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Duck Crostini & Sparkling Blanc de Noir

Recipe Date: July 27, 2021
Serving Size: 24
Difficulty: Easy
Measurements: Imperial (US)

Duck Crostini with Goats Cheese Mousse, Balsamic Cherries & Hazelnuts

Makes 24 crostini

At first there may seem like quite a lot of steps to this recipe but the goats cheese, crostini & hazelnuts can all be made in advance of the dinner party/event and while the duck rests you can cook the cherries making this an easy dish to serve to your guests!

Ingredients

  • Duck breast x 2
  • Thyme x 1 tbsp & extra for garnish
  • Bread x 24 slices of baguette
  • Cherries x 24 (200g)
  • Goats Cheese x 200g
  • Cream x 100ml
  • Milk x 4 tbsp
  • Balsamic vinegar x 2 tbsp
  • Hazelnuts x 50g
  • Olive oil x 5 tbsp

Directions

Crostini

  1. Slice the baguette into 24 slices. Using a pastry brush rub each side of the crostini with the remaining oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt
  2. Place in a baking tray and cook in the oven @ 180c for 5 minutes, flip and cook for a further 3-5 minutes until crispy (crostini can be made well in advance).

Duck

  1. Slice duck skin at an angle with a sharp knife, being careful not to cut through to the flesh
  2. Season ducks generously with salt (no oil is necessary)
  3. Place duck skin side down into a cold pan on low heat setting. Cook undisturbed for 8 minutes.
  4. Flip the duck, cook for 2 minutes flesh side down
  5. Place the duck on a wire rack on a baking tray skin side up and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until internal temp is 52c
  6. Reserve rendered duck fat from the frying pan for some epic roast potatoes another time 😉
  7. Rest duck for 8-10 minutes before slicing each breast into 12 thin slices

Cherries

  1. Remove the seeds from the cherries using a cherry pitter (see notes if you don’t have a pitter).
  2. Slice in ½ and toss cherries in 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic & 1 tbsp chopped thyme
  3. Place on a lined baking tray and roast @ 180c for 6-8 minutes

Hazelnuts

  1. Lightly toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan for 1-2 minutes
  2. Remove and chop

Goats Cheese Mousse

  1. Mix goats cheese & milk together until smooth
  2. Whip the cream to soft peaks and stir into the goats cheese mixture

Serving

  1. Place a spoon of goats cheese mousse on the crostini, top with some cherries, a slice of duck breast and sprinkle of hazelnuts
  2. Try not to eat them all before your guests get a chance to 😉

Tips/Tricks

  • If you don’t have a cherry pitter you can chop the cherries in ½ and use a knife/spoon to pick out the stone. A pitter will save you a good amount of time but I used the other method and it took about 5 minutes to do
  • We cook the duck on a low heat to render out the fat from the skin, this gives us a delicious crispy skin and non fatty duck
  • Resting the duck is HUGELY important, if you don’t rest it for long enough the juices won’t redistribute and you will have a pool of juice everywhere and dry duck!

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