Roast Duck Salad & Pinot Noir

Bottle of Nepenthe Altitude Pinot Noir next to the ingredients for roast duck salad
Serves: 2 people
Total cooking time: 40 minutes
 

Ingredients;

  • Duck breast, 2 fillets
  • Radicchio leaves
  • 1 bunch roughly chopped
  • Fresh rocket leaves, a handful
  • Mini baby beets, 8 kept whole
  • Prosciutto, 6 slices
  • Goats’ cheese, handful crumbled
  • Fresh basil, 1 bunch roughly chopped
  • Balsamic vinegar, 1 cup to make a reduction
  • Lemon, half the zest
  • Chilli flake, 1 tsp
  • Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Roast duck salad with a glass of Nepenthe Altitude Pinot Noir

Recipe;

  1. Set your oven to 200c, add the baby beets onto a roasting tin and cover with olive oil and sea salt, cook for 40mins – once roasted, there’s no need to remove the skin – the baby beets will have tender crispy skin which is delicious.
  2. Next, to create the reduction, pour the balsamic vinegar into a thick based saucepan, and heat until it starts to simmer, then lower the temperature and continue to let it heat and reduce. It will begin to form a thick syrupy glaze after around 30mins. Once this has happened, take it off the heat and let sit until you need it. (If you need to loosen up again, add in a tiny bit of water and stir over heat just before serving the salad).
  3. To cook the duck breasts, drizzle some oil in a frying pan and heat to medium. Bring the oven down to 190c.
  4. Pat the breast dry with a paper towel, score the skin with a sharp knife three times, and then season sea salt and black pepper. Now place the duck skin side down and cook for 4-5 mins, until the skin is turning golden brown. Then flip sides and cook for another minute, then pop into the oven for 7 minutes. Once you’ve removed the duck breast, leave to sit and allow the juices to settle for 5mins before slicing diagonally ready for the salad.
  5. For the crispy prosciutto, put the slices under a grill for a few minutes until sizzling. Set aside.
  6. To plate, layer your radicchio leaves, rocket leaves, and chopped basil between plates, top with your halves of mini roasted beets, slices of roast duck breast, then crumble in the goats’ cheese, then break up the crispy prosciutto and scatter all over. Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the salad, then repeat with some olive oil. Finally, grate over some lemon zest and season with cracked sea salt.

Like cooking with music? Try our Spotify playlist curated especially for this dish: https://open.spotify.com/NepentheKitchenSessions/PinotNoir

 

Why it works;

Our silky Altitude Pinot Noir works well with many dishes; however, you can’t go past a roast duck style dish; a glass of 2023 Nepenthe Elevation Pinot Noir will cut through this delicious fatty meat. The sweet ripeness of this wine lends itself to the lovely richness of the balsamic vinegar in the dressing. The prosciutto adds saltiness to the dish, filling out the mid-palate slightly to bring out more of those juicy red fruit flavours. This is a delicious salad with lots of flavours. It’s a hearty one and will be great to enjoy on a cool evening, the wine will shine beautifully whilst allowing the dish to come alive. Enjoy!