All who know me know I like nothing more than a good old-fashioned chow down so I thought I would share my favourite recipes. All are super simple to prepare and I promise no obscure ingredients that will have you dipping into your mortgage account. This week as we are still in the period that the church calendar refers to as Michaelmas and back in the day when there was a full on feast day to go with the season something that involves goose would have been eaten. I have adapted this tradition with incorporating the altogether easier to get a hold of and prepare with goose fat, and duck as the main event fowl as it is cheaper (and easier) to prepare.
Duck with redcurrant and thyme sauce with goose fat roasted potatoes and wilted spinach (serves two)
Ingredients:
- Two duck breasts with skin still on
- A box of redcurrants*
- A bunch fresh thyme*
- A bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley*
- Three cloves of garlic
- One red chilli pepper
- Three shallots, thinly sliced
- A packet charlotte potatoes*
- A jar of goose fat*
- Half a glass of sherry
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- 100 grams of fresh baby leaf spinach
Method:
Slice shallots and garlic and heat a heavy based frying pan. Try to put as little oil as possible as duck is very fatty and gently fry the shallots and garlic taking care not to burn the garlic (it will create a grim bitter aftertaste if you do). When everything is looking clarified and the kitchen is smelling heavenly add your duck, skin down into the pan. You want the skin to crisp off and also the fat coming out of the duck will bring depth to the sauce. There is really no need to bung in stock cubes, the flavour is usually there to be found in the most calorific parts of any animal, but I digress. As the skin starts to crisp up nicely flip the breasts the other way in the pan (now flesh sitting in the base of the pan and add your parsley, thyme and your sherry. If you are cooking with booze for the first time, to have the benefits of the boozy aroma without an acrid back taste in your sauce it is important you cook all the alcohol off – this is simple. You keep simmering your sauce until the booze smell no longer leaves a sharp tingle when you breathe in the sauce. I am sure there are other more scientific ways to do this, but it works for me. Allow the duck to simmer in its sauce for 25 minutes and it should be ready. To know if the duck is cooked, like chicken, juices should run clear when pricked. Some people like their duck pink, I veer towards medium/well but just go with your own taste. The redcurrants go in with about 10 minutes of cooking time to go as you don’t want them completely collapsing into the sauce or indeed taking over the show as they are sharp to the taste. Meanwhile back at the ranch you would have emptied your packet of potatoes all in a roasting tin with plenty of salt. I am very much about abundance so I would cook the potatoes in a WHOLE jar of goose fat. Some people do the whole spoonful, mere suggestion portion control look, but I think why pretend, when more goose fat just makes everything taste better? And didn’t Jesus himself say, that He came that we may have life and have it to the full. So, full jar of goose fat with potatoes that are salted in the roasting tin, oven heat at about 180 degrees centegrade and cook until gorgeous and brown. If you had put the potatoes in first, by the time the duck is ready to serve they will be ready. Switch off the oven and leave the potatoes in there so they stay warm as you do your final cooking which is wilting the baby spinach. To ensure it doesn’t disintegrate, blanch in a couple of tablespoons of water and drizzle some olive oil at the end for shine-shine factor when plated up. I always like to plate things up in a natural looking way so spinach at the bottom, duck breast on top and potatoes on corners with a bit of jus on the top. See picture below that was taken on my phone and not in any way photoshopped and bon apetit!
No comments:
Post a Comment