Lunch: Duck Breast Salad and Omelet

Weekends afford the time to experiment in the kitchen. After looking long and hard at the bags of sodium alginate and calcium chloride in the cabinet (more anon), I decided to experiment with something that I was more certain I would be able to eat. Accordingly my attention was drawn to one of the smoked duck breasts I had bought during the last expedition to Village Imports / Made In France in Brisbane. The following recipe isn't entirely original, but at this point I'm not certain where I first read it, and there are some changes. This recipe serves two moderately hungry gourmets.

Ingredients

One smoked duck breast
Four eggs
Three tablespoons sour cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One tablespoon minced fresh chives
Three tablespoons chopped shallots
Salad greens
Vinaigrette dressing

Method

1. Peel the skin and fat from the duck breast. Place the skin and fat into a skillet over medium-low heat and render the duck fat until the skin turns into crispy crackling (about 10 minutes). Cut skin crackling into small pieces and set aside. Retain the duck fat.
   
2. Beat eggs with the sour cream, chives, salt and pepper until well mixed and fluffy
   
3. Heat some of the rendered duck fat in a skillet until hot. Add one-half of the shallots and cook for a minute or two, until softened. Add half of the egg mixture and half of the cracklings to the pan and make an omelet. Repeat for the remainder of the shallots, eggs and cracklings.
   
4. Dress the salad greens with the vinaigrette. Split the salad between two plates; thinly slice the duck breast and split between the two plates, arranging on the top of the salad greens. Place an omelet on each plate next to the salad and serve immediately.