Duck risotto

The southwest of France is known for duck. duck liver, duck confit, duck breast and duck pate. On the market you can find almost every part of duck to whole ducks without the liver – the prized part – that people are currently buying to prepare their Christmas dinner.

I had some duck carcass left and turned it into a duck stock, with leek, onion, carrot, turnip, start aniseed, nutmeg and pepper. I stored this in empty apple juice bottles.

I had ordered pasta and rice from De Cecco in Italy and used some great Arborio rice and I grated some Parmesan. The combination was delicious.

I served the risotto with a grilled duck breast. Because I had to trim some of the fatty skin, I melted it in a small pan and then filtered it so that I could use the duck fat to prepare the risotto, instead of butter and oil.

Ingredients

• 160 grams of Arborio rice
• Half a litre of duck stock
• 50 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
• Half an onion
• A duck ‘magret” breast with skin
• A glass of white wine
• Duck fat (or a mix of 25 grams butter and two tablespoons oil)

Steps

1. Dice the onion finely.
2. Cut excess skin from the breast and make cross-wise incisions in the top of the skin (to allow the fat to run easy).
3. Heat up the stock.
4. Put the fat in a heavy casserole.
5. Add the onion and stir.
6. Add the rice and stir.
7. Add the wine and stir.
8. Add a ladle of stock and stir until the rice becomes almost dry, then add a new ladle and repeat the operation for 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked (test by biting a grain).
9. Meanwhile, put the duck breast with the skin down on a the grill and cook for 10 minutes, then turn for another 5 minutes. If you find the meat too red, put the breast on a dish in a preheated over for another few minutes – the grill will have become too fatty and the duck risks to get fried.
10. Add salt and pepper to the duck.
11. When the rice is ready, add the cheese and stir.
12. Slice the duck and put on top of the rice.