An entirely new recipe inspired by a single spice—Piment du Béarn fumé—dispatched to me by my brother-in-law. The recipe combines duck, plums, orange, shallots, peppers and, of course, wine with various other delights, drawing on the cuisine I've experienced in this unique region of France.
If it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck...
When my brother-in-law Karel recently dispatched some Piment du Béarn fumé au boi de laurier, I was delighted. I didn't know it at all. But, apparently I wasn't remiss in my ignorance. It seems it's a fairly new "thing"; not really seriously done before the 1990s.
When I first smelled it, dabbed my finger in and tasted it, I assumed it came from the South of France, somewhere like Provence or the Camargue. Well, I was right about it coming from southern France, only not that particular South.
While thinking up this recipe for duck with plums and smoked peppers, I looked up the producer Maison Malou—and incidentally hats off to Épices Roellinger for naming their producers on their products. I discovered that it came from Poey-de-Lescar, about a twenty-minute drive from the regional capital of Pau. I'm fascinated by this region in the foothills of the mountains in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. I have extremely fond memories of eating fantastic food, with French, Spanish and Basque influences, in Pau with gorgeous views of the mountains in the mid-distance.
And, so that's what I've done with Karel's wonderful gift, a little "free-form jazz", Modern European cuisine with a very intentional nod to place. No, it's not traditional or "authentic", but it really works. I can say that because I've now tested it a number of times.
"This recipe uses "green" flavours to balance the specificity of the smoked peppers: green olives and fresh bay leaves. "
Peppering the conversation
It's always hard to to describe the unique flavours of a spice, but I would say that Piment du Béarn fumé shares quite a lot in common with its cousins Spanish pimentón and Mexican smoked chipotle. Like those two better known smoked peppers, there is a deep smokiness. And, like the less mild forms of both, there is a definite "bite".
But it also unique. It's smokiness is subtle, less "muddy" or "leathery" than with chipotle. And its spicy bite is not something that comes as almost an afterthought, as is often the case with pimentón. If it were an extrait de parfum, here one would say the spicy heat is a top note and not a heart or base note. Yes, unique. So you'll just have to acquire some. I can't think of viable substitutes...
If my quantities seem a little cautious, that's because I learned just how much of a bite it has the first time I cooked with it. Let's just say that my love of spicy Indian dishes does not negate the fire within this decidedly European smoked pepper. However, as I often say of Indian recipes, as it cooks down, it definitely mellows. That said, either you cook this dish or you don't. I couldn't possibly imagine that there are les pistes pour débutants in the foothills of the Pyrenees. So, I have no advice on how to make it work with less spiciness.
Also, you may pick up that, in many ways, this dish is kind of an ode to peppers in their various forms, using the Piment du Béarn fumé, sweet pointed peppers (Romano or Ramiro peppers), mild red chillies and even little bits of pimento in the stuffed green olives.
You may also be surprised at how creamy the sauce is despite no dairy products whatsoever. I imagine this is a result of the residual oils in the duck, but, who knows? My method blends it down, but does not involve putting it through a sieve. I'm sure one could and perhaps even I will if I cook a Saxe-Coburg und Gotha reunion supper. But, for now, I'm loving it with the little bits retained.
Similarly, while there are many great recipes out there that take the combination of plums and duck in a definite Asian direction, whether traditional Chinese or a more contemporary nod, this isn't one of them. Despite assumptions and stupid statements I've encountered online, some of the spices used—particularly in the Spanish-inspired chickpea side dish—date back to at least the Renaissance or the Roman Empire in the cooking of the region.
Let's start at the very beginning
Without getting all Julie Andrews, there are a couple of things worth noting. It's a very scalable dish. You can do it for two people—or even for just one person as I'm doing here—or you could do it with a whole duck for a larger group, a great alternative to a British Sunday roast.
You can readily scale up from these quantities for two people. But, as many of you will already know, it's not as easy to scale down for just one person: you will need to use almost as many of the ingredients and spices in amounts similar to if you were cooking for two. Hence, that old truism about it being as affordable to cook for two. I mention this because you should understand the images here as indicative and not illustrating the two-diner version. Here I'm cooking for one.
I'm also opting to use dried chickpeas for the side dish. Sure, they need to be soaked overnight, but the main reason I'm doing so is that the cooking process involves them absorbing the saffron, cinnamon and turmeric. Realistically, this won't work if you use pre-cooked tinned chickpeas.
Sure, it keeps well in the fridge for at least two or three days, but it doesn't freeze well. But, on this occasion, I'm cooking for one—long story, don't ask... Therefore, follow the quantities in the recipe not what you might see in the images.
The method I'm using here is one that I love; pot roasting and then finishing in the oven. But, the first time I cooked it, I didn't bother with the final part of finishing it in the oven, simply served it straight from the pot with the sauce. In many ways, this was probably more "authentic", reminiscent of cassoulet-like duck dishes I ate in Pau and other places in the Pyrenees years ago. It's entirely up to you.
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This recipe is for two diners and is easily scaled up. But, as I've already said, if cooking for one, you'll need about ¾ of all ingredients—except for the duck itself—for the main dish.
Shopping list
for the duck with plums and smoked peppers
3 tspns Piment du Béarn fumé
1 duck leg, skin-on per diner
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
10 shallots; top-'n-tailed and peeled
1 tspn whole black peppercorns
½ a tspn ginger & garlic paste
1 sweet pointed red pepper, sliced into "rings"
2 large mild red chilli peppers, finely sliced
1 or 2 sticks of fresh celery, finely sliced
6 fresh ripe plums, halved and pitted
1 ripe orange, washed
3 or 4 fresh bay leaves
350ml white wine
7 or 8 large closed cup mushrooms, cut into thirds
12 to 14 pitted green olives, ideally the kind stuffed with pimento
1 vegetable stock cube diluted in 250ml boiling water or fresh stock
2 tspns of virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
for the side dishes
Enough baby potatoes per diner; skin-on, scrubbed
1 cup of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
Approx. 120g sugar snap peas (or mange tout); washed, trimmed
A few stamens of saffron
5 or 6 pickled cornichons (or gherkins); chopped
½ a stick of cinnamon
½ a tspn turmeric
a dab of extra virgin olive oil
black pepper and salt to taste
Cooking method
for the duck with plums and smoked peppers
Season the duck legs with rock salt; on both sides. Chop half of the shallots, garlic and black peppercorns in a mini chopper or food processor, adding the garlic & ginger past for lubrication. Place to one side
Heat the olive oil in a large pot with a lid on a medium heat. Add the mix from the mini-chopper to it as it heats. Roughly slice the remainder of the garlic
Sizzle the mix for a minute or so. Push to the edges of the pot and add the duck legs. Sprinkle with approx. 1tspn Piment du Béarn fumé. Seal the duck legs. When it cooks to dry, add white wine, a dash at a time, allowing it to cook off
When the duck legs are initially sealed on both sides, add the remainder of the (roughly sliced) garlic and chopped red chillies to the pot. Stir, adding drachms of white wine that should cook off fairly quickly. Add a little more Piment du Béarn fumé
Increase the heat slightly and add the sliced pointed sweet pepper, the remaining whole shallots and the zest of the orange. Continue to add the wine, a little at a time, and cook off as you continue to turn the duck legs every few minutes
The next stages follow in fairly rapid succession, always adding a little more wine at each stage. First, add the celery and cook in for a few minutes. Then add the mushrooms
When the mushrooms start to soften, add the green bay leaves, before adding the green olives, plums and orange segments. Then add half of the remaining wine and allow to cook in for a few minutes
Lower in the plums to the edges of the pot. Gently pour in the the stock and the remaining white wine, sprinkling in the remaining piment du Béarn fumé. Increase the heat and cover. Simmer vigorously for 5mins, then reduce to a very low heat
Gently simmer for 30 to 40mins, gently stirring ever 10mins or so, being careful to not break up the plums. By this time, the duck is likely to begin flaking
Remove the duck legs from the pot using a large sieve spoon and place them in an oven-proof dish. Ladle 50% of the whole ingredients into the dish—plums, shallots, sweet pointed red peppers, olives, etc.— using a sieve spoon. Place to one side
Continue to reduce what remains in the pot in order to create the sauce
Timing it so that it cooks perfectly while your side dishes are cooking, baste—or spritz—your duck legs and the whole veggies with a little virgin olive oil and finish in and oven on a medium-high heat (e.g. 225°C)
When your side dishes are cooked and the sauce is done, plate and serve
for the side dishes
the chickpeas and sugar snap peas
The potatoes are the simplest to cook. Essentially they are baked potatoes. Baste or spritz with a little olive oil and cook in a dry oven-proof dish in a preheated hot oven (e.g. 225 to 250°C), turning occasionally. They will take about 40mins to cook. Time it accordingly
The chickpea dish will take about an hour to cook. So, time it accordingly, either starting while you are cooking the duck or timed for its second roasting stage. Place the drained chickpeas into a pot with a lid. Add roughly twice the volume of water to chickpeas. Salt and bring to the boil, adding the saffron stamens, one or two of the whole garlic cloves cooked with the duck and a cinnamon stick once the water is hot. Reduce to a vigorous simmer. Cover, stirring every 15mins or so
After the chickpeas have cooked for approx. 50mins, remove the cinnamon stick from the pot, stir in the turmeric and add the sugar snap peas. Simmer vigorously for approx. 7 to 8mins. Decant into a serving bowl using a sieve spoon and garnish with the chopped cornichons
for the smoky Piment du Béarn fumé sauce
Once the contents of the pot have reduced, blend them into a fairly smooth sauce using a handheld blender or by decanting to a liquidiser. You can choose to push it through a sieve if you wish, but I actually like those little "bits" in there
Decant the sauce to a small saucepan and reduce still further on a low heat until decanting to a sauce dish and taking to table when all the other elements of the meal are ready. Bon appétit!
Alternatives
I readily confess that this is one of those dishes for which I do not currently have an easy or viable vegetarian or vegan version. I'm currently exploring a few options, one with portobello mushrooms, another with butternut squash. And, of course, there is Quorn, with which this should theoretically work very well. But, this is a brand new recipe and I never make theoretical statements about recipes without testing them first. I'm not quite through with the research on this one yet. Watch this space.
That said, this is an unexpectedly creamy sauce for a recipe entirely without dairy, which might be good for those who are lactose-intolerant.
Similarly, for the pescatarians, while I haven't tried it yet, I just know this is a wonderful basis for a shell-on lobster, crayfish or langoustine dish. After all, it reminds me of gumbo.
Pairings
My gut instinct is that this is another of those "colour agnostic"dishes where wine is concerned. The depth of the piment du Béarn fumé, makes me know it could stand up to a red, possibly even an heavy, oaky tempranillo. But, like I said, this is a spanking new recipe so I haven't had much time to experiment.
The first time I cooked it, I had it with a South African chenin blanc—a workaday Proper Etiquette Chenin Blanc 2021, a wine that can hold its own against the spicy flavours.
But, today, I tried it with a Fleurs de Prairie Côtes de Provence 2022 pale rosé that just seemed so much more in keeping with the spirit of this dish; crisp with the promise of spring.
Like I said, early days yet with this recipe, so it's an evolving story.
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