Wow. I’ve really been enjoying my anti-detox. A bit too much methinks. I am a little embarrassed to reveal just how ‘well’ I’ve been eating over the past couple of weeks. There’s me banging on about how my internal diet regulation mechanism is on autopilot and then I come to write this post and find I’ve been talking absolute tosh. Well, whatever. It’s been great. I’ve eaten lots of delicious things, this fruity duck being one of them.

I was left with a bottle of pomegranate molasses after making Ottolenghi’s beautiful squash recipe. A quick flick through Moro East revealed Sam and Sam’s pomegranate marinade, which I used to flavour the duck. I combined it with caramelised endive, sweet pears and some green lentils, then topped everything with an orange-pomegranate dressing – just tangy enough to cut through all that sweet ‘n’ rich goodness.

Here’s what else I’ve been putting away over the last couple of weeks – hands up who’s been scoffing too much bread and meat then?

(Left to right from top)
1. Bresaola sandwich on olive bread.
2. Smoked trout with yoghurt and salsa.
3. LOADS of Copella apple juice.
4. A rubbish pizza from – shock horror – Tesco, onto which I chucked the contents of the fridge.
5. Steamed spring rolls (very badly rolled indeed), containing prawns, vermicelli, chilli, cucumber and Thai basil.
6. Some sticky chicken.
7. Chris’s amazing eggy bread, which I am going to post about – it is divine.
8. Salt beef sandwich from Roast to Go in Borough Market.
9. Celeriac soup.
10. Desperation lunch made from contents of fridge thrown into a wrap.
11. Egg!
12. Chorizo, spinach and sun dried tomato baguette.
13. Baba ganoush and pitta, way too garlicky, I was regretting it for the rest of the day. No,no, no Sun and Doves! Same problem with the salad dressing, by the way. Oh, and you know how I asked you not to put the hummus on there? That’s because it’s way too garlicky.
14. Mixed ‘bean feast’ from the health food shop. It’s actually really tasty, honest.
15. Clementines! You can do no wrong. Well, perhaps the pips could go?
16. Brie, pesto, cherry tomato and red onion on focaccia.
17. Clearly the biggest apple in the world – although you can’t tell from my really badly composed iphone photo.

But, there’s not just been too much food passing my lips. Oh no, there’s been drinking too….Brew Dog beer has got to be the beer of the moment – for me anyway and for the guys who introduced me to it. More of that – and the fantabulous Tipped Winter Barbecue (which happened in 2008, included large amounts of Brew Dog and is begging to be blogged), in an upcoming post. Here’s a picture of the little beauties in the meantime.

If you would also like to stick two fingers up to detox, here’s the pomegranate marinade from Moro East, it’s lovely on duck, all that crispy fat. Detox schmeetox. Seriously though, I think I may need to lighten things up..there’s only so much exercise can do, after all….

Pomegranate Molasses Marinade (from Moro East by Sam and Sam Clark)

1 garlic clove, crushed
Juice of 1 pomegranate
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon finely grated onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

- Combine all ingredients except olive oil in a blender and whizz until smooth.
- Toss the meat in this mixture and add the olive oil.
- Marinade from 4 hours to 2 days.