Duck breast with truffle potatoes and savoy mushroom parcel

This main dish of our Christmas dinner shows very nicely how helpful foodblogging can be to one when you want to implement a beautiful meal. I wanted to cook the duck breast at low temperature, as I’ve done before with other meats, but was still skeptical at first about whether that would work. Claus' contribution to Lentils with duck came just in time to provide the proof. To the potatoes I had at first no opinion except “mash, then truffle over it”. I owe the idea for the stuffed potatoes to Eline based on a comment on this blog, and I found the savoy cabbage packet idea at Claudia’s Teriyaki Goose and modified it just a bit. The sauce is quite old-fashioned-offline copied from Siebeck…. Only I have already cooked myself ;)

What ingredients do I have?

• 1 small savoy cabbage
• 150g mushrooms
• 50 ml cream
• nutmeg
• 2 pieces of duck breast (à 300g, actually too big. But I forgot to order some, so I take what is there)
• 4 large waxy potatoes (Annabelle), the size of baked potatoes is just right
• 15g truffles
• A slosh of milk
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• salt
• 1 glass of port 150ml beef jus (or * 1 tbsp demi-glace)
• 1 sip of balsamic vinegar
• Some clove powder

First, I prepare the duck, as I want it to acclimate for 2 more hours at room temperature. I clean, wash and dry the two pieces and place them skin side up in a baking dish. I use the mini office cutter to cut the skin in a diamond shape without going all the way into the meat. Then covered with greaseproof paper, they stand in the kitchen for another 2 hours.

Now it’s the savoy cabbage’s turn, as it takes a long time to dry out after blanching. I blanch 4 nice leaves for 2 minutes and then rinse them, followed by the rest of the small head, which is cut into small pieces without ribs and then goes into the water for 4 minutes.

I clean the mushrooms dry and cut them into small pieces. Mushrooms and savoy cabbage pieces I fry briefly in the pan add the cream. Then I cut the middle ribs of the savoy cabbage leaves flat and wrap the savoy cabbage-mushroom mixture in the leaves.

The packets remain on the seam side covered with plastic wrap until just before the end. The pan with the leftover cream remains within reach; I use it to reheat the packets later.

The duck is now ready for the oven. I brush it with some liquid butter, then I put it covered with greaseproof paper and skin side down in the oven preheated to 80°, where it stays for the next 90 minutes, turning once.

Now it’s time for a little intermediate cleanup, because nothing is more annoying than when something gets in the way during the final spurt or has to be rinsed first because it hasn’t been put away yet.

Then I put on the potatoes, which cook in their skins for 30 minutes.

At this point, I can reduce the beef jus until there is nothing left in the pot except a few tough bubbles. Later I add the dissolved gravy and the duck juice from resting.

I slice the truffle into narrow slices and then finely dice it. It goes into the pot for the mashed potatoes with some milk, which is already slowly warming up.

Another pan is waiting with butter, also warm, for the potatoes. They are now cooked and I pellet them without letting them cool very much. This requires a bit of juggling, as they are already quite hot. I hollow out two potatoes with the little baller, which is probably being used for the third time now after 15 years, and put them into the warm buttered pan. The small balls I give with the crushed third potato in the Trüffelmlich and mash everything with some butter to mush.

Now the duck reports in the stove. But it must wait a few minutes, because first I put the mashed potatoes in a piping bag and fill the peeled large potatoes. Off with it into the oven, the grill is activated and the duck breasts taken out at the same time now land in the hot, cast-iron pan, where they roast 3-4 minutes on the skin side and 1 minute on the meat side.

Now I turn the savoy back on so that the packets are warm.

The duck is wrapped in aluminum foil, the fat is poured away and the gravy is extinguished with a glass of port wine and balsamic vinegar. I then add both to the reduced jus and continue to reduce until the sauce becomes velvety on its own. Very rich ;) Add a pinch of clove powder.

Check potatoes, not browned yet, so one more moment.

I cut the duck into thin slices, it is already pink and still a bit firm. But the chewing sample is ok ;) I put both breasts in the still warm pan where the potatoes were in before. Put the lid on, so they stay hot.

Did I mention the plates? Of course, they’ve been in the oven for a long time, under a tray, so they won’t be damaged by the grill heat.

All done, the potatoes are starting to brown. Plate out, potato on, savoy cabbage and meat next to it, a bit of sauce on top and the feast can move towards its climax….

The remaining savoy cabbage, duck and mashed potatoes continue to sit on the stove at a low heat and are enough for both a decent second helping and yet another follow-up meal that I temporarily store as Shepard’s Pie variation.

The work was worth it!

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