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Prepare a feast of duck and other late-autumn delicacies
Duck Confit with Farro and Roasted Vegetables
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Menu
Gruyère & Sumac Biscuits
Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Fried Lemon & Thyme Polenta
Duck & Tamarillo Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
Duck Confit with Farro & Roasted Vegetables
Upside-down Pear & Gingerbread Cake with Poached Figs
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Gruyère and Sumac Biscuits
Enjoy these tasty savoury biscuits as part of a cheeseboard. We’ve served ours with brie and muscatels. The uncooked dough logs will keep in the fridge for a week or can be frozen. Sumac is a Middle Eastern ingredient; it has a pleasant salty, lemony taste and a mild astringency. Look for it in specialist food stores.
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Ingredients:
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sumac
½ teaspoon sea salt
125g butter, diced
¾ cup grated gruyère
¼ cup finely grated parmesan
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice |
Place flour, baking powder, sumac and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly to combine.
Add butter, cheeses and 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs then process for 30 seconds, adding more juice as necessary to make dough clump together.
Turn dough out on a clean surface and divide in half. Roll into 2 logs about 12cm in diameter, pressing firmly to prevent air pockets. Wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Cut dough into 2mm rounds, lay on lined baking trays and bake until just golden, about 10 minutes. Biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Makes about 40
Make ahead: Mix and match items from this menu to suit your needs or serve the lot as a celebratory feast of the season.
A week or more ahead: Poach figs. Make gruyère biscuit dough.
1-2 days ahead: Prepare soup and pumpkin seed garnish. Poach tamarillos and make dressing. Bake gruyère biscuits and pear and gingerbread cake.
Day before: Prepare farro. Cook polenta and set in fridge overnight.
Near serving: Roast duck breasts and assemble salad. Roast vegetables and duck confit. Fry polenta.
Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Knobbly Jerusalem artichokes make a delicious, intriguingly flavoured soup. They’re only just coming into season so may be hard to track down this month. However, once you find the tubers there’s no urgency to use them, as they should happily keep in the fridge for two or three weeks.
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Ingredients:
500g Jerusalem artichokes, well scrubbed
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bay leaf
350g potatoes, peeled and diced
1 litre vegetable stock
1 cup cream
To serve:
½ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ teaspoon garlic salt
Crème fraiche
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Preheat oven to 180°C. Place artichokes and garlic in a shallow roasting dish and bake for 30 minutes or until just softening. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel as much skin as possible off artichokes (this is fiddly so just taking off the rough parts is fine) and pop garlic cloves out of their skins.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté onion until soft and fragrant. Add bay leaf, potatoes and stock and simmer until potato is soft, 15-20 minutes.
Add roasted artichokes and garlic to pan and simmer 10-15 minutes until soft. Remove bay leaf and blend soup until smooth. Stir in cream and season to taste.
Toast pumpkin seeds in a shallow pan with oil and garlic salt until lightly coloured. Serve soup garnished with a dollop of crème fraiche and a sprinkling of toasted pumpkin seeds. Serves 4-6
“Be like a duck – calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath”
Michael Caine
Fried Lemon and Thyme Polenta
Slabs of polenta fried until golden make satisfying finger or fork food.
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Ingredients:
1.5 litres water
1 tablespoon salt
300g quick-cooking polenta
60g butter
¼ cup olive oil for frying
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Garlic-infused avocado oil (optional) |
Bring water and salt to the boil in a large saucepan. Gradually sprinkle in polenta, whisking constantly until smooth and thickened. Reduce to a low simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and stir in butter. Pour into a lightly oiled dish about 20cm x 30cm and cool. Chill at least 3 hours or overnight then cut into 16 portions.
Combine olive oil, lemon zest, thyme and salt to taste. Fry polenta in flavoured oil on all sides until golden. Serve warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of garlic avocado oil. Makes 16 pieces
Duck and Tamarillo Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
This pretty dish can be served as a starter or for an elegant lunch. The quantities are easily increased to feed more than four.
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Ingredients:
2 cups pomegranate juice
½ cup brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 strips orange peel
1 whole star anise
4 tamarillos
2 duck breasts
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground star anise
2 cups salad greens or cress
1 radicchio (or red lettuce leaves for colour)
Dressing:
¼ cup each: olive oil, orange juice
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon crushed ginger
¼ cup pomegranate reduction (see method)
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Place pomegranate juice, brown sugar, cinnamon stick, orange peel and star anise in a small-medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Make a small cut through the skin at the tip of each tamarillo. Add tamarillos to pan and simmer 10 minutes. Remove tamarillos from liquid and set aside. Increase heat and cook liquid until reduced to ¾ cup. Pour over tamarillos and set aside.
Preheat oven to 190°C. Rub duck skin with combined salt and star anise.
Place breasts skin side down in a shallow tray and roast 15 minutes then turn and roast a further 10-15 minutes until crispy. Let meat rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
Dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients with ¼ cup pomegranate syrup from the tamarillos. Shake or whisk together and season to taste.
To assemble salad, arrange salad leaves or cress with a few radicchio leaves in the centre of each plate. Slice duck thinly and place on top. Cut poached tamarillos to reveal insides and arrange on each plate. Drizzle with dressing just before serving. Serves 2 for lunch or 4 as a starter
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Upside-down Pear and Gingerbread Cake with Poached Figs
Fresh or well-drained canned pears can be used in this easy, moist cake. Serve it with the figs or just with cream. The figs and syrup also make a delicious dessert on their own, with cream or yoghurt.
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Ingredients:
30g butter
¹/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
3 pears, peeled, cored and quartered
Cake batter:
2 cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 eggs
1 cup milk
¹/3 cup golden syrup
½ cup neutral oil
Figs:
2 cups ginger beer
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 strip orange peel
8-10 fresh or dried dessert figs |
Preheat oven to 175°C. Line a 24cm spring-form cake tin. Melt butter, brown sugar and golden syrup
together and let cool to a thick paste. Spread over base of lined tin and arrange pears on top.
Batter: Place flour, baking soda, brown sugar and ginger in a food processor and pulse briefly to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, golden syrup and oil. Pour into dry ingredients, briefly process then scrape down sides and process until smooth.
Pour batter over pears and place tin on an oven tray (to catch drips). Bake 45-55 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and loosely cover with a clean tea towel. Cool 10 minutes before turning out. Serve warm or at room temperature with poached figs and thickened cream or yoghurt. Cake will keep 2-3 days, covered loosely and stored in a cool place and may be reheated in a microwave.
Figs: Place ginger beer, brown sugar, cinnamon and orange peel in a pot and heat until sugar has dissolved. Add figs and gently poach for 10 minutes. Remove figs to a bowl or preserving jar and cook liquid until reduced to a light syrup. Pour over figs. Marinate for at least a few hours before serving. Figs will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Serves 8-10
Duck Confit with Farro and Roasted Vegetables
Farro is an ancient grain that looks like wheat but has a delicious, nutty taste reminiscent of oats and barley. It is sold in delis and specialist food stores – we used the organic Montebello brand imported by Sabato (www.sabato.co.nz). A deli is also the place to find confit duck, in cans or vac-packed. This dish makes an easy and impressive feast for two.
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Ingredients:
1 cup farro
2 confit duck legs
1 red onion
2 carrots
1 parsnip
½ leek
1 stalk celery
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
8-10 fresh rosemary tips |
Preheat oven to 190°C. Soak farro in cold water for 20 minutes, drain then simmer in unsalted water for 20 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Peel vegetables and cut into small, even dice. Place in a large roasting dish with rosemary sprigs.
Place duck portions, still with their fat layer, on the vegetable bed. Roast 20-30 minutes, basting twice with the pan juices, until vegetables are tender.
Remove duck and keep warm. Drain off excess fat from vegetables and add warm farro, brown sugar and vinegar and toss to combine. Season to taste.
Serve duck legs on a bed of the roasted vegetables and farro. Serves 2
Stockists:
Cheese knife and pewter platter from Acland, (09) 630 6177; fabric from Spotlight, 0800 276 222; table and tree stump stools from Trees Company, (09) 529 9933; tumblers, black oval platter, wooden platter and plates from Freedom, 0800 373 336; mugs and small black bowls from Country Road, 0800 105 655; other items stylist’s own. Thank you to our duck shooters, Russell Cooper and Maurice Elliot.
Story: Jo Wilcox
Photographs: Kieran Scott
Stylist: Claudia Kozub
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