Billy’s MasterChef calling card recipe; a rich and decadent duck dish with some wonderful autumnal flavours. It takes some time and effort but give it the time and you’ll be rewarded with a stand-out dish that really packs a punch.

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Butternut Squash Puree
250g butternut squash
70 ml whipping cream
salt and black pepper 

Pickled Apple Puree
1.5 granny smith apples
100g Demerara sugar
150g red wine vinegar
100ml red wine
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 allspice berries
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
10g fresh ginger
4 coriander seeds

Duck Sauce
Grapeseed Oil
3 shallots
100ml red wine vinegar
400ml port
400ml red wine
25g unsalted butter

Duck
1 whole duck, legs and wings removed
1 shallot
½ carrot
½ leek
50g celeriac
25g pancetta
2 bay leaves
1.5 litre chicken stock
2 tbsp Plain Flour
1/4 granny smith apple, finely diced

Other
1 head broccoli 
1/2 bag salted kettle chips, blitzed
10g parsley
25g unsalted butter

Instructions

Peel and dice the butternut squash and coat with oil and seasoning. Roast in the oven at 180C fan for 25 - 30 mins until soft and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and blend with the cream to a smooth puree, pass through a sieve, check seasoning  and keep warm.

Lightly flour the duck legs and shallow fry in a pressure cooker (with the lid off) with pinch salt until light brown and remove from the pan. Add half of the vegetables and pancetta and cook for 5 mins. Add the legs back in, the bay leaves and chicken stock, put the lid on and bring to full pressure, lower heat and cook for 40mins. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can do this in a normal saucepan but allow a good couple of hours for the duck to slow-cook.

Lift out the legs and strain the stock. Pick the meat from the legs and reserve with the stock.

Add the duck wings and trimmings (after removing the crown) to a large saucepan and over a medium-high heat render the fat for 10 minutes. Remove all but a tablespoon of the rendered fat, add the shallots and fry over a low heat for 5 mins, turn up the heat and add the vinegar and cook until nearly evaporated.

Add the port and red wine and cook until reduced by three quarters.  Strain into a new pan and add the stock from legs and reduce to sauce consistency, whisk in the butter and keep warm.

For the pickled apple puree, bring all the ingredients bar the apples to the boil cook for 15 mins. Peel and core the apples, quarter and add to the pickle mix, and poach on a low heat for 10 mins.

Remove the cooked apples and reduce the liquor. Whilst still warm blend the apples with enough liquor to form a puree and put in a squeezy bottle.

Finally dice the remaining half vegetables and pancetta and sweat gently in a saucepan until softened, 5 minutes or so.. Add the picked leg meat to the pan, mix in 1-2 tbsp of reduced braising liquor and combined to make a ragu, add the finely diced apple and season with salt and pepper, keep warm.

Quarter the broccoli and fry with some duck fat over a high heat until heavily coloured on both sides, finish cooking in the oven at 180C fan for 10 minutes, Season and keep warm.

To make the crisps brown the butter in a small pan until it smells nutty, add the blitzed crisps and fry over a high heat for a couple of minutes and mix through the parsley.

Season the duck crown and in a frying pan colour each breast for 2 minutes . Then roast in the oven at 180C fan for 15 minutes. Remove and rest for 10 mins. Carve the breasts off the bone, lightly season and return to the roasting juices.

Working left to right in a rough circle, plate some pickled apple puree and a spoonful of the butternut squash puree next to it. Place a spoonful of ragu next to it and top with the crisp crumb. Add the broccoli and  slice the duck breasts in half vertically and add to the top of the plate, finish with the sauce – service!

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