, an old lady came up to me excitedly, pointed to the two boxes of oranges in the trolley and asked me "Auntie, Auntie, how much is the oranges?". Geez. She must be around 70+ and she called me auntie. I felt so deflated. I think I need a facial.

Let's forget my bruised ego and come back to my salad. In addition to the salad leaves, I have added cherry tomatoes and yellow onions. And since I had some Mandarin oranges in the house, I decided to rope those in as well. My salad dressing is made with garlic, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and a hint of Balsamic vinegar. 

After tossing the vegetables in the dressing, I simply plated the whole lot and topped the greens with the warmed up duck breasts. And yum it was good! So you see, for a salad you can pretty much buy your proteins (say, from the chicken rice stall) and add it to your greens. In fact if you have leftover KFC, you can do this too. I think I shall eat healthier this year, eh? And Realgunner's mom would approve of this recipe I hope :)

Roasted Duck Salad
Recipe source : Phong Hong

Salad ingredients :
- mixed salad greens of your choice
- cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- a few wedges of Mandarin oranges
- onions, sliced
- some duck breast (or chicken and make it a chicken salad)

Dressing ingredients :
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method :
1. Put all the salad ingredients into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2. To make the dressing, pound the garlic, salt and peppercorns until fine.
3. Transfer the pounded ingredients into a bowl and add apple cider vinegar, Balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and olive oil. Whisk to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.
4. Drizzle enough dressing into the salad ingredients and toss to mix. Taste and add more dressing if necessary.

Note : 

1. The amount of dressing ingredients is just a guide and you can adjust according to your own taste.

2. For an Oriental style dressing, omit Dijon mustard and replace apple cider vinegar with rice vinegar. Then add a teaspoon of sesame oil.