Two ways with duck

Hot and sour duck salad with a passionfruit dressing

Please, please try this recipe. It came to me in a flash of inspiration earlier today, standing in front of a very handsome duck breast. Although in winter what is most welcome is food as a duvet; rich, creamy, hearty food to bolster us through the frosty days and nights, sometimes we need some respite in the form of something light, hot and zingy.This salad has it all - it satifies the winter carnivore's carnal need for red flesh, and it delivers the inimitable smack in the mouth of South-East Asian cooking, while the honey and passionfruit make it just a bit more elegant and special. I urge you to try it.

1 duck breast, fat on

Mixed interesting leaves

shredded crunchy veg - whatever is to hand; I used mangetout

an avocado, sliced

a fat red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced (or less of a smaller, fiery one)

fresh ginger, in matchsticks

the juice of a lime

dark soy sauce

honey

one passionfruit, seeds and all

Mix the chilli, ginger, lime juice, soy, honey and passionfruit juice together to make a sharp dressing. There needs to be a balance of hot, sour, salty and sweet. Heat a frying pan with only a tiny bit of oil, so it's hot. Score the duck fat in a criss-cross pattern and put the breast fat side down in the pan. Leave for 5 minutes, or until the fat is crisp and golden. Turn the breast over and cook for just a couple more minutes - or more if you don't, unlike me, like your duck rare.

Meanwhile, combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl. Take the duck out of the pan and rest for five minutes or so, while you dress the salad, reserving a little bit of the dressing. Slice the duck breast quite thinly, then arrange over the salad on a plate. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing and dive in.

Spiced seared duck with aubergine, pomegranates and sumac

This is perhaps even better than the previous duck recipe. Stunning Middle Eastern flavours and colours make this so fabulous, and even quite Christmassy. If you haven't already fallen in love with food from this part of the world, try this; you'll soon be seduced. There might seem like a lot of ingredients, but there is very little effort; besides, the point is to evoke the sights, scents and tastes of the souks and bazaars, like belly dancers shimmying across your tastebuds.

duck breast, fat on and scored in a criss-cross pattern

aubergine, halved and sliced thinly lengthways

cumin seeds

salt and pepper

olive oil

lemon

chicory

a pomegranate

spring onions, sliced

tomato, seeded and diced

half a chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

flat parsley

bulghur wheat (cracked wheat - like big couscous)

chicken stock

pomegranate molasses

honey

olive oil

lemon

salt and pepper

sumac - this is a red spice (actually a crushed berry) found at most good supermarkets and all spice shops, and gives a sour, lemony flavour. It is fabulous but lemon alone will do if you can't get it.

Lay the strips of aubergine out in a single layer on a baking tray, and drizzle with oil, a bit of honey and lemon, salt and pepper and a few cumin seeds. Grill until lightly burnished and softened, then turn and do the other side. Take out and let cool.

To the bulghur wheat, add enough hot stock to cover by a centimetre. Put on the heat - without stirring - for a couple of minutes, then take off the heat, cover and leave to let the bulghur soak up the stock. When it has fluffed up and is soft but still with a nubbly texture, it's ready. Set aside.

Put the spring onions, chilli and tomato into a bowl along with most of the parsley - chopped stalks and all - and the seeds of half the pomegranate. To get the seeds out easily, cut it in half across the middle and, holding one half cut side down over the bowl, tap it hard with a wooden spon or similar implement. The seeds and juice will shower down leaving you with the pith, which is bitter and not good to eat - pick any out that has fallen into the bowl. Shred up the aubergine - which will be divinely smoky - and add that too. Pick leaves of chicory and pile them in as well.

Make a dressing to taste out of the pomegranate molasses (which you can buy at any supermarket now and is fabulous, with a sweet-sour flavour - just brushed over meat before grilling is amazing), oil, lemon juice, honey and salt and pepper. Add to the salad, and what you have is a version of a Turkish Spoon Salad, sort of like a Middle Eastern salsa.

Sear the duck in a hot pan, tipping off most of the fat that comes out of it. PLEASE don't throw it away - keep it for roast potatoes or suchlike. Turn when the skin is browned and crisp, and cook for as long as you like - I like mine rare so I give it about 5 minutes. Take it out of the pan and rest it for a few minutes, while to fluff up the bulghur, stir some parsley through it and check the seasoning, then serve everything together, tipping the resting juices from the duck back over the sliced meat. Sprinkle over a good pinch of sumac, scatter with more pomegranate jewels and and drift off to the Casbah.