This crispy duck breast, walnut and prune salad with ginger dressing is a festive offering, but still light enough to enjoy as an easy lunch during December. Or, serve it as a starter when you are entertaining.

For more inspiration on what to serve your guests on Christmas day, find out how to cook a three-bird roast, a far more impressive offering than the traditional turkey. Or, to get the festivities really going, try our homemade Christmas Pimm’s.

CRISPY DUCK BREAST, WALNUT AND PRUNE SALAD WITH GINGER DRESSING

This crispy duck breast, walnut and prune salad is a festive treat for all the senses. It can be served as a light lunch in December when you want something special but don’t want to overdo it. It also makes a lovely starter.

Serves 4

Salad dressing

• 8 prunes roughly chopped
• 2cm peeled and finely grated ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Juice of 1 clementine
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp honey
• 3 tsp olive oil

Duck

• 2 duck breasts

Salad

• 1 bunch watercress
• 2 tbs parsley leaves
• 2 tbs mint leaves
• 2 clementines, peeled and sliced horizontally into rounds
• 100g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the dressing, put a small saucepan on a low heat and cook the prunes with the ginger, allspice, cinnamon and juice of a clementine for a couple of minutes (to help infuse the flavours). Leave to cool then season with salt and pepper and whisk in vinegar, maple syrup, honey and, lastly, the olive oil.

To make the crispy duck breast, walnut and prune salad, get a crispy skin on the duck breast by gently making three scores diagonally across the skin (being careful not to cut into the flesh), season with salt then place it skin-side down in a cold frying pan. Turn the heat on to low/medium and fry for 10 to 15 minutes, every so often tipping away the rendered fat (you can save this for roast potatoes). When crispy, turn the breasts flesh- side down and cook for a couple of minutes on high. Leave to rest while you make the salad.

Put watercress, parsley, mint, clementines and walnuts into a large bowl. Pour dressing on top and toss well. Pile on to a plate and top with a few thin slices of duck breast. Juice from the duck can be added to the dressing or poured on to the duck slices