Chef James Gaag’s duck and langoustine broth was just the lush spoil lockdown called for. Here’s the recipe:

Chef James Gaag’s duck and langoustine broth. Image shot by Shavan Rahim

Ingredients

Duck glaze:

• 100ml sesame oil
• 3 chopped red chilles, deseeded
• 4 crushed lemongrass roots, finely chopped
• 30g chopped ginger, peeled, finely chopped
• 20g cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 star anise
• 30ml five spice
• 30ml Korean red pepper flakes
• 1000ml tomato ketchup
• 200ml soy
• 75ml lemon juice
• 30ml sambal olek
• 120ml honey
• 2 Duck breast, scored finely

Langoustine:

• 4 each langoustines or prawns, cleaned and de veined
• 50ml clarified butter
• 2g Salt

Broth:

• 20ml oil
• 7 sticks lemongrass, bruised
• 12g ginger
• 2 cobs corn
• 100g miso
• 5g chipotle peppers
• 1000ml chicken/duck stock
• 210g mirin
• 130g ponzu
• 110g light soy

Garnish:

• 2 onions, sliced and sweated until soft and sweet.
• 250ml cooked pearl cous cous
• 20g julienned pickled ginger
• 10g julienned coriander
• 1 punnet wild mushrooms, cooked off in butter

Method

To make the duck glaze:

Heat the sesame oil to medium hot. Sauté off the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chilies and star anise until soft and fragrant. Add the 5 spice and Korean red pepper and cook out for 2 min.

Add the ketchup, soy sauce, lemon juice, sambal and honey and cook over a low heat until thickened and rich.

Pass and allow to cool, with the surface covered with cling film.

Rub the marinade on the meat of the duck for 30 min. Do not rub on the skin or it will burn.

Render the duck fat down slowly until golden and crisp in a nonstick pan. Pour off excess and reserve. Its always good to have duck fat in your fridge.

To make the langoustine:

Place the langoustines on a tray and brush with clarified butter and season.

Grill for 4 min or until just cooked but still slightly opaque.

Slice in half lengthways

To make the broth:

Sweat off the lemongrass in the oil with the ginger and corn, cut off the cob.

Add the miso and cook out for a few minutes. Add the chipotles and stock and simmer to infuse.

Add the mirin, ponzu and light soy.

To assemble:

Mix the sliced sweet onion julienne with the pickled ginger, coriander and cous cous and create a small bed at the bottom of a bowl.

Slice the duck very thinly and lay up on the cous cous mixture. Lay over a piece of langoustine and then another slice of duck.

Garnish with the wild mushrooms, herbs and flowers.