Red Duck Salad

(Serves 6)

Ingredients

• 4 beetroot, well washed (do not cut them)
• 2 raddichio, leaves detached from the stem
• ½ cup roasted hazelnuts, coarsley chopped
• 1 red lettuce, leaves detached from the stem
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cup raisins soaked for 30 minutes in ¼ cup port
• 6 duck breasts, cut in a criss cross pattern on the skin side
• 2 cloves garlic crushed with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon freshly
• ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 350g duck or chicken livers, trimmed of fat and any discoloured parts
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• flat leafed parsley sprigs for garnish

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Put the beetroot into an ovenproof dish and roast for 1 hour or until tender. Put the raddichio, hazelnuts, lettuce and onion onto a deep serving platter.

Peel the warm beetroot, dice 3cm and scatter on top of the salad. Rub the garlic, salt and pepper all over the duck breasts. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently panfry the duck breasts, 8 minutes on the skin side and 4 minutes on the flesh side. Quite a lot of fat will result from panfrying the duck.

Remove from the pan, rest, slice thinly across the grain of the meat and place on top of the salad.

Pour off half of the duck fat and place the pan back on the heat. Panfry the livers until cooked and well browned but still pink inside. Remove from the pan and scatter over the salad. Add the raisins to the hot pan and cook 20 seconds. Add the vinegar, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon. Pour over the salad.

Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.