Marinated Gressingham duck breasts

Ingredients (serves 4-6 as a main dish)

For the duck proper:

• 4 breasts of (Gressingham) duck - skinned
• 2 chicken livers
• 1 very small chicken breast
• ½ apple - peeled, cored and diced finely
• ½ small onion - peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
• seasoning
• 3 or 4 sprigs fresh marjoram
• 8 thin slices of prosciutto
• 15 g/ ½ oz unsalted butter plus an extra knob
• 1 red onion - washed and chopped - skin left on
• 1 carrot - washed and chopped - skin left on
• 1 leek - washed and trimmed and then chopped
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 glasses of red wine (Merlot is good)

For the marinade:

• 4 tbsp. Hazelnut oil
• ¼ pt olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic - bruised with the flat of a knife
• 1 stem fresh marjoram - broken in half
• 1 red chilli - cut in half
• 2 torn fresh bay leaves
• handful black peppercorns - lightly crushed
• strips of zest from 1 lemon
• 8 tbsp balsemic vinegar
• Fine dice of vegetables - good ones for this might be peppers, cucumber, celery

Preparation

1. Lay breasts on a chopping board in twos, top to bottom to form two rectangles.
2. Fry the livers in a hot pan and then chop them finely. Fry the chopped onion.
3. Chop the chicken breast and put in a processor with the seasoning and some marjoram leaves.
4. Mix together the onion, chicken, livers and chopped apple and stir in the breadcrumbs to bind the mixture.
5. Put a tablesp. of the forcemeat onto the centre of each pair of breasts and roll into a cylinder shape.
6. Wrap the birds with slices of prosciutto and tie into a neat shape with very fine twine.
7. Sear all over in a pre-heated cast pan or heavy frying pan.
8. Remove the breasts and add a knob of butter to the pan. Add the red onion, carrot and leek to the pan and brown them. Pour in a dash of the wine, the rest of the marjoram and the bay leaves. Pour into the roasting tin and sit the stuffed breasts on top, basting them once with the wine.
9. Roast in pre-heated oven at 240C for about 10 mins. until cooked but still quite pink.
10. Rest in a warm place to allow the juices to settle and the meat to tenderise.
11. Add a dash more red wine to the pan juices and vegetables and de-glaze over a high heat to extract all the flavour. Press through a sieve into a clean pan and whisk in a couple of knobs of butter to finish the sauce.
12. Make the marinade: Mix together all the marinade ingredients and add the sauce. Taste and season.
13. Immerse the cooked breasts in the marinade and refrigerate overnight to chill and take up all the flavours.
14. Serve the wrapped duck breasts in thick slices with a little salad and the marinade drizzled round as a dressing.
15. Another good way to add interest is to use a very fine vegetable dice, keep them in the marinade and serve all together.

	Copyright © 1999-2000 Anne-Wil Harzing and Ron van der Wal. All rights reserved. Legal notices and colophon. This page was last modified on 7-11-99 19:03