Roasted strips of duck magret with mirabelle plums
From the one star french chef Patrick Asfaux
Cooking time :
Total time :
Roast strips of magret of duck, sweet and sour mirabelles plums and panfried potatoes "in minuscule" (tiny dices)
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For 8 people :
- 5 nice magrets of duck (preferably mulard duck )
- 1 pound of mirabelle plums (fresh or frozen or even peeled and sliced apples if you cannot find mirabelle plums
- 600 grams (1 1/3 pounds)of peeled firm potatoes
- 1 peeled and cored Granny Smith apple
- 16 thin slices of smoked duck magret
- Butter, table salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the sweet and sour sauce ('gastrique' in French) :
- 5 cl of red wine vinegar
- 1 soup spoon of liquid honey
- 10 cl of orange juice
- 2 dl of prepared veal stock
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) of allspices
Progression
2/ In a dry, large frying pan, over high heat, cook the magrets skin side down and let them cook for 8 minutes so that they have a nice golden brown colouring, then cook them 3 minutes on the other side, season well with salt and pepper.
3/ Remove most of the rendered fat from the pan (keep a little to sauté the potatoes).
4/ In a casserole dish, off the heat, place a soup plate bottom up, put the magrets on it and cover with a lid : the magrets will rest while you continue to make the recipe.
5/ Cut your potatoes in thin slices, then in long and thin sticks then in tiny cubes and throw them in some water.
6/ Do the same than in with the apple and keep it aside separately.
7/ Prepare the sweet and sour sauce in a saucepan : pour the vinegar and the honey, reduce it and just before reaching the state of caramel, add the orange juice. Let it reduce again to half its volume, then add the veal stock and the allspices. Cook it very gently during 7 to 8 minutes.
8/ In the meantime, heat up a frying pan with a teaspoon of butter. Thoroughly drain the potatoes and sauté them during 7 to 8 minutes. Add salt and pepper only at the last moment, then add the apple and set the lot aside, off the heat.
9/ In the same frying pan, add another nob of butter then add the mirabelle plums (still frozen if you do not use fresh ones) and let them melt during 4 minutes then add the sweet and sour sauce as well as the juice rendered by the duck magrets. The sauce is now ready : keep it hot in a 'bain marie' or double boiler.
10/ In the bottom of 8 small individual ceramic moulds, put 2 thin slices of smoked magrets, crossed, and put the potatoes-apple mixture (well packed).
11/ Heat up the magrets for 3 minutes in the oven (390°F) as well as the moulds, then carve thin slices of duck magrets (make the cuts in their width).
In the middle of each nice plates turn out the moulds with the potatoes-apple mixture, topped with the slices of smoked duck magret, put around it the slices of roast duck magret and coat them with the sweet and sour sauce.
And now, take a look at your guest faces ...
You can prepare in advance the moulds and the sauce and you can roast the magrets just before the arrival of your guests. Just before going to sit at the table, you will only have to heat up the sauce and the potatoes-apple mixture, so that you can spend more time with your guests.