Serves 2 Smoked Eggs 2 duck eggs 2 handfuls of wood chippings Put the wood chippings in the base of a cooking pot with a steamer on top. Put a small pot of water inside the steamer ensuring there is space around the edge for the smoke to move around. Cover the whole thing with clingfilm tightly so that no air can escape. Place on a high heat and burn the wood chippings, when the yellowish smoke subsides take the pan off the heat and leave until cold, taking care not to spill any water. Place the duck eggs in a small container and cover with the cold smoked water for about 1 week. The smoke flavour should infuse through the egg shell to flavour the egg. After a week take the eggs out and put the smoked water in a pan with a temperature probe or in a temperature controlled water bath. Heat the water to 62OC and place the duck eggs in for 50 minutes. Mallard and Crackling 2 breasts of Mallard Take the breasts remove the fillet and trim all the silverskin and blood vessels from the flesh. Then carefully remove the skin and store the breasts ready for cooking. Scrape as much fat off the skin as possible and place on parchment paper on a flat tray. Season the skins heavily with salt, and place another piece of parchment on top, press with another tray and weight the top with a cast iron pan. Place in a preheated oven at 180oC for 20 – 25 minutes until crisp. While the crackling is still warm use a sharp knife to trim it into squares. Red Wine Jus 200ml red wine 100 ml port 500 ml veal stock Place the port and wine in a pan and reduce by 2 thirds. Add the veal stock and reduce by half.
Mash 1 large Maris Piper 100g double cream 20g butter 4 sprigs thyme 1 clove garlic 1 bay leaf Place the potato in the oven at 180oC on a bed of salt for around 1 hour or until cooked. Gently simmer the butter, cream, thyme, garlic and bay leaf in a small pan to infuse the flavours and pass through a fine sieve. Cut the potato in half and push the flesh through a fine drum sieve and place in a pan with the infused emulsion and heat through, then place in a piping bag and leave in a warm place. Roast Shallots 2 Banana Shallots 20g butter 10 ml balsamic vinegar Wrap the shallots in tin foil and put in the oven with potato for about 45 minutes. When the shallots are cooked remove the skins and cut in half lengthways. Melt the butter in a frying pan until it foams and place the cut side of the shallots in until they start to colour and add the balsamic to glaze the shallots. Season and remove from the pan. Savoy Cabbage ¼ savoy cabbage Remove the root from the cabbage and slice the leaves as thinly as possible. Blanch the sliced cabbage in boiling water for 1 minute and chill in ice cold water. Baby Vegetables 3 Baby carrots 3 Baby Leeks Peel the baby carrots and use a small knife to scrape the dirt from around the top taking care to keep the stalk in tact. Blanch the carrots for 5 minutes in boiling water and then chill in iced water. Wash the baby leeks in cold water and trim the ends. Then blanch in boiling water for 4 minutes and chill in iced water. Cut the carrots in half lengthways and cut the leeks into six 1 inch lengths. Assembly 1 punnet of peashoots 100g butter Oil for cooking In a hot pan sear the seasoned mallard breasts on both sides and place on a tray with parchment and put in the oven for 3 minutes for pink meat. Rest the breasts for 2 minutes. In another pan boil a little water with half the butter and and heat up the carrots and leeks. Take them out with a slotted spoon, and put the cabbage in the same pan. Reheat the mallard pan and start to foam the rest of the butter. Take the cabbage out and drain on a cloth then place the mallard breasts in the foaming butter. Pipe the mash onto the plate, place the cabbage next to it, and one piece of crackling behind that. Take the mallard out and drain. Extract the egg yolks from the slow cooked smoked eggs and place on the crackling, then top off with another piece of crackling. Slice the duck and put on top of the cabbage. Arrange the vegetables around the plate keeping it tight into everything else. Sauce the dish and then put the peashoots around to finish. Recipe designed and prepared by Michael Tate of Harvey Nichols in Manchester at the Manchester Heat of the North West Young Chef Comeptition held on 7th October 2009 - sponsored by Essential Cuisine.