After the Harvest > Wild Gamebird Festival 2007 Recipes

Duck Lollipops

8 duck legs

100 ml red wine

500 ml veal stock

2 tbsp sugar

1 juniper berry

1 bay leaf

1 clove of garlic

½ shallot

1 rasher of bacon

Method

Take the thigh bone out of the duck and fold the meat back over the “calf bone “of the duck.

Tie the meat down with a piece of kitchen string so it will stay nicely in place. Season them with salt and cracked black pepper, and fry slowly in a medium hot pan.

Finely dice the shallot, garlic, bacon and fry off in a small pot. Add the bay leaf, juniper berry and red wine. Reduce the wine and then add the veal stock and the sugar.

Take the duck lollipops out of the pan and place them in the simmering veal jus if possible with the bones out of the liquid. Slowly braise them for about 1 hour.

To serve take a big round plate, place mash in the middle then add sliced duck fillet, the duck lollipops and lastly drizzle with a juniper berry glaze.

Parsnip-Potato Mash

3 parsnips

4 large potatoes

100 ml cream

50 g butter

A pinch of nutmeg

6 soaked shitake mushrooms

Salt and pepper

1 twig of rosemary

Method:

Peel the parsnips and the potatoes. Chop into large same sized chunks. Cook in salted boiling water for 20 minutes together with the rosemary. Boil the cream and butter, together with a pinch of nutmeg. Strain your potatoes, and put back in your pot. Put the pot back on to the fire and steam the potatoes dry, to get rid of any unnecessary water. Add your hot cream and butter mixture and last the finely chopped shitake mushrooms. Taste if it needs any more seasoning. If desired you can add more or less cream for a thicker or thinner mash.

Juniper Berry Gaze

Take the liquid you boiled the lollipops in and reduce a bit more. Add 4 more juniper berries and 1 tablespoon of honey. When thick and syrupy add 100 grams of cold diced butter, bit by bit. Stir it in with your hot liquid. DO NOT BOIL, as it will surely split. Taste for seasoning, leave on the side of the stove.

Duck Fillets

Season the fillets with salt and pepper. Fry them flesh side down in a medium hot pan with butter for about 2 minutes on each side. When you fry poultry fillets always place the flesh side down first in the frying pan, never a smoking hot pan but a nice medium heat, than turn over and cook further on the skin side. They will cook better and not curl up on you. Take them out of the pan and let them rest for a couple of minutes, the very thinly slice them on an angle. If you do not rest them they will lose a lot of their moisture and be very tough.

Recipe supplied by the Bacchus Restaurant, Blenheim