Stir-Fried Duck in Lettuce Cups

This was a quick, healthy lunch to throw together. Again, another recipe out of Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetites. I threw in a little red pepper flakes to kick the spice up a bit, other than that, I left this one pretty much alone. It had been a while since we had duck, so that worked out. This was really good... fresh veggies were crisp and clean and tasty. Nothing bad I can say about this and it's too easy NOT to try.

8 leaves lettuce, chinese leaf, if available
4 duck breast, skinless, about 175g each
¼ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon five-spice
pinch sea salt
olive oil, to drizzle
1 cucumber
2 scallion, trimmed
5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, to sprinkle

For the lettuce cups, remove the layers from the lettuce until you get to 4-6 flat whole leaves (8 if using Chinese leaf lettuce) Trim around each leaf with scissors to neaten the edges, so that they resemble cups. Place one on each serving plate. (NOTE: the Chinese leaf lettuce leaves are quite long, but you don't want the lower half which has the firm stalky part. Cut that off and use two leaves per person)

Remove the skin from the duck (if not skinless), then slice the flesh into thin strips. Put the peppercorns, five-spice powder and sea salt into a mortar (or spice grinder) and grind to a powder. Sprinkle this over the duck slices, drizzle with a little olive oil and toss to coat evenly.

Halve the cucumber and scoop out the seeds, then cut the flesh into finger-length strips. Slice the scallions very thinly on the bias (diagonally).

Heat a non-stick wide frying pan until hot over high heat and you can feel the heat rising from the pan. Add the duck and stir-fry for two minutes. Add the spring onions and hoisin sauce and toss well to coat. Stir-fry another minute until the duck has just cooked through. Toss with a handful of cucumber strips.

Divide the stir-fry between the lettuce cups. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and scatter the remaining cucumber strips around each plate. Spoon over any remaining sauce from the pan. Serve immediately.