Recipes: Duck egg salad | Dark chocolate truffles

THIS week, award-winning chef patron Mark Greenaway, from Restaurant Mark Greenaway at No.12 Picardy Place in Edinburgh, who recently appeared on the Great British Menu 2012, shares two seasonal recipes for you to try at home.

DUCK EGG SALAD

“The beauty of this salad is that it needs no dressing,” says Mark. “By cooking the egg so it remains soft, the yolk acts as a dressing, so although the blue cheese isn’t altogether healthy, as a whole dish it really is as there is no oil-based dressing or mayonnaise. It also has a refreshing pea purée that acts like a dressing but has been made with no butter or cream.”

Ingredients

160g great quality blue cheese (4 generous slices)

16 roasted hazelnuts

300g fresh spring peas

50g fresh spring peas (keep raw to go through the salad)

2 duck eggs

1 frizzy lettuce or baby gem lettuce

Salt

Wild herbs or fresh herbs of your choice 

Method

Boil the duck eggs in salted water for 6 minutes and refresh in cold water to cool down. Once cool, peel and set aside.

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Bring 500ml of salted water to a rolling boil and drop in fresh peas, then return to the boil and cook for 3 minutes. Then drain the peas, reserving some of the cooking liquid. 

Using some of the water you used to boil the peas blend at a high speed to achieve a fresh smooth purée, adding a little of the cooking water until you have the correct consistency.

Pick and wash all lettuce and herbs well in clean cold water to build the salad.

Place a slice of the blue cheese at the bottom of your serving bowl.

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Top with the duck eggs cut in half length ways, and dot some of the pea purée around the cheese and egg. 

Then scatter the lettuce, hazelnuts, fresh herbs and reserved peas around the top of the egg.

Serve individually as shown or in a larger bowl in the middle of the table for a lovely spring or summer lunch.

DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Ingredients

For truffles:

675g dark chocolate (70%)

250ml double cream (hot)

320g unsalted butter

75ml of a liqueur of your choice

To coat the truffles:

150g white chocolate

20g cocoa powder

Method

To make the truffles:

First, melt the chocolate and butter together. Then mix the cream with the liqueur and add both of the mixes together.

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Chill for 1 hour in the fridge until the mix becomes set, then roll the mixture into rough truffle shapes. Once completed, place them in the fridge to chill.

To coat the truffles:

Melt the white chocolate over a bain marie of simmering water.

Spread a little on the palm of your hand and roughly roll the truffle in it and sit on a tray.

Continue until all truffles are coated. Dust with a little cocoa powder. Set back in the fridge until ready to serve.

Please note these are meant to look very rustic so don’t try and be too pretty with them, after all they are meant to look like a “Yruffle”, and be warned - they are very addictive.

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