Tournedos de magret with sauce madère

Tags

Duck, madère, madeira, magret, Sauces, tournedos, truffle

 

Magret de canard, (duck breast fillet), in a madeira sauce with fresh mushrooms and  truffles and creamy mash – comfort food doesn’t get much more luxurious than this!

Typically this dish is made with beef tournedos. Tournedos is the name given to the small round pieces of beef cut from the center portion of beef tenderloin, often wrapped and cooked with bacon or lard. However as I live in the south-west of France, in the Dordogne, duck is king. We are the center of foie gras and therefore all things duck. The magret is the beautiful breast piece that is exquisitely tender and flavourful. Serve it medium rare for it to be at its optimal. So, instead of using the traditional beef, I bought some magret and shaped it into a circle, tied it with bacon and string and sautéed it before serving it with a classic sauce madère. A sauce madère is a delicious robust, dark sauce made with madeira or sherry usually including shallots and mushrooms. And to take it over the edge, and because it is truffle season at the moment here, why not add a few slivers of freshly shaved Perigordian black truffle. A dish fit for a king, or queen, or just because you deserve something special.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 duck breasts steaks, about 6 ounces / 170 g
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
450g / 1 lb button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
A few shavings of fresh truffle (optional)

For the sauce au madère
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon oil
2 shallots, finely diced
125 ml / 1/2 cup veal stock
60 ml / 1/4 cup madeira or sherry
1 tablespoon cold butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Preparation:

Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over high heat
Season the tournedos with salt and black pepper
Place the tournedos into the skillet and sear until golden brown, turn the fillets over, lower to medium high heat, and continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes for medium-rare doneness
Remove the tournedos to a plate
Remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat in the pan and return to medium high heat
Add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown and their liquid has evaporated
Set aside
Wipe the pan clean and melt the butter and oil over medium high heat
Add the shallots and cook until soft
Add the madeira and cook until reduced by half
Add the veal stock and cook until thickened a bit
Whisk in the butter and cook for 30 seconds
Season with salt and pepper, to taste
Add the mushrooms to the sauce
Place a tournedos on each plate (do not forget to remove the string) and spoon some of the sauce over
Add one or two slivers of freshly shaved truffle (optional)
Enjoy!

 

Chakalaka

Tags

beans, condiments, onions, rainbow nation, relish, Sauces, South Africa, spicy, tomatoes

 

Born in the townships of South Africa, chakalaka is a simple, spicy dish of onions, tomatoes and beans. It has been a staple for generations of black South Africans and is a required condiment at South African braais, or barbecues.

Don’t think for a minute, though, that there is agreement on what goes into the dish, how it should be served, or as what it should be classified.* Suffice to say that the basic ingredients always include onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, chillies and curry powder (and almost always baked beans and grated carrot).   As for serving, it can be served hot or cold, depending on whether you are using it as a relish or a more integral part of the meal.  Which brings me to the last dilemma – its classification.  It has variously been called a soup, a vegetable side dish, a relish, a salad, a ketchup, or an integral part of the main meal. It can be served on its own, with a meat stew, on bread, on potatoes, on rice, on boiled samp (crushed dried maize), on pap (a stiff polenta-like porridge), or as a relish on boerewors rolls.

It is possible to buy tinned chakalaka in every supermarket in South Africa (All Gold makes both a mild ‘n spicy and a hot version; and Koo makes mild, spicy and extra hot variations as well as extra hot with beans, one with butternut squash and one with sweetcorn), and almost all South African shops around the world.

Make lots  and freeze what you don’t use.   The flavours improve if it is kept in the fridge overnight and reheated, and then you can use it on almost anything. A rainbow of possibilities.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 50g / 2 oz ginger, finely grated
• 2 green birds eye chillies, deseeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 1 green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, finely chopped
• 5 large carrots, grated
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 400g / 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 400g / 14 oz can baked beans
• Salt and  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Heat the oil and fry the onion until soft and translucent
Add the garlic, chillies and half of the ginger; reserve the other half to add right at the end
Add the curry powder and stir to combine
Add the peppers and cook for another 2 minutes
Add the carrots and stir to make sure they are well combined with the other ingredients and coated in the curry powder
Add  the tomato paste and tomatoes and stir
Cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is well combined and slightly thickened
Remove from the heat and add the baked beans, fresh thyme and remaining ginger and stir to combine
Serve hot or cold
Enjoy!

* Cooksister