Spring is in the air: cockles, Barbarie duck and Scotch pancakes

STARTER

Cockles with focaccia

Wine tip: Fresh white Côtes de Gascogne from Southwest of France

MAIN COURSE

Barberie duck with lentils

Wine tip: Solid Bandol rosé from the Provence

DESSERT

Scotch pancake with apple compote and maple syrup

Wine tip: Cheerful glass of sweet cider

Barberie duck (one day in advance)

Preserve the duck legs one day in advance. To do this, melt the goose fat in a saucepan over a low heat. Add the duck legs and leave them to cook slowly for 6 hours. Make sure the fat doesn’t boil.

When done, remove the duck legs from the fat and leave them to cool. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

Tip: you can also prepare duck legs confit using the Big Green Egg in the Cast Iron Dutch Oven. Using the convEGGtor, place the Stainless Steel Grid in the EGG and place the Cast Iron Dutch Oven on the grid. Keep the temperature at a maximum of 90°C. As the legs are lying in fat, this method will not, however, add extra flavour. Make sure the fat doesn’t drip onto the glowing embers.

Place the lentils in a container and add enough cold water to cover them fully. Leave to soak for 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Kockels (on the day)

First bake the focaccia. As the cockles’ preparation time is very short, the bread will still be nice and warm when the cockles are done.

Ignite the Big Green Egg and pre-heat, with the convEGGtor and Cast Iron Grid, to 200°C. Meanwhile, prepare the dough for the focaccia. Place the flour in a bowl (or a food processor). Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water and add in the flour. Knead thoroughly. Peel and crush the garlic. Remove the thyme leaves and rosemary needles from the sprigs and chop finely, together with the fresh basil leaves. Knead the garlic, half of the fresh herbs and the salt into the dough until it has a nice elastic consistency. Place the dough in a mixing bowl, cover with cling film or a clean dishcloth and leave to rise for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, place the cockles in a container with cold water and salt for approximately 15 minutes to wash the sand out. Peel the carrots, celeriac and celery stalks and cut them into small cubes. Wash the vegetables. Peel the shallots and garlic, remove the stem and seeds of the chilli pepper and chop finely. Rinse the cockles under cold streaming water. Store the vegetables and cockles in the fridge until needed.

Grease the Round Drip Pan. Knead the focaccia dough again, form a nice, flat round shape and place it in the Drip Pan. Sprinkle generously with olive oil, cover with cling film and leave to rise for approximately 10 minutes. In the meantime, halve the cherry tomatoes and the olives and cut the anchovy fillets into small pieces.

Remove the film from the dough and push the air out of it by pushing it down with your fingertips. Spread the cherry tomatoes (skin side down) over the dough and sprinkle the olives, anchovy and remaining fresh herbs over it. Again sprinkle some olive oil on top, cover with cling film and leave to rise for approximately 10 minutes.

Place the Round Drip Pan on the grid of the EGG, close the lid and bake the focaccia for about 40 minutes until golden brown and done.

Remove the Drip Pan from the EGG, carefully lift out the focaccia and let it cool on a grid. Extinguish the EGG by closing the flow draft door and the dual function metal top, or use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to prepare the EGG as indicated for preparation of the cockles and heat to a temperature of 200°C.

Barberie duck (on the day)

Peel the Jerusalem artichokes and cut into large chunks. Cook them in lightly salted water until tender for about 7 minutes. Strain, rinse with cold water and allow to drain.

Peel the carrots and cut them into 1-cm thick slices. Clean the spring onions and cut into pieces of about 3cm. Peel and finely cut the onions. Peel and crush the garlic. Cut the chorizo into cubes. Pick the leaves off the parsley. Store separately from each other in the fridge.

Scotch pancakes

This traditional dish is fried in small cast iron frying pans but it can also be prepared on the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle.

Soak the raisins in lukewarm water. Place the self rising flour in a mixing bowl, add the cane sugar, cinnamon and salt and use a whisk to mix the dry ingredients. While stirring, add the milk and egg to form a smooth batter. Strain the raisins and place them on a cloth to dry. Peel and grate an apple. Stir the grated apple through the batter, together with the raisins. Cover the batter and store in the fridge until needed.

To prepare the apple compote, peel the remaining apples, remove the cores and cut into 2x2cm cubes. Pour the ginger syrup into a saucepan, add 100ml water and bring almost to the boil over a low heat. Add the apple and leave to cook gently for approximately 8 minutes. Make sure it does not boil. Take the pan off the heat. Leave to cool, then cover, and store in the fridge.

Kockels

If you extinguished the Big Green Egg, reignite it. Heat up the EGG, with the Cast Iron, to 200°C.

Place the Stir-Fry & Paella Grill Pan on the grid of the EGG and heat a dash of olive oil in it. Add in the finely cut and chopped vegetables and fry for a couple of minutes. Stir in the curry powder and use the white wine to deglaze. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and close the lid of the EGG. Let the cockles cook for 4 minutes until they are open. Meanwhile, finely chop the coriander.

Sprinkle the cockles with coriander and serve with the focaccia.

Barberie duck

Bring the temperature of the EGG back up to 180º C. Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper. Place it on the grid and grill until golden brown on all sides. Make sure you replace the lid. Remove the duck from the EGG and leave to rest.

Drain the lentils in a colander. Place the Cast Iron Dutch Oven on the grid of the EGG and heat a dash of oil in it. Add the carrots, onion, garlic and chorizo and sauté the mixture. Mix the lentils into the mixture with a spatula, then add the stock and close the lid of the EGG. Cook the lentils for 8 minutes until done. Add the Jerusalem artichokes, spring onion and parsley 3 minutes before the end of preparation time.

Take the Cast Iron Dutch Oven from the EGG and place the lid on the pan. The lentils will continue to cook and stay warm while the duck is heated up. Reduce the EGG temperature to 150°C and place the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle on the grid, with the smooth side facing up. Now place the duck back on the grid and the duck legs on the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle and close the lid. The legs are ready when they are hot and the skin is crispy. The duck is done when the breast has a core temperature of 53°C. Measure the temperature by sticking the Instant Read Digital Thermometer into the core of the breast.

Use a skimmer to scoop the lentils (with juices) out of the Cast Iron Dutch Oven and into a bowl. Remove the legs and the duck from the EGG. Cut the duck fillets from the bone and cut into nice slices. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Then spread them over the lentils and place the bowl on the table.

Scotch pancakes

Take the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle out of the Cast Iron Grid. Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to lift the Cast Iron Grid out of the EGG, remove the convEGGtor and replace the Cast Iron Grid. Heat the EGG to 170ºC.

Place 4 small cast iron frying pans on the grid of the EGG (or place the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle, the smooth side facing up, on the grid to bake the pancakes). Heat a dash of sunflower oil in them and use a tablespoon to drop three little blobs of batter into each pan. Close the lid of the EGG and fry for about 2 minutes until the undersides are golden brown. Turn the pancakes over and fry the other side until golden brown. Meanwhile, heat up the apple compote.

Take the pans from the EGG and scoop some apple compote into each frying pan. Garnish with mint, dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with maple syrup. Enjoy!