Try this delicious duck recipe this week and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the interesting mix of flavours and unusual colours. This is a great Valentine's Day recipe to try on a special occasion.
Taken from Food with Friends by The Sorted Crew (Penguin eBooks; £9.99; also available as eBook chapters)
Ingredients
- 2 shallots, peeled
- 1 Granny Smith apple
- Handful of fresh or frozen blueberries
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- Tbsp caster sugar
- 1 star anise
- 2 shots of white wine vinegar (50ml)
- 1 lime
- 1 orange
- 2 large potatoes, washed
- Knob of butter, melted, plus a little extra
- 2 duck breasts
- ¼ of a savoy cabbage
- Chicken stock (100ml)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C, gas 4. Blitz one peeled shallot with the peeled and cored apple in a small blender to a paste, or chop up as finely as you can
Chuck this into a pan along with the blueberries, both sugars, star anise and the white wine vinegar
Zest the citrus fruit into the pan, then heat to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes
Grate the potatoes into a bowl and toss the melted butter into the potatoes with some salt and pepper
Heat a small, dry frying pan and add the potato mixture, pressing it down into two small rings so that it’s tightly packed in
Flip each rösti after about 5 minutes when the bottom is golden brown and they hold their shape when the pan is shaken
Add the duck breasts, skin side down, to the same pan as the rösti if there is room (or another pan if there isn’t) and cook over a medium heat, discarding any fat released from the duck. Cook for about 5 minutes until the skin is deep golden brown and crisp, then turn over and quickly seal the other side
Place the duck and rösti pan in the oven to bake for 6 minutes until the potato is cooked right through but the duck is still pink
Push the sauce through a fine sieve to make it smooth, then return it to the pan and keep it warm
Shred the cabbage and slice the remaining shallot. Add both to a hot pan with a little extra butter and fry until they begin to soften
Pour in the chicken stock and cook until almost dry
Allow the duck breasts to rest at room temperature for 2 minutes before slicing
Serve a rösti on each plate and top with the cabbage, sliced duck and sauce.
