Duck Breasts with Dry-Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Watercress & Balsamic Prunes & Onions

Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 onions, thinly sliced
1½ cups pitted prunes
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 purple-skinned sweet potatoes, well scrubbed
4 duck breasts, skin cut almost down to the flesh in a criss-cross pattern
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 handfuls watercress sprigs

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat, add the onions and prunes, and fry gently, without browning, for about 20 minutes until the onions and prunes are very soft. Remove from the heat, stir in the balsamic vinegar, taste and season with salt and pepper. Reserve.

Place the whole sweet potatoes in a roasting dish and roast in the oven for 1 hour until tender.

Meanwhile, put the duck in a bowl with the garlic and remaining oil. Heat a frying pan over moderate heat and add the duck breasts, skin side down. Gently panfry for 7 minutes until well browned. Turn over and fry for 4 minutes on the flesh side.

Remove from the pan and rest the duck in a warm place. Slice each breast thinly across the grain of the meat.

Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and serve the sliced duck on the hot sweet potatoes with some of the onion and prune mixture, and some watercress on the side.

Serves 4-6.

Roasted Pear, Pork Fillet & Watercress

Ingredients
2 large pears, peeled, halved and core scooped out
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons white wine

6 juniper berries, crushed
2 tablespoons lemon thyme leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small pork fillets (about 500g), trimmed of any sinew

4 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup rich chicken stock
1/2 bunch watercress sprigs
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place the pear halves, cut side down, in a heavy-based roasting dish. Drizzle with honey and pour in wine. Roast 20 minutes or until tender and lightly golden. You may need to add a little liquid (stock or water) throughout cooking if the pears absorb the wine very quickly. Set aside in a warm place or, if not using right away, cool then reheat in the oven just before serving. In the meantime prepare the pork.

Combine juniper berries, thyme, salt, pepper and oil and smear over fillets. Fry in a heavy-based frying pan over a moderate heat, 2-3 minutes each side or until cooked through. Set aside in a warm place to rest for 10 minutes.

Deglaze pan by adding sherry vinegar and chicken stock to pan juices and simmer until reduced by half.

Dress the watercress in the extra virgin olive oil then season with salt and pepper and divide among 4 plates. Add a warm pear, sliced pork fillet and a little sauce from the pan to each plate. Serves 4 as an entrée.



Enjoy!