Recipes

Wild mallard w/ poached quince, roasted endive & orange

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Serves 2

Ingredients

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Directions

  1. Turn the oven to 200°C fan.
  2. Peel and cut the quince into 6 segments lengthways, cutting out the seed area.
  3. In a small saucepan, dry fry the coriander seeds until their smell comes to the nose.
  4. Put the quince segments in a pan and cover with cider, then add the orange juice, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar and spices.
  5. Cut a cartouche (paper lid) from the baking paper and lay it on top.
  6. Bring the pan to a simmer and poach the quince segments until tender to the point of a knife but not overly soft to the point of near collapse.
  7. Remove the quince segments to a bowl and then rapidly reduce the remaining liquid to a syrup. Season the syrup with a little salt.
  8. While the quince segments poach, lay the endive segments on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
  9. Paint all over with plenty of melted butter and then splash them well with vinegar.
  10. Give them a generous seasoning and place them in the oven.
  11. When they appear well browned on the open side, turn them over, splaying them out a little and then reapply butter and vinegar.
  12. Roast again. They want to be really browned and almost crisping to burnt. Remove them to one side until ready to reheat before serving.
  13. Cut the skin and pith from around the remaining orange and cut the segments from between the membranes, keeping them whole.
  14. Place in a small bowl with any juice.
  15. Smear the duck generously with vegetable oil and then heavily season with salt and pepper. Stuff a little thyme in its body cavity and a few stems across the breast.
  16. Roast for approximately 22-24 minutes. Then allow resting for 5 minutes before carving. The inner breast meat is best served pink.
  17. Keeping the root end intact, cut the endive into 8 segments.
  18. Warm the endive and poached quince segments with their syrup.
  19. Serve the carved meat over a little of the syrup poured onto a platter with the quince arranged alongside the roasted endive and room temperature orange segments.
  20. Go over the top with a generous walnut oil drizzle and a heavy black pepper grind.

Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.