DUCK CONFIT WITH BLUEBERRY SAUCE

We are lucky to be able to get confit duck from a friend who supplies restaurants.  If you are not able to land a confit duck, a roasted one will do as well for this dish.

1 confit duck, 2 breasts and 2 complete legs, or 4 complete legs.  Confit duck can be roasted for about 40 minutes in a 200C oven to heat well through and crisp up the skin.

If using a roast duck, allow it to stand for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven and cut into portions.

For the sauce you’ll need: I onion, 1 stick celery and 1 carrot – each finely chopped,  sunflower oil, 750ml good beef stock, 1 Tbs tomato puree, some fresh parsley stalks, freshly milled black pepper, 2 Tbs redcurrant Jelly, 2 Tbs Willow Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Balsamic Vinegar, 2 Tbs Crème de Myrtille or Crème de Cassis liqueur, 2 tsp flour mixed with a little cold water, 1 tsp butter and 125g fresh Blueberries, sea salt if required.

Method:  Gently fry the onion in a little sunflower oil till light golden brown, add the celery and carrot and cook for a couple more minutes, taking care not to allow the onion to get too dark.  Add the stock, the tomato puree, the parsley stalks and a coupe of grinds of black pepper.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the stock has reduced to about 500ml.  Pour through a sieve and push down well to extract as much of the sauce as possible.

Put the redcurrant jelly and the vinegar [you can use red wine vinegar if you choose] into a saucepan and allow to boil and caramelise.  Deglaze with the liqueur and add the stock to the saucepan.  Boil up and add the flour paste and simmer for a while to cook the flour.  Whisk in the butter and add about three quarters of the blueberries.

Serve with the confit or roast duck and some fresh blueberries on the plate.

We drank De Wetshof Chardonnay Finesse 2009 with this dish.