John Cesters Poultry & Game Meat

Venison & Game Meat Melbourne

Crispy Duck Lasagne

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Ingredients

  • 1 whole duck (roughly 2kg)
  • olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 30 g fresh marjoram1291_1_1436778630
  • 800 g fresh spinach , or frozen
  • 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
  • 1 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 200 ml Chianti Classico
  • 4 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
  • 2 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 cloves
  • ½ royal pasta dough
  • 40 g Parmesan cheese
  • FOR THE WHITE SAUCE:
  • 100 g unsalted butter
  • 100 g plain flour
  • 1 litre semi-skimmed milk
  • 75 g Cheddar cheese
  • 75 g Fontina , or Taleggio cheese
  • FOR THE PANGRATTATO:
  • 200 g stale bread
  • 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. In a tray, rub the duck all over with oil, sea salt and black pepper, then roast for 2 hours, or until golden and crisp, draining off the fat into a jar. Leave to cool, remove all the skin and fat from the duck and place in a food processor, then strip all the meat off the bone into a bowl.

Peel and finely slice 2 cloves of garlic, then put into a large non-stick pan on a high heat with a little duck fat and the marjoram leaves. Cook until the garlic is lightly golden, then stir in the spinach and a good grating of nutmeg and cook for 15 minutes, or until the spinach has cooked right down and all the excess water has evaporated. Leave to cool while you make your ragù. Peel the onion and carrots, trim the celery, then roughly chop it all. Place all in a large pan on a medium heat with a little duck fat (keep any leftover fat in the fridge for making great roast potatoes) and crush in the remaining garlic. Fry for around 20 minutes, or until the veg are starting to caramelise, stirring regularly. Pour in the Chianti, turn up the heat and cook it away. Add the shredded duck meat and tinned tomatoes, along with 1 tin’s worth of water, the bay leaves and cloves. Give it a good stir, simmer for around 1 hour, then season to perfection. Meanwhile, make your pasta dough.

Next make your white sauce. Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat, then stir in the flour to form a paste. Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and continue to heat until you have a thick white sauce. Remove from the heat, grate and stir in the cheeses, season to taste and add a grating of nutmeg. To build your lasagne, start by rolling out the pasta dough into sheets. Cover the base of a baking dish (25cm x 30cm and 8cm deep) with a good layer of spinach, then cover with a single layer of pasta sheets. Stir a good grating of Parmesan into the ragù, then cover the pasta sheets with a layer of ragù, a thin layer of spinach, a layer of white sauce and another layer of pasta. Repeat twice more, finishing with a layer of white sauce. Top with a good grating of Parmesan, then bake at 180°C/350°F/gas 4 for 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Leave to rest for around 20 minutes before serving.

Meanwhile, add the bread and rosemary leaves to the food processor with the duck skin and fat and pulse into fine crumbs. Fry in a large non-stick frying pan until golden and crisp, then serve on the side and let everyone sprinkle over their own portion.

(Jamie Oliver, 2014)

Chinese Poached Chicken with Black Sesame Paste and Spring Onion Oil

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Try this recipe from Sara Oteri – Masterchef Contestant 2014!

Ingredients

Poached Chicken:

Black Sesame Paste:

Spring Onion Oil:

Mushrooms:

Garnish:

Method

  1. Place all poaching liquid ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and lower chicken into liquid. Simmer gently for 15 minutes then turn off heat. Cover pan and leave sit for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
  2. Place all of the ingredients for the black sesame paste into a blender and blitz to a smooth paste. Pass through a sieve, season and set aside.
  3. Place all ingredients for spring onion oil in a blender and blitz until smooth. Pass oil through a sieve with muslin, season and set aside.
  4. For the mushrooms, cook in the vinegar and oil for 45 seconds. Season and set aside.
  5. Remove chicken from the poaching liquid and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Cut on an angle in 1cm thick pieces.
  6. Spoon sesame paste onto a plate, place chicken on top and finish by drizzling spring onion oil around the plate. Garnish with mushrooms and fresh chilli.

(Sara Oteri, Masterchef 2014)

Roasted Stuffed Quail

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Here’s another delicious recipe from our customers Maggie & Rick, using Quail!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup brown ricequail-11
  • 20g butter
  • 2 French shallots, finely chopped
  • grated zest of 1 orange
  • 50g currants; or 40g pickled cherries, pips removed and flesh chopped
  • 50g almond flakes, crushed by hand; or 50g roasted chestnut, chopped
    leaves from 3 sprigs thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 quails (they cooked 3 but there is enough stuffing for 4)

Method

  1. Cook the rice in plenty of salted, boiling water for 35 minutes; it must be tender. Drain and place in a mixing bowl.quail-21
  2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small, non-stick pan and sauté the shallot for about 12 minutes, until it is quite soft. Add shallot to rice.
  3. Add fruit, nuts and thyme leaves, stir, season well and mix thoroughly.
  4. Remove the last wing segments from the quail and divide the stuffing between the four quail cavities; use less rather than pack the stuffing tightly.
  5. Place quail in a small ceramic or glass roasting dish lined with baking paper, brush upper quail surfaces with olive oil and roast in an oven pre-heated to 180C. Baste after 10 minutes and 20 minutes.
  6. Stuffed quail cook more slowly, so it should take up to 25 minutes to produce quail that are a light, golden brown.quail-31

To accompany the quail, we roasted some well-seasoned pieces of kipfler potato and parsnip with olive oil, garlic and chopped rosemary leaves; and we wilted a bunch of spinach leaves and mixed them with Dijon mustard and cooking cream.

(RMG Travels and Food, 2014)

Roast Duck with Cherry Sauce

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Ingredients

  • 2 kg duck, whole
  • 450 g fresh cherries, pitted, halved
  • sea salt
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) tawny (port)roast-duck
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tbspsugar
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) water

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced).
  2. Remove duck from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Rinse duck inside and out, pat dry. Tie legs together with kitchen string. Using a skewer, prick skin of the breast, just into the fat, but not as deep as the meat. Make about 10 holes in each side. This will allow the fat to render out during cooking and will make the skin lovely and crisp.
  3. Place the duck on a wire rack in a baking dish, rub skin with sea salt flakes. Roast, about 2 1/2 hours, or until duck is browned and tender.
  4. Meanwhile, place cherries, soy sauce, tawny, pepper, sugar, balsamic vinegar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes, until it becomes syrupy. It will thicken a little more on cooling.
  5. Serve duck accompanied with cherry sauce.

(Food To Love, 2011)

SEARED DUCK BREAST WITH CHERRIES AND PORT SAUCE

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INGREDIENTS

  • 2 duck breast fillets
  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled butter, divided
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped shallot (about 1 large)
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock353376_hires
  • 8 halved pitted sweet red cherries, fresh or frozen, thawed
  • 2 tablespoons tawny Port
  • 1 tablespoon orange blossom honey

PREPARATION

  1. Place duck breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound lightly to even thickness (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch). Discard plastic wrap. Using sharp knife, score skin in 3/4-inch diamond pattern (do not cut into flesh). DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill.
  2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Add duck, skin side down, to skillet and cook until skin is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn duck breasts over, reduce heat to medium, and cook until browned and cooked to desired doneness, about 4 minutes longer for small breasts and 8 minutes longer for large breast for medium-rare. Transfer to work surface, tent with foil to keep warm, and let rest 10 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add shallot to skillet and stir over medium heat 30 seconds. Add broth, cherries, Port, and honey. Increase heat to high and boil until sauce is reduced to glaze, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Whisk in 1 tablespoon cold butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
  4. Thinly slice duck. Fan slices out on plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.

Enjoy with a nice glass of red!

(Epicurious, 2012)