Zesty

Going out can be great. But opting for an easy evening, staying in, cooking a yummy dinner and drinking far too much wine can just be the simplest and most pleasurable thing to do.

So recently I wandered in the rain to think about what to cook. I got to the butcher and after a quick natter I bought a beautiful Gressingham duck. It might seem a little 1980s but duck and orange is still such a wonderful combination - the sharp citrus cuts through the richness of the duck so well. I've gone a bit clementine-mad recently, but they are so good at this time of year it seems silly not to. A little citrus zest perks up the stuffing no end and partners so well with the bird.

The fruity theme carried through into pudding. A while ago, looking for a light pudding to round off a meal, I flicked through the pages of the Moro cookbook and stumbled upon a simple and wonderful fruit salad; just dates, oranges, icing sugar and cinnamon. It's truly wonderful and well worth trying. I loved the idea but fancied doing something slightly different with it and my mind started meandering towards the idea of a sort of sticky toffee pudding-ish offering. I remembered watching a chef on telly using clementines in a cake, boiling them for an hour until they were completely soft before whizzing them, skin and all. The skin contains wonderfully flavoured oil and adds so much flavour to the pudding - it's almost like a spice. The gauntlet was thrown down and a steamed pudding started to take shape. A couple of things about steamed puddings are how easy they are to cook, and how forgiving they are for timing. You can happily leave them (as long as you don't forget to top up the water - exploding pudding basins here we come) for an extra half an hour if your dinner runs over. Just don't forget to grease the bowl; there's nothing quite as disappointing as a pud that won't turn out. I make no excuses for this pudding; it's rib-sticking, wonderful, dense and divine. The ground almonds leave it wonderfully moist, but not particularly springy...