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Serves 4
Ingredients
4 good quality duck breasts, such as Barbary or Gressingham
1 tablespoon honey
2 large potatoes
1 red onion
10 hazelnuts
12 tenderstem broccoli
1 orange
Root ginger
100ml Port wine
Redcurrant jelly
200ml beef stock
Cornflour
Method
The Rosti
Peel the potatoes and grate into a colander. Sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt and pepper, mix in then leave to drain. Finely slice the red onion and mix into the potato. Roast the hazelnuts for five minutes at 180֯C, then allow to cool. Rub them together in your hands to peel the skins off then crush in a bag using a rolling pin. Add to the potatoes and mix in. Put the potato mix into a thin tea towel and ring out the liquid. Split the mix into four and shape into cakes, approximately 8cm diameter and 4cm high – the easiest way is to use a pastry cutter. Put a frying pan onto a medium heat, add a little oil and fry the rostis for a minute or so on each side, until a nice golden colour is achieved, then remove from the pan and place on a non-stick baking tray.
The duck breasts
Place the duck on a chopping board, fat side down. Trim off any excess fat from the edges and slice any noticeable sinew off the meat. Turn the breasts over and with a sharp knife carefully score diagonal lines through the fat, then turn the breasts 90 degrees and score again to create little squares in the fat. Brush both sides of each breast with honey and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Put a frying pan on a low heat hob and place the duck in the pan, fat side down. Cook for a couple of minutes until the fat has melted down and gone crisp and brown. Then turn the breasts over and fry for a further minute. Remove the duck from the pan and place on a baking tray, fat side up.
The Cumberland sauce
Peel the zest off the orange in strips and then slice them lengthways into thin strips. Place these into a small pan with a little cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil then take off the heat and strain the zest through a sieve. Finely grate a fingernail-sized piece of root ginger. Put the port into a saucepan with a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly and add the ginger and the orange zest. Place onto the hob and bring to the boil. Continue to boil until the port has reduced by a third. Add the beef stock to the pan and boil for another five minutes. Mix a tablespoon of cornflour with enough cold water to dissolve it and then add this a little at a time, mixing in well until a nice pouring gravy consistency has been achieved. Boil for another two minutes.
To serve
Preheat the oven to 180֯C. Put a pan of lightly salted water on the hob to boil. Place the duck and the rostis in the oven for seven minutes. Trim the bottoms off the tenderstem broccoli stalks so they are the same length. When the seven minutes are up, remove the duck breasts and leave to rest for five minutes. While they are resting place the tenderstems into the boiling water and warm the sauce. Remove the tenderstems when the pan comes back to a rapid boil. Take the rostis out of the oven and place just off-centre on four plates. Slice each duck breast into four strips lengthways and fan out next to the rostis. Lay three tenderstems across the top of each rosti and then spoon the sauce around the edges of the food and serve.