Roast duck breasts with onion tart and butternut squash gratin

recipe

Roast duck breasts with onion tart and butternut squash gratin

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You've got a wonderful combination of flavours here. Duck is delicious and goes so well with butternut squash. The little onion tart is a great garnish, and it is really delicious to eat, particularly if made with home-made puff pastry. You will need some little individual tart tins

Ingredients

4 Gressingham duck breasts
2 tbsp walnut oil
Salt and pepper
Butternut squash gratin:
1 large butternut squash
90g (3oz) butter, melted
1 tsp chopped rosemary
Sauce:
1 shallot, finely chopped
20g (3/4oz) butter
2 tbsp honey
100ml (3 1/2fl oz) red wine
500ml (1 3/4fl oz) soy sauce
250ml (8fl oz) stock (duck or chicken)
60g (2oz) butter
3 tbsp brandy
To serve:

Serves: 4

Directions

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Carefully score the skin of the duck breasts. Marinate the duck pieces in the walnut oil, ideally for a couple of hours.
Preheat the oven to (/Gas . Start making the butternut squash gratin (this is actually better done in advance). Peel the squash and, using a mandolin, slice it very finely. Then layer it in a well-buttered gratin dish about cm (n) square, sprinkling it with rosemary and salt and brushing melted butter between the layers, finishing with melted butter. Bake in the oven for hour. Remove and press it down to seal it, perhaps with a weight on top (this will make it quite thin). Allow it to cool, and then cut into m (x n) circles with a round cutter. Place these on a baking dish ready to heat through before serving.
To make the sauce (this can also be done well in advance), take a frying pan and soften the shallot in the butter over a medium heat for a few minutes. Add the honey and let it cook until it becomes slightly caramelised, then add the red wine and soy sauce. Let it bubble up and reduce to a syrupy consistency. Add the stock and let it boil briskly for a further minutes until it becomes a little thick. Strain it, season with salt and pepper to taste, and set it aside.
Increase the temperature of the oven to (/Gas .
Deep fry the leeks in sunflower oil at (). Drain very well.
Remove the duck breasts from the walnut oil, dry them and sear them, skin-side down, very quickly, about minutes, until crisp. Roast the duck breasts in the oven for a further minutes, turning halfway through. Leave the duck to rest for minutes. (You could roast it before dinner, and leave it to rest while you are having your first course). While the duck is resting, you could be baking (at a slightly lower temperature) or heating through the tarte tatin.
Bring the sauce to the boil and whisk in the butter, followed by the brandy. Let it simmer for a moment or two and season it with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the duck with a round of squash gratin, garnished with some deep-fried leek, alongside an onion tarte tartin. Pour the sauce around.