A Foraging Feast

The summer nights are drawing to a steady close, the temperature is beginning to cool as the trees start to shed their beautiful crisp golden leaves -  yes, Autumn is coming.

It's an enchanting time of year; the season of change, with nature putting on a magnificent display of richness and colour. A smoky aurora floats through the air as the wood burners are re-lit after a summer untouched, cosy cashmere jumpers and woolly hats are pulled out of closets and delicious smells of warm soups and stews bubbling away on the Aga fill the house.

Autumn also presents an exciting prospect that the whole family can revel in and I'm not just talking about the new series of Downton Abbey, though in addition, I am referring to foraging. Celebrity chef, Marco Pierre-White once said that 'if you aren't prepared to go out and get it, do you really have the right to eat it?' Now, even though he makes an excellent point, I am not advocating stepping out and slaying a cow or, may I quickly add, expecting you to either. However, nature does offer many delicious treats we can seek in a slightly less drastic fashion. Living in the heart of the Cotswolds, we are not short of captivating walks through woods, along rivers and around fields to forage and feast on nature's delights.

This recipe is based on  blackberries, as I believe with the contribution of the other ingredients, it delivers a real sense of Autumn. 

Pan-fried duck breast, with a wild blackberry, porcini mushroom and thyme sauce

Ingredients - serves 4

4 duck breasts (skin left on)

For the sauce:

250g wild blackberries
10 juniper berries
1 clove
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g porchini mushrooms (buy dried and then soak in warm water, saving the stock created from the juices)
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (if you can get hold of smoked garlic, this would give add depth of flavour to the dish)
Bunch of fresh thyme
1tbsp sugar
150ml red wine
100ml port
1 beef stock cube
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Method

·         Preheat oven to 180’C

·       Put the blackberries into a bowl with the sugar, juniper berries, clove and cinnamon – mix together so the blackberries absorb all the flavours.

·        In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown off the shallot and garlic.

·       Add the porcini mushrooms and thyme with some of the mushroom juice and simmer for a minute.

·       Add blackberry mixture along with the wine, stock cube, bay leaves and port, (NB: you can set the port alight to get a better flavour but CAUTION of the flames, I do not want complaints from local fire departments). Allow to simmer for a further few minutes.

·       Meanwhile, cut off excess fat from the duck  and cut slits into the skin, season with salt and pepper.

·       Place the duck - skin side down - into a hot pan (no butter/oil needed) and cook for 5 minutes before turning over for another 5. Put in the oven for further 5 minutes, few minutes longer if you don’t like it too pink.

 

Season sauce to taste.

 

Slice the duck and drizzle the sauce on top. Serve with dauphinoise potatoes and seasonal greens 

Writer's note: any blackberries you have leftover, I strongly recommend you check out my recipe below for blackberry liqueur - it will be ready in time to use as that vital winter warmer in the coming months.
 
Blackberry Liqueur

500g blackberries
1 litre of vodka
600g caster sugar
300ml water
2 cinnamon sticks

Heat the water and sugar together on a low heat until the sugar dissolves - then set to one side at room temperature.

Equally pour the vodka into two sterilised bottles and again, equally share the sugar syrup and blackberries between the two.

Place a cinnamon stick into each bottle before sealing with lids and placing in the cupboard for two weeks - a month, shaking occasionally.

Strain the liqueur through a fine muslin before bottling up and placing back in the cupboard for another month to mature.

Serving suggestions - delicious on it's own or as accompaniment to a glass of fizz, making a perfect autumnal champagne cocktail!

Other Autumn delights to forage for:

Horseradish	Fields edges
Wild plums	Hedgerows
Crab apples	Fields/hedgerows
Elderberries	Hedgerows
Wild garlic	Fields/hedgerows