Chef Academy Showcase 2023 Cookbook

Duck breast with pommes Anna, carrot, kale and brandy cherry sauce Method: 1 In a saucepan, combine both stocks with the garlic and thyme. In a separate pot, reduce the red wine and port until it turns into a thick syrup strain, then add the stock and reduce until very sticky to the touch. 2 Preheat the oven to 200°C. 3 Place the butter and thyme into a saucepan and onto the heat to melt. Whilst the butter is melting, peel the potatoes and place them into water to prevent them from turning brown. 4 Once the butter has melted, place some greaseproof paper onto a small tray with a greased metal ring on top. Use the mandolin to thinly slice the potato and use a ring the same size as the other one to cut the slices. Place down one layer of potato and then brush it with butter and a little salt, and repeat until the ring is mostly full. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until fully soft. 5 Place a pan of water on to boil. Peel the carrot and then peel another layer of carrot for the carrot crisp; add the skin peel to the stock. Place the carrot into the boiling water and cook until it is mostly soft. 6 Remove the excess fat from the duck breasts and make thin, short strips from the excess fat. Trim off as much sinew as you can from the duck breast and then score the fat on the top of the breast. 7 Cut the carrots into long cylinders and then cut them in diagonal halves, lengthways. Slightly warm a pan and add a line of sea salt where both breasts will go and place the breasts fat side down. Also add the excess fat trim. Cook the duck with the fat facing down until the fat has turned golden and nearly all of the white fat has rendered out, then turn it over and finish cooking it. This should take 15-20 minutes, and it should be around 56°C and then about 58°C when rested. While the duck is cooking, add the carrots into the pan and brown them on both sides. 8 Add the kale to the boiling water. Once the duck is done, remove it from the pan and add the pommes Anna, just to colour. 9 Halve the griottine cherries and mix them through the sauce, along with a little bit of the cherry sugar syrup. To plate, mix the kale through some of the remaining melted butter and set aside. Cut the duck breast in half lengthways and arrange the ingredients around the plate. Drizzle the sauce around the plate with a pointed spoon. Ingredients: - 2 duck breasts - 2 potatoes, large - 150g butter - 4 sprigs thyme - 3 carrots, chunky - 4 leaves kale - 20g griottine cherries with syrup - 200ml port - 600ml red wine - 200ml chicken stock - 250ml veal stock - 3 garlic cloves - 15g sour cherries, freeze dried - Sea salt Best HIT Chef Academy moment Learning how to cater for people with different needs and cultural diversity within food. 2 Serves: