ROAST DUCK BREASTS WITH PEAS, BEANS, AND GARLIC CREAM
Duck is always nice to eat, and here it's combined with French inspired peas and haricot verts, as well as a nice and simple garlic cream.
4 servings:
Garlic cream:
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
a sprig of thyme
150 ml/5 fl oz cream
30 g/1 oz butter
Place garlic cloves (unpeeled), olive oil and thyme in aluminium foil, wrap them in it, and place in a 180 C/360 F for 30 minutes. Then peel the garlic cloves, place them in a blender and mix together with cream. Put it then in a pot and heat up and melt the butter in it. Season with salt and pepper, and keep hot until serving. Reduce if you want it more thick than it is.
Peas and haricot verts:
200 g/6.6 oz petit pois
100 g/3.3 oz haricot verts
6 tsp cream
100 g/3.3 oz butter
1 tsp trufle oil
60 g/2 oz smoked bacon
First, cook the petit pois (or use frozen, just put them real quickly in boiling water and them remove to ice cold water for 10 seconds). Cook haricot verts in salted water for about 5 minutes, then remove to ice cold water for 10 seconds. In a nonstick pan, fry the bacon in its own fat til it's crispy, and remove from the heat. In a pot, heat up the cream, add and melt butter, making sure it's nicely mixed, then add the beans, peas, bacon and trufle oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Duck:
1 big duck breast
salt, pepper
Have oven ready at 180 C/360 F. In a hot nonstick pan, start frying the seasoned and scored duck for 2 minutes with the fat side down so that the fat becomes released into the pan. Then turn around and fry on the meat side for 1 more minute. Then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the duck is cooked as you want it.
Mushrooms:
100 g/3.3 oz wild mushrooms
100 g/3.3 oz spinach
salt, pepper
Fry the mushrooms in the duck fat (using the same pan as for the duck) for 3 minutes, together with some salt. Then add pepper and spinach, remove from the heat, and mix so the spinach gets wilted.
Serve everything hot!