Your weekend culinary delights: The comeback trail...

It’s been a very long seven months since we once again had to close the restaurant and we all headed into another lockdown. We’ve spent over a year navigating the fears and tears of this extremely challenging situation and it’s been tough. We’ve had our hopes raised then lowered, and the entire hospitality industry has been bruised and battered in the eye of the storm during this awful global pandemic. We are now ready to very slowly start our road to some kind of new normality...whatever that will be.

I must admit that I feel a deep appreciation like never before for the loyalty, for the passion and the sheer hard work and determination of our whole team. We will come out of this stronger, braver and with a renewed energy to continue giving our best everyday. It’s clear that our industry is still facing huge challenges that no restaurateur has ever faced before: dining in a time of physical distancing.

We want every guest to feel comfortable and relaxed in our outdoor dining space and as we take the first, tiny steps to fully reopening and we are thrilled to be back doing what we love and even more importantly, to help our guests experience the pure joy of breaking bread with friends, family and those loved ones we all have truly missed over the tough months apart.

In the kitchen, it’s a great time to invent new dishes and also return to some of our classic, signature dishes that guests have enjoyed so much in the past and give them a new tweak. This week we’ve been working on our classic duck with eucalyptus and pineapple recipe and tweaking our beetroot gazpacho. Here’s a little tasting for you to try at home, or better still, whet your appetite to visit us at the restaurant soon!

I’m so excited to reveal that we will be opening our doors again at Marc Fosh Restaurant on Tuesday 11th May and our reservations system is now finally open!

Slow cooked duck breast with eucalyptus, compressed pineapple & salt baked celeriac

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 4 Duck breasts

For the compressed pineapple

• 1 small pineapple
• 150ml of water
• 20g of sugar
• 4 eucalyptus leaves

Eucalyptus glaze

• 6 eucalyptus leaves
• 150ml maple syrup
• 100ml water

Eucalyptus sauce

• 1.2kl duck bones
• 2bsp clear honey
• 400ml brown chicken stock
• 100ml red wine
• 100ml port
• 6 eucalyptus leaves
• 1g of xanthan gum

Salt-baked celeriac
puree

• 1 small celeriac
• 450g sea salt
• A few pine needles
• A sprig of fresh thyme
• 250g milk
• Juice of one lemon
• Seasoning

For the sauce

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Place the bones in a baking tray and pour over the honey. Roast in the oven until deep golden brown. Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a large saucepan and add the duck bones. Reduce the heat, cook for 1 hour then strain the liquid into a clean pan.

In a separate pan, bring the red wine and port to the boil and reduce by half. Add the wine to the stock, then add the eucalyptus leaves and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for a further 5 more minutes, then pass through a fine sieve and thicken with xanthan gum. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Salt-baked celeriac puree

Wash any soil off the celeriac. Mix about coarse salt with fresh thyme, pine needles and enough egg white to make a loose paste. Coat the celeriac in the salt. Stand it on a tray and bake it in a hot oven for two hours. Allow to cool. Remove the peel with the salt crust and place the celeriac in a medium saucepan.

Add the milk and bring to the boil; simmer for 5 minutes until soft. Puree in a blender until smooth, using a little of the milk to help get the right consistency. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Pass through a fine sieve and keep warm.

To make the glaze

Toast the leaves lightly in a warm frying pan. Add maple syrup and water, bring to the boil and reduce to thickish syrup. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve.

For the compressed pineapple

Bring the sugar, water and eucalyptus leaves to boil in a small saucepan to form a syrup. Peel the pineapple, remove the core then portion the pineapple into 9cmx3cm rectangles. Transfer to a vacuum bag, making sure the pieces are not overlapping. Add the eucalyptus syrup and compress the pineapple.

For the duck breasts

Preheat a water bath to 62°C
Place the duck breasts in a vacuum bag with a pinch of salt and eucalyptus leaves, seal with a bar sealer and cook for 16 minutes in the water bath.
Remove the duck breast from the vacuum bag.

Generously season the breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place a large non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and pan-fry the duck breasts, skin-side down, until the skin is crispy and golden.

Using a pastry brush, coat the duck skin evenly with the glaze and rest for a few minutes before carving lengthways into 2 pieces.

To serve

Sprinkle the pineapple pieces with brown sugar and caramelise them under a hot grill or with the aid of a gas gun.

Smear the celeriac purée over the warm plates and place the hot duck breast on top. Garnish with the caramelised pineapple, eucalyptus sauce and wild herbs.