Duck Breast, Carrot and Ginger Purée with Orange Vincotto - Chef Recipe by Alan Dawes.

Ingredients

Tip:

To add something else to the dish, you can make some duck fat potatoes. Leave the duck to air dry in the fridge for about 24 hours before cooking. Bring it out of the fridge about an hour before cooking.

Carrot and ginger purée:

250g carrots, roughly chopped
50g fresh ginger
3 cardamom pods
400mL cream
Salt to taste

Duck:
2 duck breasts
Salt
4 garlic cloves
4 sprigs fresh thyme

Orange vincotto:

50mL Pomodoro orange vincotto
Garlic from the duck
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bunch baby carrots

Method

Carrot and ginger purée:

Place all ingredients in a suitably-sized pot, one deep enough so the cream covers the carrots.

Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes, covered by a lid. Stir and cook for the next 40 minutes, checking and stirring every 10 minutes. You are looking for the cream to reduce, thicken and coat all over the carrots.

Pick out any cardamom pods and ginger. Place in a blender and purée for about 4 minutes until nice and smooth.

Taste for seasoning and set aside until ready to use.

Duck:

Remove the duck from the fridge an hour before cooking. When cooking duck breast don’t use any oil or butter as it has its own fat and a lot of it.

Place duck in a cold pan, skin side down and on a low heat. First you need to render the fat so it is nice and crispy. There will be a lot of fat in the pan, drain it into a separate pot.

Using tongs, place on top of the duck, holding it in place and tip the pan so the fat drips into the other pot.

Cook the duck until the skin is golden and crispy, pouring off any excess fat to the other pot.

Turn duck breasts over and quickly colour the rest of the duck. Place on a tray skin side up, add salt, garlic and thyme over the top of the skin.

Cook at 190 C for around 4-6 minutes and allow to rest. Duck breast should be served pink, once cooked let it rest for the same time you cooked it for.

Roasted baby carrots:

Place on a tray and drizzle with some of the reserved duck fat and salt; roast until cooked.

Orange vincotto:

In a small pot, add vincotto, garlic from cooked duck and fresh thyme. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat to infuse.

Plating:

Heat purée and place a large spoonful on a plate off-centre. Slice each duck breast in half, place next to purée.

Pour vincotto in between duck and carrots, don’t let the sauce touch the skin of the duck if you want it to remain crispy.

Garnish:

Thinly slice some purple carrots, cover in cold water and leave in fridge to crisp over ice. Drain on a Chux and with some edible flowers from the garden, place on top of purée.

Recipe provided by Alan Dawes Private Chef