A lovely four-course meal…

Garlic mushroom, followed by canard a la Normande with roasted potatoes, cheese and red velvet cupcake as dessert. This recipe serves four and is not that difficult to cook - could be quite good for a Christmas meal. 

  

The starter - Garlic Mushroom

This is one of the first dishes I learned to cook. It is a good option to offer as starter if you have vegetarian friends, but it does take some time to make. 

3 or 4 garlic bulbs

450 grams of baby mushroom

200 ml of white wine (you may need a bit more, it depends on your taste)

1 tbs soy sauce

Pepper

Parsley

Olive oil

Peel the garlic bulbs and press them, or chop them finely. Clean the mushrooms. If you can, use a brush to remove the dirt. If you don’t have a brush, wash them and dry them with a paper towel.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and then add the garlic. Fry for less than 20 seconds. Pour a little bit of white wine on the garlic and then add the mushrooms. Fry for a minute or so and then add the soy sauce and the pepper. Mix well.  After 3 minutes, add more wine. Continue to cook in high fire for a couple of minutes and then lower the temperature and let the mushroom dehydrate and absorb the wine. Add chopped parsley and a bit more of wine if you wish.

The mushrooms should reduce quite a bit after 20 minutes or so in medium to low fire. Remember to add wine if you feel they will stick to the pan. When ready to serve, move to a plate and sparkle fresh parsley on top.

Tip – you can place the individual portions of mushrooms in a ramequin and cover with grated cheese. Pop in the oven at high temperature for three minutes or until the cheese melts. Serve immediately with good white wine and bread.

  

The main dish - Canard a la Normande with roasted potatoes

A dish from the land of the wife… we’ll start with the potatoes

Roasted potatoes

1 kg of large potatoes

Salt

4 tbs of plain flour

1 tbs of mustard

1 tbs of olive oil or butter

Clean, peel and cut the potatoes in squares. Rinse well and put in a pot. Cover with cold water. Add salt and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Remove from the fire as soon as you can easily pinch the potatoes with a fork, but you cannot get through them yet. It’s very important to avoid over cooking.

Turn on the oven at 180 degrees.

Drain the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a plate and sprinkle with flour. Add the mustard and make sure all sides are well coated. In a heated oven dish, add the oil or butter. Put the potatoes in there and given them a shake. Put this in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Do not turn the potatoes around at this stage. Once they have roasted at the bottom, turn them and allow them to cook 20 more minutes. Drain any excess water, sprinkle with salt and serve! 

Now the duck...

Duck a la Normande

700 grams of duck breasts with the skin on

2 red apples

100 ml of crème fraiche

3 tbs of calvados

½ tbps of cinnamon powder

Salt (preferable sea salt) and pepper

Remove the excess fat from the duck but leave the skin on. Take the duck breast and make diagonal incisions on the ducks’ skin. Then repeat the incisions but from the opposite side. The idea is to form a grid on the duck. Make sure the knife doesn’t go into the meat.

Cover both sides with salt and pepper. On the criss-cross side, cover with cinnamon. Be generous with the cinnamon but not so much with the salt. 

Turn on the oven at 180 degrees (if you haven’t already done so for your potatoes).

Place the duck in a cold frying pan with the skin of the duck against the metal. Do not add any oil!!! Place the pan on the stove making sure the cooker is off and cold. Turn the cooker on and increase the temperature gradually until medium-high. This will allow the heat to penetrate the duck gently, releasing the fat of the duck’s skin without sealing the meat.

When the skin is crispy, turn the meat around and seal it for 30 seconds or so. Turn the duck around one more time and with a spoon remove the excess fat from the pan and reserve. Pop the frying pan in the oven for about 7 minutes. If you don’t have a metallic oven-proof pan, use an oven dish that has already been kept hot in the oven.  

In the meantime, remove the heart and skin of the apples. Slice the apples and cook them in the duck fat on medium fire. Add a bit of salt and pepper, flipping the slices after two minutes of cooking. Let the apples cook for another two or three minutes.

After that, add the calvados and the crème fraiche to the apples and cook at medium fire for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, take the duck out of the oven and cut in 1cm slices. The meat should be cooked in the outside but red/pink in the centre. Serve in the plate and cover with the apple and calvados sauce.

Enjoy with a nice red wine.

The cheese

Serve a nice cheese with bread and/or lettuce. This is the easy bit of the meal.

Dessert - Red Velvet cupcakes (see details of the frosting below)

140 grams of plain four

1 tbs of bicarbonate of soda

2 tbs of cocoa powder

115 grams of unsalted butter

140 grams of caster sugar

1 large egg beaten

125 ml of buttermilk

1 tbs of vanilla extract

1 tbsp of red food colouring

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees

Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder in a bowl.

In a different bowl, mix the butter and sugar until they are fully integrated. Add the egg and mix well. Then, gradually add half of the flour mixture. Beat in the buttermilk, the vanilla and red colouring. Add the rest of the flour mixture.

Fill the paper cases in the cupcake tray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they have risen enough. Turn off the oven and give a few minutes before opening the door.

Take the cupcakes out and let them cool down.

Frosting

140 grams of cream cheese

85 grams of unsalted butter

280 grams of icing sugar

Mix the cheese and butter well. Add the sugar gradually until fully integrated and the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Cover the cupcakes with the frosting once these are cold.

Tip for decoration

In a plastic bag, add 50 grams of caster sugar with a bit of the red colouring. Using your fingers, take the exterior of the bag and rub the sugar until it absorbs the red colouring.  Sprinkle over the frosting.

Voila!