insideKENT Magazine Issue 86 - May 2019 | Page 103

Stour Valley Breast of Duck with
Dauphinoise Potatoes, Honey Roasted
Heritage Carrots and Poached Apricots
From The Kings Head, Wye
www.kingsheadwye.com
Serves 4
This is a beautiful dish to make at home, though of course
if you don’t fancy cooking it yourself, head chef Carl
Jordan will be more than happy to rustle it up for you at
The Kings Head. It’s just one of their fantastic dishes on
the new spring menu. “We are lucky enough to be able
to work with Stour Valley Game, just down the road from
Wye,” Carl told us. “They supply us with beautiful, locally
sourced duck that is packed with flavour.”
Ingredients:
• 4 duck breasts
• 6 large, washed red potatoes
• 6 bulbs garlic
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 500ml double cream
• 300g unsalted butter
• 4 carrots
• 1 orange
• 8 dried apricots
• 150ml good red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 heritage carrots (ideally 4 yellow and 4 purple)
• 100ml honey
• Salt and pepper
Method:
HEAD CHEF CARL JORDAN
1. Firstly, to make the dauphinoise potatoes, place the
double cream, garlic, rosemary, thyme and butter in a
pan on a medium heat so all the flavours infuse. In the
meantime, peel and thinly slice the potatoes and rinse in
cold water then pat dry. Pass the cream and butter mixture
through a sieve keeping the cream and then start to layer
up the potatoes in a shallow ovenproof dish, seasoning
each layer and adding just enough cream to cover before
the next layer of potatoes.
2. Do this until all sliced potatoes are in the tray then bake
at 180oC for 30 minutes. While the dauphinoise is cooking,
move on to making the carrot purée. To do this peel and
chop the orange carrots, place in a pan with the butter,
thyme and orange and add water until they are just
covered. Simmer until the carrots are soft then blend,
seasoning with salt and pepper.
3. Peel the heritage carrots and then toss in a baking tray
with honey, butter and rosemary. Roast whole at 180oC
for about 20-25 minutes.
4. For the red wine poached apricots, add the dried
apricots, red wine, thyme, rosemary, garlic, bay leaves
and salt and pepper to a pan and simmer on a low heat
for 10 minutes. Remove the apricots and add veal stock.
Turn up the heat and reduce to make the jus.
5. Lastly, score duck breast, season well with salt and
pepper and place skin side down in a cold pan on a low
heat to render the fat. Then, add rosemary, thyme and
garlic and a big knob of butter. Keep on the skin side
down for another 5 minutes on a medium heat, then flip
over and cook for a further 4 minutes. Allow to rest
somewhere warm for at least 6-8 minutes; the meat should
be pink and moist. Slice and serve.
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