Duck breast with mushrooms

May 21, 2009

Duck with cherries, duckling a l’orange – ducks were a favourite classic dish in the 1960s. Most of my recipe books from the time feature roast duck with one sweet sauce or another.

Some of them tended to be a bit cloying and there was always something slightly bizarre about vegetables bathed in fruit sauce.

Mrs Beeton liked her duck simple with a sage and onion stuffing and wasn’t at all impressed by duck liver pates where “poor birds are nailed by the feet to a board placed close to a fire, and, in that position, plentifully supplied with foot and water. In a few days the carcase is reduced to a mere shadow, while the liver has grown monstrously.

“We would rather abstain from the acquaintance of a man who ate pate de foie gras, knowing its component parts,” she sneered.

Well, fresh pate de foie gras isn’t on the menu in these parts, but duck breasts are readily available and make an easy dish for a special meal. I use a frying pan with an ovenproof handle but if you don’t have one, heat a roasting pan in the oven for the second stage of cooking the duck.

I particularly like duck breasts with mushrooms and here it’s a good idea to use a mix – large brown Portobellos, shiitake, oyster, chanterelles and some dried porcini mushrooms which have been soaked in hot water for 30 minutes then sliced. Save the soaking liquid.

Duck breast with mushrooms

4 duck breasts
300g  large brown mushrooms
200g assorted mushrooms – shiitake, oyster etc
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
30g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
100ml dry sherry
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Use a sharp knife and score the skin on the duck breasts in a diamond pattern. Season the duck with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan and place the duck breasts skin side down and cook for about four minutes until the skin begins to brown. Turn the meat and cook for a further two minutes then place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and allow the duck to rest for five minutes.

Clean the mushrooms and thickly slice. Peel and slice the shallots. Finely chop the garlic.

Heat the butter and oil – but don’t allow the butter to brown. Add the mushrooms, garlic and shallots. Season with salt and pepper and saute over a medium heat, turning from time to time. If you have soaked dried mushrooms, two or three tablespoons of the soaking liquid can be strained through a fine mesh sieve and added. When the mushrooms are cooked add the sherry, turn up the heat and cook for a further two minutes.  Sprinkle with the oregano and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Spoon the mushrooms onto a plate and top with the sliced duck breast. Accompany with creamy mash or a polenta cake and some greens.

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