My food philo­sophy is to keep it simple, and always to use the freshest ingredi­ents available.

Though I grew up in France and have spent most of my work­ing life in French kit­chens, includ­ing a spell in a Mich­elin-starred res­taur­ant under chef Paul Pauvert, I enjoy work­ing with fla­vours and ingredi­ents from all around the world and incor­por­at­ing them into my clas­sic French menu.

Confit duck leg with red cabbage compote and fondant potato

Ingredients

Con­fit duck leg

• 6 medi­um duck legs
• Salt
• Black pep­per
• 1kg duck fat

Black­cur­rant and port jus

• 50g shal­lots
• 100ml port
• 500ml good-qual­ity beef stock
• 100g black­cur­rants (fresh or frozen)
• 50g salted butter

Fond­ant potato

• 6 medi­um white pota­toes (e.g. Agria)
• 250g salted butter
• 350ml chick­en stock
• 5g salt
• Pinch pep­per

Com­pote

• ⅓ large red cab­bage, shredded
• 50g salted but­ter (for the cabbage)
• 250g red onion, thinly sliced
• 15g brown sug­ar (for the cabbage)
• 250ml red wine
• 8g salt
• Pinch of ground white pepper
• 20g salted but­ter (for the apples)
• 400g apples, diced into small cubes
• 10g brown sug­ar (for the apples)
• Pinch of ground cinnamon

Method

1. First cook the duck legs. Gen­er­ously sea­son the skin of the legs with salt and pep­per and leave covered in the fridge for 24 hours (if this isn’t pos­sible, an hour or two will suffice).
2. When you are ready to cook, pre­heat the oven to 150˚C.
3. Place the duck legs in an oven­proof dish and fill with the duck fat until the legs are approx­im­ately ¾ covered but the skin remains uncovered.
4. Cook in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
5. To make the black­cur­rant and port jus, add the shal­lots and port to a pan and cook over a medi­um heat until the port has reduced by half.
6. Mean­while, pour the beef stock into anoth­er pan and cook until reduced to a sticky glaze.
7. Add the shal­lot and port mix­ture to the glaze, fol­lowed by the black­cur­rants, and heat through. You can leave the jus to cool at this point and then reheat it when needed.
8. Once the jus is ready and hot, add the but­ter and whisk until smooth and glossy.
9. Next make the fond­ant pota­toes. Pre­heat the oven to 180˚C.
10. Peel the pota­toes and cut off one end so they will stand up in a pan.
11. Melt the but­ter in a heavy-based oven­proof pan, add the pota­toes and fry gently to give them some colour.
12. Once col­oured, stand the pota­toes up on their flat end, add the stock, salt and pep­per, trans­fer to the oven and cook for 40 minutes.
13. To make the com­pote, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Blanch the cab­bage in the water until al dente, then drain.
14. Mean­while, melt 50g but­ter in a heavy-based pan and add the red onion, 15g of brown sug­ar, the red wine, salt and pep­per, and cook until the onion is soft. Add the blanched, drained cab­bage and cook over a medium/low heat, stir­ring reg­u­larly until all the liquid has been absorbed.
15. In a sep­ar­ate pan, melt the rest of the but­ter and gently fry the diced apple with 10g of brown sug­ar and the cin­na­mon until the apple is soft but still has a little bite. Add to the cab­bage and remove from the heat. Serve straight away or reheat when needed.
16. To serve, Place equal amounts of com­pote on each plate, rest the duck leg on the com­pote, place potato fond­ant along­side, and fin­ish with a drizzle of black­cur­rant compote.

Serves 6

About Sebastien Cogné

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