Mallard in Red Wine

By corlear

Civet de Colvert

Lalou Bize-Leroy
Le Nouveau Guide Gault Millau, Connaissance des Voyges

Serve with carrot or celeriac purée or fresh egg noodles, accompanied by a 1964 Volnay or a Côte de Nuits.

Ingredients

• 2 mallard ducks, cleaned
• 1 bottle red wine
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 5 or 6 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 bouquet garni
• 5 or 6 carrots, chopped
• 3 large leeks, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 celeriac, chopped
• 4 tbsp. butter (or 1/4 cup olive oil)
• salt
• pepper

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Remove the breasts and livers from the ducks and refrigerate them. Chop the legs. wings and carcasses into small pieces, put them into a bowl and cover them with the wine and wine vinegar. Add the shallots, onions, bay leaf and the bouquet garni and let the chopped duck pieces marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, remove the duck pieces from the marinade, drain them in a colander set over a nonreactive pan and dry them with paper towels.

Pour the marinade into the pan and add the carrots, leeks, celery and celeriac. Place the pan over low heat and cook the mixture gently so that the wine keeps its taste—only the alcohol should evaporate during cooking. When the vegetables are tender, remove the bay leaf and strain the liquid into a blender. Add a spoonful of the vegetables and blend; if the liquid is too thin, blend in some more vegetables. To ensure that the sauce is perfectly smooth, strain it through a fine sieve set over a pan. Correct the seasoning.

Heat the butter or olive oil in a heavy skillet and fry the chopped duck pieces over high heat for 5 minutes on each side. Season. Remove the duck pieces and drain them thoroughly so that they do not make the sauce greasy. Put them in the sauce and cook them gently for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, season the duck breasts and liver, place them on a broiler rack and broil them under a preheated broiler until browned, but still rare—about 2 minutes on each side.

Add the breasts and livers, with their cooking juices, to the sauce and chopped duck pieces. Serve very hot.