Apologies, first of all, have to be made for the pun! We Love Local Food have added a new supplier to the website this week and we hope you will be giving duck eggs a try while supporting local company Watercress Lane.
Eggs are probably on your shopping list nearly every week but the grand majority of people pass by the duck eggs and head straight to the hen eggs. So this post will supply you with a few recipes in the hope that you might just decide to do something different this week!
Duck eggs have a large golden yolk and are richer than hen eggs, they can be used in much the same way as hen eggs but will give you a fuller and richer flavour. Watercress Lane’s website gives you a great deal more information about duck eggs and also a variety of recipes so if the one we have selected below doesn’t tickle your fancy head on over to the website to see what other delicious meals you could create.
Duck eggs will make your Victoria sponge cake lighter, moister and richer and will really add that extra something special to this traditional recipe.
Victoria Sponge

Ingredients:
4 Duck Eggs
250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar sugar
250g self-raising flour
12g baking powder
Raspberry jam or strawberry jam, icing sugar and cream (optional to finish)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, the easiest way to tell whether you have creamed the mixture for long enough is to watch it carefully change colour. When it turns almost white you have creamed for long enough! Gradually add the eggs and add a tablespoon of sieved flour with the first. Gently fold in the rest of the flour and baking powder, ensuring that you have an evenly mixed cake batter. Divide the mixture between two 18cm sandwich tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes. To test whether your cakes are baked insert a skewer into the centre, if the skewer is clean the cake is done! Leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack before sandwiching them together with raspberry or strawberry jam. If you are going to eat your cake on the day, I like to whip up some cream and put this in the middle too. And finally top with icing sugar to finish your duck egg Victoria sponge off perfectly.

One of my favourite green vegetables is in season at the minute and this recipe from the BBC Good Food website caught my eye

Purple sprouting broccoli with prosciutto and duck egg

Method: Grill the prosciutto until crisp and steam the broccoli until just tender. Place the broccoli in your serving dish and drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Top the broccoli with the prosciutto and parmesan before poaching your duck eggs. Use the same technique as you would for a hen egg, a duck egg will need to be poached for around 3-4 minutes. Add the duck eggs to your dish and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper before serving.

Do you prefer to use duck eggs? Let us know your favourite recipes and we’ll get them up online.