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Duo of Duck

 

Confit duck leg (8 portions) 

 Cooking time: 3 hours at 125˚C

Ingredients:

Duck leg                  1kg
Clarified butter         500ml
Refined oil                500ml
Rosemary                 10gms
Thyme                      10gms
Garlic                       25gms
Salt                          20gms
Black Pepper            15gms

Method:
Clean the duck legs and remove any excess skin or fat from it.
Rub the duck legs with salt and pepper.
Place the legs in a baking tray along with garlic, rosemary and thyme. Cover them in oil and melted butter.
Cover the tray with foil and put it in the preheated oven at 125˚C for 3 hours.

Potato Gratin (8 portions) 

Cooking time 1.5hours at 130˚C

Ingredients:
Sliced potato          300gms
Garlic                    15gms
Rosemary               5gms
Cooking cream       600ml
Parmesan               50gms
Butter                    30gms
Caramelized Onion 30gms
White Cheddar        70gms
Salt                         15gms
Black pepper           15gms

Method:

Wash and scrub the potatoes thoroughly and peel them.
Using a mandoline, cut the potatoes in 1/4cm thick slices.
Blanch the potatoes in boiling water for a couple of minutes.
In a bowl add garlic, thyme, butter, caramelized onions, parmesan, white cheddar, salt and pepper.
Whisk these ingredients together in a homogenous mixture.
Pour this mixture on top of the blanched potatoes and mix.
Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and cover with foil.
Bake the potatoes, in a preheated oven at 130˚C for 1.5hours.

Pan Seared Duck Breast (1 portion)

Ingredients:
Duck breast         1
Salt                      5gms
Black pepper        3gms
Olive oil                5ml

Method:
Score the skin of the duck breast and season it with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and sear the duck skin side down for 3 minutes.
Flip the duck breast and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove the duck from the pan and let it rest for a couple of minutes.

Sautéed Vegetables (1 portion)

Ingredients:

Zucchini           10gms

Yellow Squash 10gms

Baby Corn        10gms
Green beans     10gms
Thyme               3gms
Olive oil             3ml
Salt                   2gms
Black Pepper     2gms

Method:
Cut the vegetables into small dices.
Blanch the beans and baby corn in boiling salted water and refresh them in ice cold water.
Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan and add the vegetables.
Cook the vegetables in a pan for a couple of minutes and finish with thyme, salt and pepper.

Food & Wine Pairing Masterclass with BBC Good Food and All Things Nice

Appetizers

(Choice of any one)
Grilled Asparagus with ricotta, shaved Parmesan and diced tomatoes

Parma ham & Mozarella with black olive spread, arugula and sun dried tomatoes

Bulle N°1, AOC Blanquette de Limoux France

Salads

(Choice of any one)

Roasted beetroot and mandarin salad with chevre cheese, arugula and balsamic dressing

Smoked Salmon salad with arugula and chevre cheese

Waterford Estate Pecan Stream Chenin Blanc 2011 Stellenbosch South Africa

Mains

(Choice of any one)

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with thyme butter and sundried tomatoes (v)

Roasted leek & Lemon Risotto with mascarpone cheese and roasted potato (v)

Slow Roasted Lamb Stew with ricotta cheese dumpling and roasted carrots

Pan seared Basa fish with burghul risotto, mushrooms, cshilli and Balsamic sauce

Bodegas Franco Espanolas Rioja Bordon Reserva 2004 Spain

Desserts

(Choice of any one)

Apple crumble

Soft centre chocolate cake

Baron de Philippe Rothschild Sauternes, France

***

Vineyard Visit

If you’re like us and love wine and want a few days of absolute peace, leisure and vinous excitement we suggest you head straight to Nasik, the country’s wine capital. It’s only a three to four hour drive from Mumbai and the drive itself is beautiful.

We love the monsoon season to go there, it seems like everything has been painted fluorescent green and in the cooler months from November onwards, nights can get quite chilly. Perfect for a glass of warming Reserve Shiraz!

There are plenty of options for stay, we like the Taj Gateway or Express Inn, both about a 20 minute drive from the region’s most popular vineyard Sula – which is a hop skip and a wine away from York winery. You could of course stay at Beyond, Sula’s 21 room resort.
Tours at wineries usually include a walk through the vineyard, interesting information on how wine is produced, a visit to the winery building to take a look at the fermentation tanks and bottling plants and a tasting session. The scent of fermenting grape juice is extraordinary. Make sure you go to the cellar room to barrel sample some of their wines.

First stop on your wine trail is Sula. Take a few minutes to walk around in the vineyard by yourself, have a look at the different grape varietals, the soil and the vines. Everything you’ve read or heard about wineries and vineyards will come to life here!

Spend a few hours on the deck of the winery, overlooking the vineyards with the rolling hills and the lake in the background. A chilled glass of their Rose with some charcuterie in the afternoon should have your vineyard experience going in fine style.

Next, head to York Winery, a 5 minute drive from Sula. This family owned winery produces award winning wines and we recommend you stock up on them when you get there. The view from their Tasting Room is simply gorgeous. They have interactive guided tours and a kitchen just in case you’d like to stay for lunch or supper. We love the local cuisine that’s part of their menu.

You could create your own picnic basket and drive or cycle down to the nearby lake.
About 20 minutes away from the hotels is Vallonne Vineyards, a French style boutique winery. They don’t have a restaurant or rooms currently, but they are a passionate winery and produce some very good wines for your drinking pleasure.

Another fantastic winery to look out for on your visit to Nasik is Vallee de Vin. Their tasting room lies nestled amongst rows of barrels of some of their finest wines. Sampling wine around a long tasting table amid the barrels is reminiscent of tastings in Chianti!

About an hour east of Nasik, off the Aurangabad Highway you will find Vintage Wines. It is a hundred acre vineyard and winery set up by the father-son team of Suresh and Yatin Patel. Don’t miss tasting their wines which are renowned for being very high in quality!

About an hour away from Nasik is the up and coming Charosa vineyards, it isn’t quite ready yet but we have seen what their upto and it looks exciting.

For our friends in Pune, we highly recommend a visit to the Fratelli Winery in Akluj, a two to three hour drive from Pune city. The winery is a state of the art structure inspired by the Ferrari factory in Northern Italy. Fratelli has a beautiful guest house with four spacious rooms for their visitors with traditional Maharashtrian food and even entertainment if you like. The outdoor tasting point overlooking the vineyards is just spectacular!

 It’s exciting to see this marvel unravel in our very own backyard so easily accessible. The wineries are warm and hospitable and look forward to seeing you there. All you now need to decide is when you want to go!