Duck breast and duck waffle
Spiced duck breast with Seville orange sabayon and baby artichokes. Served with confit duck waffle and an orange and saffron kombucha on the side. As part of the Westminister Kingsway College cookery competition. Recipe courtesy of Luca Delgado.
Ingredients
- 1 duck breast
- toasted juniper berry powder
- toasted fennel seeds
- toasted coriander seeds
- toasted black peppercorns
- toasted pink peppercorns
- 20 lemon thyme leaves
- 14 purple alyssum petals
- 60g butter
- 4 sprigs thyme
Seville orange and saffron kombucha
- 140g sugar
- 580g filtered water
- 300g Seville orange juice
- Saffron threads
- Seville orange rind
- 100g backslop kombucha
- 1 scoby
Sabayon
- 200g Seville orange and saffron kombucha
- 80ml fino sherry (white)
- 100g duck egg yolk
- 1 tsp caster sugar
Baby artichokes
- 5 baby artichokes
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 lemons
- white wine
- white wine vinegar
- vegetable stock
- thyme
- bay leaf
- 1 tbsp honey
- 10g butter
Jersey royals and garnish
- 4 Jersey royals
- duck fat
- 1 clove of garlic
- 5 sprigs of thyme
- 1 pack of real watercress
- 1 pack of chives
- 1 punnet purple alyssum
- 1 pack of oxeye daisy leaves
Smoked juniper branch oil
- Juniper branches
- sunflower oil
Duck jus
- Duck stock (50% chicken wings and 50% duck necks)
- 1 carrot
- 1 shallot
- 1 clove of garlic
- Duck carcass
- 6 juniper berries
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 50g butter
- sherry vinegar
Duck waffle
- 1 duck leg (cut into thigh and drumstick)
- 1 duck heart
- 1 duck liver
- 500g duck fat
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 5 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 35g egg white
- 1 tsp egg yolk
- 125ml whole milk
- 125ml sparkling water
- 185g self-raising flour
- 45g melted butter
- 35g caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- orange blossom honey
Method
- Duck breast - take off the carcass. Pan fry starting from a cold pan and finish in the oven. Toast the spices, mix together and lightly crush. Let duck rest then brush skin with jus, top with spices and herbs and then portion in half.
- Seville orange and saffron kombucha - bring the water, sugar, orange juice and orange rind to a boil then take off the heat, add the saffron and let it steep until cooled. When room temp strain and add the backslop kombucha then decant into a jar, put the scoby in and cover the jar with a dish cloth and label. Allow to ferment for around a week until the pH hits 2.8-3.5. When done strain and keep what is needed for the sabayon and the rest bottle up and allow to carbonate for a couple of days.
- Sabayon - blend everything in the thermomix at 6 until it reaches 65˚C or just whisk in a baine marie until it hits 65˚C.
- Baby artichokes - colour off the vegetables. Add some white wine and reduce, then add some white wine vinegar and reduce. Then add vegetable stock bring to the boil and add the baby artichokes whole, sliced lemons and herbs. When the artichokes are cooked take pot off the heat and allow them to cool. Trim the artichokes and then portion. Strain off the barigoule, add a dot of honey and reduce until a glaze.
- Then about to plate sear the baby artichokes then add the glaze to the pan, a bit of water and a touch of butter and glaze the baby artichokes.
- Jersey Royals - wash the Jersey royals then boil in salted water until cooked. Portion into quarters and just before plating sauté in duck fat, thyme and garlic.
- Garnish - pick nice leaves off watercress, make chive curls with tweezers and into ice water, pick purple alyssum florets and pick the nice oxeye daisy leaves out and trim up the stem.
- Smoked juniper branch oil - burn leaves with blowtorch then submerge in a container of neutral oil and cover that with a container and leave on the side.
- Duck jus - make a classic stock with 50/50 chicken wings and duck necks. Brown the duck carcass in a pan and then take out, lightly brown the carrot, shallot and garlic then add the carcass back in, deglaze with red wine and reduce slightly then add the stock and add the juniper berries and thyme, simmer for an hour or so then strain and reduce then monte with a bit of butter, season with salt and add a splash of the nice sherry vinegar.
- Duck waffle - mix everything for the batter and let rest in the fridge. Separate the duck leg into drumstick and thigh then cure for 15 minutes. Pat the leg dry then submerge in duck fat infused with the garlic and herbs. Cook at 160˚C for around an hour or until the meat is nice and tender then while still warm pull apart the meat. Make the waffle, portion to the size and cover with a lightly dampened dish cloth and keep under the light. Just before serving sauté the duck heart and duck liver to medium then chop up and fold through the duck confit, warm in a pan and add a bit of the jus. Drizzle the orange blossom honey onto the waffle then put the duck confit mix on top and then sprinkle on a bit of the duck breast spice mix and some of the garnish.