Roast duck breast, wild garlic gnocchi, five spice, oranges and caramel

Roast duck breast, wild garlic gnocchi, five spice, oranges and caramel

Ingredients

For the gnocchi
3 large King Edward potatoes, scrubbed
2 large handfuls wild garlic, washed and picked (reserve any flowers for garnish)
50g/1¾oz butter
crushed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 free-range egg, yolk only
300g/10½oz plain flour, sifted

For the sauce
1 orange
1 lime
1 tbsp caster sugar
75ml/2½fl oz red wine (Merlot is good)
150ml/5fl oz reduced beef stock.
110g/4oz shelled broad beans
1 small bunch watercress, leaves picked

For the duck
2 duck breasts
1 tbsp blossom honey
1 tsp five-spice
drizzle extra virgin olive oil, to serve

METHOD
1.For the gnocchi, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and bake for an hour, or until the flesh is fluffy.

2.Cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and discard the skins.

3.Pass the potato flesh through a ricer, or sieve, into a large bowl.

4.Heat a saucepan and add the wild garlic with a knob of butter and fry gently, while stirring, for around 30 seconds until the leaves are wilted. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then remove from the heat and tip out onto kitchen paper, to soak up any excess liquid from the wild garlic.

5.Add the egg yolk and flour, a little at a time, to the potato. Mix together with the cooked wild garlic until you have a light dough.

6.Cut the dough into six pieces. Use your hands to roll each piece into a long (about 45cm/18in) sausage shape then cut each one into 2cm/¾in pieces.

7.Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and boil for 2-3 minutes, until the gnocchi rise to the surface.

8.Remove from the heat, drain the gnocchi well.

9.When ready to serve, return the gnocchi to a non-stick frying pan with a knob of butter and toss over a high heat for 3 minutes until golden.

10.Season with crushed sea salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

11.Cook for a further minute to heat through and serve immediately.

12.For the sauce, peel half of the zest off the orange and lime. Segment the orange, set the segments aside and then squeeze out any remaining juice from the orange. Squeeze the juice from the lime. Reserve the juice from both fruit.

13.Put the zest in a hot pan and sprinkle over the sugar, keep the heat high, stirring occasionally, until the sugar turns to a golden caramel. Then add the citrus juice and continue to cook, so the caramel dissolves, and liquid is reduced by half.

14.Add the wine and stock then simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the sauce through a sieve, discard the zest, and set the sauce aside until needed.

15.Just before serving, warm the sauce and drop in the shelled broad beans and orange segments and whisk in a knob of butter.

16.For the duck, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

17.Heat a medium non-stick pan, score and season the duck breasts and cook skin side down with no oil on a medium heat, to render the fat of the duck.

18.Cook the duck breast skin side down for another three minutes then turn, rolling the breast in the hot fat to seal all over. Then drain off the rendered fat from the pan.

19.Place the duck breasts skin side down again, and transfer the pan to the oven, and roast for six minutes.

20.Remove the duck breasts from the oven, and again drain off any excess fat, and put the pan back on hob.

21.Mix the honey and five spice together and coat the duck breasts in the hot pan. Remove from the heat, and transfer onto a plate, and set aside to rest.

22.To serve, carve the duck into thick slices and arrange with gnocchi on the plates. Spoon and drizzle the sauce over and around. Finally, finish with a scatter of picked watercress leaves and the reserved wild garlic flowers and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.