Go on, Get Forked…

So it’s 9.58am, Wednesday morning, you’re sitting at work and that question pops into your head, what should I make for dinner tonight? Ah I got it I’ll make ‘meal X’… even though you’ve made the same meal every week for the last 25 years! We often find ourselves getting ‘stuck’ in our ‘go to’ meals. I mean why wouldn’t we? Everybody loves them and they taste great… but seriously every week? It’s time for everyone to get a little inventive in the kitchen… and no it doesn’t mean you have to become the next Heston Blumenthal… as cool as that would be.

Without further ado, I present to all you wonderful people ‘Get Forked‘. What is Get Forked you ask? Well it’s a little collaborative side project that Kristy from Kristy Leigh’s Food for Thought and myself have started. It’s a project that challenges us and forces us to think on our feet by cooking with ingredients we wouldn’t normally select. Basically four mystery ingredients are chosen by our partners each week (one picks the main and the other picks the supporting) and then we both have one week to shop, cook and photograph our dish before posting the results at the end of the week.  The list of ingredients gets posted every Monday whilst the results go up on Friday. We welcome you all to get on board and play along.

Every now and then we just happen to get a list of ingredients that make us go wow this would be perfect for *insert idea ‘Y’ here*. Throughout this journey, I will pick and choose some of my favourite creations to share with you so you can try them at home. So right now I’m going to share with you my result from week 4. The ingredients we had to use consisted of duck, pomegranate, pumpkin and chickpeas. After experiencing a fantastic Moroccan feast with some fellow food bloggers, and having just purchase “Colour of Maroc” (this cook book is a must have!) the ingredients were a perfect fit for a Moroccan inspired dish.

If you want to keep up with the week results head over to Get Forked’s facebook page. To find out more about Kristy, head over to her blog right here, also make this tagine … amazing.

It would be great if you could head over to Best Home Chef and give this recipe a rating out of 5 (if you accidentally hit the wrong amount of starts refresh the page to start over).

Duck, Pumpkin and Chickpea Tagine

What you will need:

• 1 whole duck, cut into sixths (legs, breast, wings)
• 1 small splash of olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 heaped teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (add more or less to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 pumpkin cut into 2 cm cubes
• 1 400g tin tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock
• 1 handful of dates, seeded and chopped
• 1 400g tin of chickpeas
• 1 pomegranate
• 1 small handful almond flakes
• 1 small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Now what?

1. Heat a large deep oven proof pan over a medium high heat. Add a small splash of olive oil and then place the duck breasts skin side down, cook for 4-5 minutes keeping an eye on it as not to burn it.
2. Once the fat has rendered down turn the breast over and brown the bottom. once browned, remove from the pan and set aside, continue browning the rest of the duck in batches.
3. Once all the duck pieces are browned, remove half of the rendered duck fat (keep this for the next batch of roast spuds!).
4. Reduce the heat to a medium low. Add the onions and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the onions soften.
5. Once the onions have softened, add the cumin, paprika, coriander, cayenne pepper and cinnamon and cook for another 3 minutes then add the pumpkin and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Add the dates, tin tomatoes and then return the duck to the pot skin side up.
7. Add the stock so 3/4 of the chicken is covered (keep the skin out of the stock if you can).
8. Cover the pot and cook over a low heat for one and a half hours, stirring occasionally.
9. After an hour and a half add the drained chickpeas and cook for a further 15 minutes covered. Pre-heat your oven to 180’c.
10. Remove the lid and cook in the oven for 20 minutes, the skin should crisp up and the sauce should begin to darken. after 15 minutes remove from the oven and get ready to serve.
11. Top with pomegranate, almond flakes and the coriander. You can serve this with a side of rice, couscous, quinoa or a crusty loaf of bread.
12. Enjoy.

The post Go on, Get Forked… appeared first on Inspired Food.