Food With A Point

I have a friend and his name is John Bastian. Last weekend he acquired the title of supreme friend. Mr. Bastian is the proud owner of the Morgan Farm and he produces some of the best organic meat you can get. When I visited his farm last year, the wild boars were roaming the woods and the fowl were peacefully snacking on grass. Particular to his husbandry is the Muscovy duck. Unlike other ducks found on the market today (Moulard and Peking), this duck has the following characteristics: its yields 50% more breast meat and is 99% lean, the skin of the duck has 50% less fat and in terms of calories and overall fat, it has less than turkey.

Mr. Bastian graciously shared a recipe with me that he encouraged then me to share with you. After trying it out , I strongly recommend you run, not waddle, to the Outremont Organic market (use my search engine to find the bit about this event) this Sunday and purchase yourself copious amounts of Muscovy duck to use over the winter, making lots of one-pot wonders like this one.

• Take a cast iron, enamelled pot with a lid (like a Creuset) and place your duck legs fat side down. Put the lid on. Place the pot in the oven at 200ºF and let the magic happen for 5 hours. If using a whole duck, cook breast-side down, at the same temperature for 9 hours. Don’t season it. Don’t add anything else to the pot. Once the time is up, remove from the oven and you’ll uncover the most amazing, fall off the bone, outrageously tasty meat you’ve never worked so little for. This is not a joke. The joke is on you though if you don’t try this recipe…

Slow cooking over long periods of time retains the nutritional qualities of the meat as well as imparting a deep, rich flavour. Once I removed the legs from the pot, I poured the rendered fat and pan juices into a bowl which I then placed in the fridge to set. The duck fat separated and congealed and the remaining juices formed a gelatine. I spooned the fat into smaller portions and froze it. Next time I roast potatoes, I’ll use the duck fat instead of olive oil and then watch my guests fall off their chairs in ecstasy. Note that duck fat is a premium fat because of its high smoking temperature and is far better for you than butter. The gelatine I plan to use as a flavouring for sautés and sauces, just like one would use a very flavourful stock.

Serve your just cooked duck with roasted potatoes wedges and shaved sautéed Brussels sprouts and shallots.

A perfect wine would the newly released Antonyme 2006, Saint-Chinian Canet-Valette, SAQ code 10783117, $16.80.  In addition to being a perfect partner to the duck, it has the added feature of being organic.

The Morgan Farm products are available at the farm as well as at certain retailers - please check the web site for more information (make sure to add to your favourites). The farm also offers a panoply of other meat, bakery and dairy products, all of them organic.

www.fermemorgan.com