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.

Goat cheese and caramelized figs bruschetta

Ingredients for 1 serving:
2 slices baguette,
2 tbsp fresh goat cheese,
1 fig,
olive oil,
1 tsp butter,
1 tsp Dark Muscovado sugar,
1 tsp vodka or whiskey.

Sprinkle pieces of baguette with olive oil and brown them on the grill.

In a small frying pan or a heavy-bottomed skillet melt the butter with sugar, put sliced figs in caramel and fry them for 1 minute on each side. Then pour the alcohol, wait until it all evaporated, remove from heat.

Put crushed cheese and sliced figs on slightly cooled bread .



Enjoy!

Recipe Index

Entree, breakfasts, fingerfood:
Baked Potato Crêpe With Crème Fraîche and Cold Smoked Salmon
Sandwich with Barbecued Lamb, Watermelon and Tzatziki 

Mains:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Tofu, Nori & Walnut Butter
Roasted Pear, Pork Fillet & Watercress
Pot-Roasted Pork Loin with Bay Leaves & Fino Sherry & Saffron Potatoes
Lamb Cutlets, Minted Pea Purée, Ribbons of Parsnip & Carrot 
Roast Lamb Shanks with a Secret 

Salads and sides:
Scalloped Potato Gratin
Barbecue Lamb Salad with cucumber, capsicum and orange dressing

Cakes:
Chocolate cakes with mango mousse and raspberries
Chocolate cakes with almond mousse and cherries
Double melon mousse cakes
Tangelo Cakes with Rhubarb Cream 
Pistachio and white chocolate cake

Crepes and pancakes:
Crepe rolls with Caramelized Bananas
Baked Potato Crêpe With Crème Fraîche and Cold Smoked Salmon
Mini blinis with horseradish cream and caviar

Baking:
Katmer Pogaça (puff buns with cheese)

Desserts:

Frozen Rhubarb And Banana Charlottes

About Gourmet Recipes

Welcome to Gourmet Recipes, a blog about good food and food photography.



My name is Olga. I'm a New Zealand based food lover and beginner in food photography. I live in Auckland with my beloved husband.

Cooking and photography are my passion. Also I like traveling and taking shots of beautiful places.

I style and photograph all blog pictures and all of them are subject to copyright.

Hope to see you here again, cheers!

If you are interesting in buying my photos, food photography, catering or cake decorating services, please, contact me.

Chocolate cakes with mango mousse and raspberries

 
Cake bases:
100 gr dark chocolate
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 eggs
50 gr. brown sugar
1 tablespoon starch
1 tablespoon self rising flour
pinch of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt.


Preheat oven to 180C. Lay a baking sheet with parchment. Melt the chocolate.

Beat egg yolk with sugar until white. Separately, whip whites with cream of tartar and a pinch of salt to soft peaks. Mix starch, flour and cocoa and add to the yolks and stir well, then add the melted chocolate. Then add beaten egg white and stir carefully.

Spread the mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Cool the cake for 10 minutes, then cool completely on the rack.

Using mold rings cut 6 round bases. Put mold rings on the parchment, then place one cake base in each ring.


Mango mousse:
1 cup mango puree (from fresh or canned mangoes),
3 tbsp sugar (or more depending of mango sweetness),
1 tsp gelatin,
250 ml heavy cream,
pinch of cream of tartar,
1 tsp lime juice,
1 egg white.

about 150 gr fresh raspberries.

Soak gelatin in 2 tbsp of water and set aside.
Whip egg white with cream of tartar and 1 tbsp of sugar to soft peaks.
In a other bowl whip cream with remaining sugar until soft peaks.
Heat gelatin in microwave for 20 seconds and stir well until completely dissolved, then add gelatin to the mango puree. Add whipped egg white and lime juice, stir gentle, then add whipped cream and stir again.

To assemble:
Put raspberries on each chocolate cake then top them with mousse. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Decorate your cakes with raspberries and fresh mint.



Enjoy!

Baked Potato Crêpe With Crème Fraîche and Cold Smoked Salmon

Ingredients (Serves 6)
50 ml cream
50 ml milk
5 whole eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 egg whites
1 kg hot potatoes (boiled until tender in salted water and mashed)
40 g flour
25 ml olive oil
125g sliced smoked salmon
50g crème fraîche
chopped chives to garnish
lemon wedges to garnish

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C. In an electric mixer or blender combine cream, milk, whole eggs, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine egg whites with the mashed potato then add the flour. Transfer to a blender or electric mixer and slowly add cream mixture. Take care not to overwork the batter – you are mixing fats with water so overworking will cause the pancakes to split rather than rise.

Preheat the pan/s in the oven for 4-6 minutes with a teaspoon of olive oil in each. Ladle the batter into the pan/s level with the top of the pan and bake for 12- 18 minutes or until risen, golden brown and firm to the touch.Turn out and serve with sliced smoked salmon and crème fraîche. Scatter with chopped chives, add a wedge of lemon and indulge.



Enjoy!

Katmer Pogaça (puff buns with cheese)

I made those beautiful croissant-like buns with mozzarella, chocolate and strawberries. They are always good and tasty.

Recipe from La mercante di spezie 

For the dough
500 grams flour
200 ml milk
100 ml vegetable oil
5 g dried yeast
1 egg white
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

80 g butter
300 g of fresh cheese (goat cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese)

1 yolk and milk to brush

- Dissolve yeast in warm milk with sugar, pour into bowl with sifted flour and begin kneading the dough. Add oil, egg white and salt, knead, cover bowl with foil and leave in a warm place until dough doubles.

- Divide dough  into 8 equal parts, roll balls, cover and leave for 15 minutes

- Roll out each ball into flat circles about the same size, put them on each other greasing with softened butter well. Use a good quantity of butter, it will puff the buns.

- Turn a stack of circles upside down and begin to roll, you should get a big circle with a diameter of 50-70 cm

- Cut it into 16 parts, as croissants

- Put a  spoonful of cheese or cottage cheese on a wide part of each triangle, fold the edges inward and roll into rolls like croissant

- Lay them on a tray covered with baking paper, grease with the egg yolk stirred with milk.  Leave for 1-1,5 hours

- Bake in preheated oven (180-200C) for 25-30 minutes until well browned.





Enjoy!