Honey roasted duck breast with celeriac purée and five spice jus, by Simon Hulstone

04 January 2013
Honey roasted duck breast with celeriac purée and five spice jus, by Simon Hulstone

Ingredients
(Serves four)

Duck pastillas 1 whole duck (ask your butcher to remove the breasts and legs and keep the carcass)
1.5l chicken stock
1 sheet of feuille de brick
20g melted butter
1 large Maris Piper, julienned

Duck breasts Duck breasts (from above)
Honey

Celeriac purée 400g celeriac, peeled and diced to rough 1cm cubes
200ml milk
300g double cream
Salt and pepper
Water

Five spice jus Duck carcass
50g shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled, cut in half lengthways and sliced thinly
1 sprig of thyme
1l veal stock
150ml red wine
100ml port
Pinch of Chinese five spice
Cornflour (optional)

Fondant potatoes 1 large jacket potato, wide and deep
500ml chicken stock
250g unsalted butter

Garnish Ribbons of carrot
Pak choi leaves
Small mushrooms such as smiji or girolles

Method
Duck pastillas Remove the skin from both duck legs. Cut the legs in two, separating the thigh from the drumstick. Place the legs in a pressure boiler and cover with chicken stock. Bring to the boil on the stove, put the lid on and cook for 30 minutes. Then carefully release the pressure from the cooker, take the duck out of the pan and flake the meat. You don't want any cartilage or bones in the mix. Season with salt and pepper and mush the meat up with your hands.

Take the feuille de brick and square it up by taking 1cm off the edges. Brush with melted butter and form the duck mix into a cylinder, around 5cm long and 1cm wide. Roll the duck mix inside the feuille de brick, forming a tight cylinder shape but retaining the duck mix together. (Do not trim the feuille de brick yet.)

Take the strands of julienned potato and wrap around the centre of the feuille de brick until you can no longer see the duck. Place in the freezer on a greaseproof sheet until needed.

Celeriac purée Take a thick-bottomed saucepan and put enough water in it to just cover the bottom of the pan. Put all of the other ingredients in and season lightly. Bring to the boil on the stove and turn to a simmer until the celeriac is soft like mashed potato.

Pass the celeriac through a coarse sieve, but keep the cooking liquor. Add the celeriac mash to a jug blender and add some of the cooking liquid. Turn on the food processor and blitz. Keep adding the liquor until the purée is smooth and can hold its own weight. Check the seasoning and put the purée through a fine sieve to make sure it's smooth. Place into a container and refrigerate until needed.

Five spice jus Roast the carcass in the oven at 180°C until golden, then put into a colander to drain the fat off (keep a little for frying the veg). Heat up a thick-bottomed pan on a medium heat, adding a little duck fat and all the veg, stirring it until golden. Add the thyme, duck carcass and the alcohol.

Turn up the heat, reduce the alcohol to a syrup and add the Chinese five spice and veal stock. Reduce this stock by 3/4 at a simmer and remove any scum that surfaces. Put it through a fine sieve, discarding anything left in the sieve.

Put the jus back on the stove in a pan and check its consistency and flavour. It should have a hint of five spice and be sticky on the lips. Add more five spice if needed and re-pass, or if it seems watery add some cornflour. It should coat the back of a spoon.

Fondant potatoes Cut the top and bottom off the potato so it sits flat. Use a metal cutter, 1cm wide and 2cm deep to slice the potato. Place the potato in an oven tray with the chicken stock and unsalted butter and cook until the chicken stock disappears and you are left with the clarified butter, and the potato is golden brown.

Duck breasts Using the duck breasts from the whole bird, season and cook them at 62°C for 40 minutes in a vac-pack bag. Take out and cook the breasts skin side down in a flat-bottomed pan until the fat has rendered and coloured. Add the honey when sealing in the pan until caramelised and seal the sides. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting into small squares.

Garnish Steam the carrots, pak choi and mushrooms a few minutes before you are ready to serve. Then plate up the ingredients.

Simon Hulstone, head chef, the Elephant, Torquay

RECOMMENDED WINE
These wonderfully opulent pastilles need a wine that can handle the combination of duck, pastry and five spice. Those spices cry out for a touch of the East so I'm heading off to Lebanon. My favourite grower here is the legendary Château Musar. Its plump but supple, spicy reds, made with Cinsault, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, provide a fruity and exotic combination to balance this rich, meaty, spicy dish. The Cabernet Sauvignon graces us with its presence, adding a pleasing touch of class and sophistication that makes this a lip-smacking combination.
Richard Rotti, group wine buyer, Caprice Holdings

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