Duck Shepherd’s Pie

Cook Time 3 ½ hours + overnight marination

Servings 4 - 6

Ingredients

4 duck Marylands
1 bottle red wine
¼ cup port
1 onion, cut in four
1 carrot, cut three
1 stalk celery, cut in two
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 orange peel
Bouquet garnis (2 bay leaves, 3 sprigs thyme, 3 sprigs parsley)
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. flour
500ml duck or chicken stock
Olive oil
Salt

150g pancetta, diced
50g dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in water then liquid squeezed out
1 handful of pitted prunes
¼ bunch parsley, chopped

to serve
1 kg kestrel potatoes, peeled, cooked and then mashed
1 handful walnuts, finely chopped
1 small handful grated Parmesan

Method

Place the duck, wine, port, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, orange peel and bouquet garni in glass bowl, cover and marinate overnight.

In a heavy based pot heat a small amount of olive oil. With paper towel pat the duck dry and seal in the pot until golden brown. Drain half of the fat away and add the vegetables, along with the tomato paste. Now return the duck Marylands and sprinkle with the flour. Cook for a further 2 minutes ensuring everything is coated in the flour. Now add the red wine marinade and bring to boil for 5 minutes. If any impurities rise to the surface, ensure you skim this off. Now add the stock and cook for another 5 minutes before turning the heat down, covering with a lid and simmering for 2 ½ hours.

While cooking, sauté the pancetta and mushrooms in a frying pan with a little oil.

Once cooked, remove the meat from the sauce, shred the meat. Discard bouquet garnis and orange peel from the sauce and roughly chop up cooked vegetables. Allow the sauce to bubble away for another 15 minutes or until it has thickened. Add the prunes, mushroom and speck, parsley and the shredded duck and vegetables.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place duck stew in a medium earthware dish. Top with mashed potato, walnuts and Parmesan. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown.