Sam's Dish of the Month - Breast of duck with wild mushrooms, shallots and garlic

Breast of duck with wild mushrooms, shallots and garlic

Duck is readily available from your butcher or supermarket these days and the breasts are ideal as they can be cooked quickly – making them an ideal dinner party dish.

 Ser  ves 4

4 duck breasts
1 sweet potato
12 shallots
12 cloves of garlic
100g of butter
Salt and pepper
Small glass red wine
2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Method

Heat oven to 200 c

Peel and cut the sweet potato into small chunks. Peel the shallots and garlic cloves. Toss all of these into the olive oil and place in the oven on a baking tray to roast for about 20 minutes or until the potato is just tender.

Score the skin of the duck breasts with a criss - cross pattern and season.

Heat the frying pan and then place the duck skin side down into the pan. Fry for a few minutes until the skin is nicely browned. Turn over and add a knob of butter – continue to cook for a five minutes until just pink. If you prefer your meat well done, cook for a little longer.
Remove from the pan and set aside somewhere warm so that the meat can rest.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Reduce the liquor until it has thickened then whisk in a couple of knobs of butter. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

To serve

Slice the duck breasts thickly and at an angle. Arrange in the centre of the plate.
Arrange the sweet potato, shallots and garlic cloves around the duck breast. Spoon the red wine reduction over the breast and around the plate.