Roast duck, potatoes and roasted shallots

Hello!

Apologies once again for my absence, boy it has been one of those months!

So a few of my Facebook friends have asked me to do a roast duck recipe; it’s relatively easy with a pan-roasted duck breast, with similarly roasted shallots. The only different element is the mustard dauphenoise potatoes. So, here we go!

Serves 4 (there will be left over potatoes, if you're not greedy that is)

4 Duck breasts, skin on.
500g potatoes
8 banana shallots
250ml Elmea light double cream
250ml chicken stock
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp marmalade
Butter (you judge the amount but I’ll give you a hint; you’ll need a new pack)
5 cloves of galic

Kit

Loaf tin for the potatoes- preferably metal, rather than silicon.
Mandolin, if available
Sharp knife, if not

Potatoes: use a mandolin to cut the potatoes into thin discs. You can also use a knife to do this but it’s harder to get uniformity that way. You’ll need a good 500g of potatoes to feed 4-6 people depending on how greedy they are. Take some whole grain mustard and mix a table spoon into a pot of Elmea light double cream; also season the cream with salt and pepper to taste. You need to put a knob of butter on the bottom of a loaf tin, then some crushed garlic, then some double cream, then potatoes, garlic, cream, potato, garlic, cream, potato and finally some more butter. Before covering with cream… like I said, not one for the faint hearted this. Put into a preheated oven at 200 celsius for at least 40 mins to allow the top to crisp a little.

The duck should be allowed to come up to room temperature before pan roasting. Score the skin with a sharp knife and season with salt and pepper so it won’t curl up when you apply it to heat. Roast the breast from a cold pan with no fat as the bird will release more fat than you can shake a stick at. Roast the shallots on the same pan, removing the dry outer layer and letting them roast in the duck fat. 5 minutes on the fat side should render the fat down before turning and putting in the oven for another 5. Take the duck out and let it rest for at least 5 minutes, cover in foil but remove the shallots for a glazing session.

The sauce is a last minute job. HOORAY! Take some (about a tsp of the duck fat) and set aside the rest for another time. The pan could have some crispy duck bits on the bottom, deglaze with a little white wine and scrape the flavour gems off the pan. Add some chicken stock, 250ml should do, and two tsp of marmalade. Finish with a sprig of rosemary and season to taste. Use the sauce sparingly as it is quite sticky and sweet. Try glazing the shallots in the sauce whilst you let the duck rest.

Hope you enjoy this Saturday quickie, quite delicious as long as you don’t let your duck turn into the piece of leather used to make in-soles for shoes… you know who you are; “I like my meat well done.” Honestly, I thought you would have learnt by now…


BenY

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