A Rich Cabinet

Culinary Historians of New York: includes 18th- and 19th-century recipes, resources, a newsletter and regular events. (This coming week you could go to a talk on Gastronomy and gluttony in early modern China.)

This was a special treat: organic duck breast (skin on) from the farmers market (where else?). So I wanted something really tasty with it.

Cooking the breast:
Heat the oven to 200C (400F).
Score the skin of the breast several times with a sharp knife. (You need to cut right through the skin but not into the flesh.)
Heat a little oil on the top of the stove in an oven proof dish or pan. Fry the breast skin down until the skin is dark and crisp (10 minutes or so). Then turn the breast over and transfer it to the oven. Cook for about 8-12 minutes depending on the size. Then take out of the pan and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Time to make the sauce:
There should be plenty of dark crusty gunk on the bottom of the pan, as well as a lot of duck fat. Spoon out most of the fat. Put the pan back on the heat on the stove. Pour in a generous glug of marsala to deglaze the pan - i.e, it’ll loosen the gunk (which is full of flavour) so you can scrape it up with a wooden spoon, and stir until it dissolves into the liquid. Then add the juice of half (large) to one (small) orange once the alcohol has reduced (and that should finish off the deglazing job if the wine hasn’t quite got it all). Let it cook for a minute or so and then add a few tablespoons of water - use your own judgement as to how much; you want to get a consistency and intensity of flavour to suit you and to have enough sauce to pour over the dish. Season with a little salt & pepper to suit your taste.

To serve with this, I made some parsnip puree (OK, parsnip mash really): just peel, chop and boil parsnips then mash with butter. (To make it a real puree, put it through a sieve to make it nice and smooth; I couldn’t be bothered.) And because the oven was on anyway I did a few baked potato wedges. Finally, I also boiled a handful of green beans that were lurking in the fridge to be used up. (Something light and green on the side of all that richness isn’t a bad idea. Broccoli, peas, beans, whatever.)

Belle’s Spinach and Leek Pie: sounds excellent. Like her Orange-chocolate marble cake, although I never do baking.