This is a very elegant dinner party meal, it looks and smells wonderful and it tastes unbelievable with the truffle oil in the parsnip mash and the port berry sauce is very good. It is a little time consuming as there is a little prep time, chopping vegetables and also the cooking down of the sauce, but it is well worth it for the end result. My whole family thought it was yummo and kept raving about both the duck with the sauce and how much they loved the parsnip mash, I had gone up to my mum’s house for dinner and made this so it was tested out on many and a success all round. I am listing the recipe below for 2 people as I wrote down the ingredients I used when just making for myself and hubby, because it is hard to reduce the sauce amounts without affecting the flavour the sauce would be enough for 4-6 People. So you could cook extra breasts and then just up the amount of mash ingredients.

Ingredients

2 Duck Breasts

Sauce

2 Cups red wine
1 Cup chicken broth
1 Cup beef broth
4 Fresh thyme sprigs
2 Bay leaves
1 Tablespoon butter
2/3 Cup red currant jam
2 Tablespoons port
3 Teaspoons cornflour

Truffle Parsnip Mash

Milk, enough to cover parsnips while cooking
4 Parsnips, peeled and chopped
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons cream
1 Tablespoon olive oil
150g Wild mushrooms, chopped finely
1 Teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 Teaspoon vegetable stock granules
1 Tablespoon white truffle oil

Method

Sauce

1. Combine wine, broths, thyme sprigs and bay leaves in a saucepan, bring to boil and leave on the stove until reduced to about 11/2 Cups (Approx 35 Min’s)

2. Reduce heat, add port and red currant jam, stir to combine, remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

3. Add butter and stir until it melts, mix a little water with the cornflour, add to sauce and stir until sauce thickens.

Note: Sauce can be made a day ahead of time and just reheated to save time on the day.

Parsnip Mash

1. Place chopped parsnips in a saucepan along with just enough milk to cover, bring to boil and boil until tender, drain reserving a little milk to blend.

2. Add cream, stock, reserved milk and butter to parsnips and blend or process until smooth.

3. In a small fry pan, heat olive oil, add mushrooms and garlic, cook until mushrooms soften, stir in thyme leaves.

4. Add to mash and stir to combine, add truffle oil and mix well.

Duck Breasts

1. Add duck breasts to hot pan, not quite smoking, skin side down, cook until nicely browned and most of the duck fat has been rendered. (about 8-10 Min’s)

2 Place duck breasts skin side up in an oven proof dish and place in pre-heated oven 180 degrees Celsius, cook for 20 Min’s, gives a nice pink centre, or cook to desired doneness.

To Serve: Place mash on plates top with sliced duck breast and drizzle sauce around plate, serve extra sauce on the side.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.