Canard des Flandres – Smokey beer glazed duck breast with prune salad and parsnip puree
It's getting cold outside! Time for some warming meals. The sweet taste of parsnip puree combined with a delicious piece of wild game. The smoky "Canard des Flandres" a beer glazed duck filet served with a refreshing acidic prune salad with Bourgogne des Flandres dressing. Pour yourself a delicious "Bourgogne des Flandres" and enjoy this delicious tasting bowl of food!
Servings 4 persons
Equipment
- BBQ with lid
- Oak wood
- Sauce pan
- Cast iron pan for searing
Ingredients
Bourgogne des Flandres Syrup
- 1 cup Bourgogne des Flandres
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 lime for the juice
Parsnip puree
- 5 medium potatoes
- 2 parsnips
- 500 ml chicken broth
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper at taste
- Sage at taste
For the Bourgogne des Flandres dressing
- 2 Tbsp Bourgogne des Flandres syrup
- 2 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp walnut oil
Beer glazed duck breast
- 2 duck breasts
- Bourgogne des Flandres syrup
For the salad
- 1 package mixed salad
- 1 handful of mixed nuts or hazelnuts
- 3 fresh depitted prunes
- Bourgogne des Flandres dressing at taste
Instructions
Bourgogne des Flandres syrup
- Start with making the Bourgogne des Flandres syrup. You can easily make it ahead of time. This syrup is sweet enough to preserve for a while.
- Put a pan on top of your fire on medium heat and add 2 parts of the beer with one part sugar (for instance 1 cup of the beer and 1/2 cup sugar)
- Gently heat the beer and let reduce until you get a nice syrup texture. Add some lime juice at taste (about 1/4 of a lime) and let the flavors combine for two more minutes.
- Cool down the syrup and bottle it.
Canard des Flandres
- Prepare your BBQ or smoker for an indirect session at low heat (+- 75 tot 100°C). Here I've used the Traeger Pellet smoker with supersmoke function and oak pellets. When using another type of BBQ make sure you have a lid and add some oak chunks in between the coals.
- Carve the fat side of the duck breast in squares and rub both sides with coarse salt
- Preheat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Add some rosemary and sear the duck breast on both sides to get a nice golden brown Maillard madness tint. (hint: start with the fat side)
- Move the duck breasts to your smoker and let them smoke on low temperature until you get an internal temperature from about 50°C. Glaze the breasts every 15 minutes with a thin layer of Bourgogne des Flandres syrup.
- When you reach the internal temperature let your beer glazed duck breast rest for a sloppy ten minutes under a piece of tin foil (don't pack it thight).
Parsnip Puree
- While smoking the duck breasts you can make your parsnip puree by following these instructions.
- Remove the hard core of your parsnips and cut them together with the potatoes in small dices.
- Pour some sunflower oil in a pan and add a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Let these spices cook for a couple of minutes before adding the potatoes and parsnips. This helps the spices to release there delicious flavors. Salt the vegetables at tast and bake the dices until they have a golden brown colour.
- Quench with 500 ml. of chicken broth (the vegetables need to be under the broth) and let them gently cook (without lid) until the potatoes and parsnip start to fall apart and you get a puree like texture (add more broth when needed). Puree the mixture and bring to taste with more salt, pepper, nutmeg and/or cinnamon at your own taste.
Prune salad with Bourgogne des Flandres dressing
- Start by making a dressing by mixing the ingredients in a blender.
- Slice the prunes (medium thickness) and bake the nuts in a dry pan.
- Mix the salad with the prunes and nuts and bring to taste with the dressing.
Bourgogne des Flandres sauce
- Melt 3 Tbsp. of salted butter and let it slightly brown until it's starting to smell nutty. Pour in 2 Tbsp of the Bourgogne des Flandres syrup and Raspberry syrup at taste. This sauce should be sweet with a subtle touch of acidity (depending on the sweetness of your syrup).