THIS week's recipes are perfect examples of how to make flavourful, restaurant-ready dishes with some very simple ingredients. They do require a little bit of preparation before cooking, but do not worry – the result is worth it!
The Duck Confit with Pickled Red Cabbage is a juicy, light meal with the perfect balance of savoury and sweetness. Follow this up with an Apple Galette and you have yourself a real crowd-pleaser.
Pastry can be daunting but this recipe is nice and straightforward and will help you on the right track to perfecting all kinds of pastries.
:: DUCK CONFIT WITH PICKLED RED CABBAGE (serves 6)
Ingredients:
1 large duck
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tspn white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 sprig thyme
4 tbsp coarse sea salt
250g duck fat (taken from duck carcass)
150ml water
Peanut oil or chicken fat
1 small red cabbage, shredded
150ml red wine vinegar
150ml water
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 small apples cored, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, thinly sliced
1 pinch cloves, ground
Sea salt
Black pepper
The duck is best prepared the day before. Remove the legs and breast from the duck but keep the skin on the flesh. Slice the meat into six pieces (chop breast in two plus two legs). Next, rub the skin and flesh with sea salt and place the duck in a dish. Now crush the peppercorns and add along with the chopped garlic, bay leaves and thyme. Cover this with cling film and leave in the fridge for 24 hours.
To cook the duck, place the duck fat in a pan with the water and simmer for 2 hours or until the duck fat becomes clear. Using a sieve, strain the fat into a clean pan and add in the duck legs. If the legs are not covered in fat, top up with peanut oil or chicken fat and simmer for 90 minutes or until the legs are tender. Once tender, take off heat and let it cool.
For the red cabbage, heat the olive oil in a pan. Add in the red onions and cook until they are soft. Next, add in the red cabbage and fry for a further 5 minutes, adding in the vinegar, water and brown sugar and cooking until dissolved. Simmer with a lid on for 25 minutes.
Finely slice the apples and cloves and cook for 20 minutes until it turns to a syrupy liquid. Season with salt and pepper and it is ready to serve.
:: APPLE GALETTE (serves 8)
Pastry ingredients:
125g plain flour
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
85g butter
4 tbsp cold water
Galette ingredients:
5 apples
25g butter
100g caster sugar
Sauce:
4 apples
500ml apple juice
100g caster sugar
1 tbsp of calvados
To make the pastry, combine the flour, salt and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Keep the butter cold and cut into 1cm, dice and fold (you can use a mixer). Add in the water and bring it all together – be careful not to over-mix – then wrap in a ball using cling film, flatten this down and place in the fridge for 60 minutes. Remove from the cling film and allow to soften at room temperature.
Next, peel and core the apples, leaving the core and peel to side for the sauce. Quarter and slice the apples thinly. Roll out your pastry into large circle about 30cm in diameter. Then, place the pastry onto grease proof paper and onto a baking tray. Arrange the sliced apples onto the pastry making sure they overlap. Pinch the sides of the pastry casing so they do not fall out. Place in fridge for another 15-20 minutes.
Set the oven at 200 to preheat while you remove your dish from the fridge. Melt the butter in a pan and use a pastry brush to brush it over the apples and pastry before dusting with caster sugar and placing in the oven for 45 minutes.
Make the sauce by placing the core and peel into saucepan, add in apple juice and place over medium heat for 20 minutes while continuing to stir throughout. Strain and place the sauce back onto a reduced heat for 10 minutes then add the calvados. Remove the galette once golden and place on rack to cool. Pour over the sauce and serve.
