CHEF'S DELIGHT: Roast duck breast with duck confit croquette
Recipe by Norbert Neylon
the Oak Room, Cavan
A WORD FROM THE CHEF
This week's recipe is a hearty dish suitable for this time of year. A relatively simple recipe with a shortcut thrown in for anyone under time constraints.
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 6) Three whole ducks (1kg to 1.2kg in weight)
200g orange juice
Agar agar (or a similar setting agent)
12 baby carrots
Six broccolini 500g duck fat
Two star anise 20g thyme 150g panko breadcrumbs 50g plain flour One egg 50ml milk
50g freshly chopped chives
Honey
Salt and pepper * For the shortcut you can purchase six duck breasts and three precooked confit duck legs.
METHOD
1. Remove the legs from the whole duck and place in a tray add the duck fat, star anise and thyme. Cover with tin foil and cook for 3.5 hours at 130 degrees Celsius. Once cooked remove from the duck fat and allow to cool. This is best done a day in advance If purchasing the confit duck legs you can skip this step. 2. To make the orange gel slowly bring to the boil 200 ml of orange juice and 2g of Agar agar whisking continuously. Then refrigerate and once cold and set blend in a food processor to form a smooth gel 3. Remove the duck breasts from the duck and trim any excess fat. If possible try to score the fat on the duck breast, this will help to render the fat and give you a crispier skin. 4. For the duck confit croquettes, remove any excess fat from the duck legs and proceed to flake the meat into a bowl. Add chopped chives, salt and pepper. Then mould the meat into a small ball shape. You might need to roughly chop the meat into small chunks. Roll the ball of meat in flour then dip in a little beaten egg before coating with breadcrumbs. 5. Peel the baby carrots and broccolini then blanch in boiling water and place in ice water to prevent overcooking. 6. Place the duck breast in a hot pan with the skin side down. As the fat renders down remove the fat from the pan. This will prevent the duck from burning and give you a crispier skin. Continue to do this 4 or 5 times until the skin is fully rendered down and crispy. Cook the duck to your preferred temperature. 7. Finally assemble the dish Heat the carrots and broccolini, deep fry the duck croquettes. Carve the duck breast as shown in the picture. Pipe on the orange gel and finish with a good quality gravy. Enjoy!
ABOUT THE CHEF
Norbert Neylon is the chef proprietor of The Oak Room Restaurant in Cavan since 2001.
The Oak Room moved to a new purpose-built building in May of 2017 on Bridge Street in Cavan Town. Norbert is currently the chairman of Created in Cavan, a network of food producers, farmers, cafés, restaurants and hotels in the Cavan region.
He is passionate about promoting local food and cooking with local ingredient
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY