Roast duck breast with hazelnut sauce

SERVES 6 // PREP TIME 20 MINS // COOK 2½ HRS

“Hazelnuts make this dish unique with their fragrance,” says Papadakis. “It’s a simple dish and making the base sauce in advance makes things a lot simpler.” At Osteria Ilaria Papadakis uses Italian hazelnuts from Piedmont, which, he says, have the best flavour.

2 tbsp butter

3 small radicchio heads, outer

leaves removed, halved 6 duck breasts (about

200gm each), fat scored in a cross-hatch

100 gm roasted hazelnuts,

crushed

50 ml hazelnut oil

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

DUCK SAUCE

2 duck carcasses, or duck bones, coarsely chopped (see note)

2 golden shallots, sliced 1 thyme sprig

1 fresh bay leaf

50 gm butter

150 ml Marsala

2 litres (8 cups) chicken stock

1 For duck sauce, preheat oven to 180°C. Roast duck bones in a roasting pan until browned

(1½ hours). Meanwhile, sauté shallot, thyme and bay leaf in butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until caramelised (6-8 minutes). Deglaze pan with Marsala and reduce until almost evaporated (2-3 minutes). Add chicken stock and roasted duck bones, bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to 500ml (1 hour).

Pass through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and season to taste.

2 Melt butter in a large frying pan over low-medium heat, add radicchio cut-side down and cook, turning once until golden (5-6 minutes each side). Reduce heat to low and cook until wilted and tender (5 minutes). Season to taste and keep warm.

3 Cook duck breasts skin-side down in a large non-stick ovenproof frying pan over low-medium heat until fat is rendered and skin is crisp

(10-15 minutes). Drain fat into a container and reserve for another use (fat will keep refrigerated in a jar for a month; it’s great for roasting potatoes). Transfer pan to oven, keeping duck breasts skin-side down, and roast until medium-rare

(3-4 minutes; if your pan is not ovenproof, transfer duck to a heated ovenproof tray).

Rest and keep warm.

4 Wipe pan clean, then add hazelnuts and oil. Stir continuously over high heat to lightly toast (1 minute), deglaze pan with vinegar, then add reserved duck sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

6 Thickly slice duck breasts and transfer to plates, pour sauce over and serve with raddichio.

Note Duck carcasses will need to be ordered from your butcher. Wine suggestion 2016 Patrick Sullivan ‘Amazon’ Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley, Vic. One of the best wines Patrick has made, it has a generous palate of raspberry and strawberry, savoury spice, tomato leaf and a lively acidity.