Lilly Higgins: How to make duck dance to the beet

Duck is something I rarely buy but it’s always so delicious and everyone loves it. French cooking traditionally pairs duck with turnip by roasting a whole duck over little turnips with white wine and thyme. I’ve brought them together here, too, but in a different way.

Turnip chips are a lovely alternative to regular potato chips and are made crisp and full of flavour thanks to the duck fat. The zingy and delicious element that brings everything together here is the amazing beetroot ketchup. I love beetroots and now is the season to buy them. The smaller the beet the sweeter the flavour, so use a handful of little ones for this recipe if you can.

I don’t have any sugar in this ketchup recipe as the apple makes it sweet enough. I like ketchup to have a little kick; between the apple cider vinegar and ginger it has just that.

A gorgeous unidentifiable spiciness comes from the clove in the Chinese Five Spice, I’ve added just a little and it’s perfect with the duck. This ketchup is amazing with lamb burgers, especially if you add a little chopped coriander to the ketchup. Its earthy sweetness pairs well with goat’s cheese and it’s fantastic for adding to other dishes such as Bolognese, lasagne or shepherd’s pie for some punchy, piquant flavour.

I’ve used Chioggia and golden beets to make mine but the regular purple beets give a more striking dramatic effect and are more traditional.

DUCK BREAST WITH TURNIP AND GOLDEN BEETROOT KETCHUP: SERVES 4

Ingredients

500g beetroot, scrubbed and cubed

1 tart eating apple, peeled, cored and cubed

½ small red onion

1 inch or 25g of fresh ginger, finely chopped

½tsp Chinese Five Spice

150ml apple cider vinegar

4 duck breasts

1 turnip, peeled and cut into chunky chips

Sea salt

Method

To make the ketchup place the cubed beetroot in a small pan and barely cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer till just cooked, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil and sauté the onion and ginger till soft, return the beetroot to the pan with the apple, vinegar and Chinese Five Spice. Place the lid on and simmer for about 15 minutes till the apples have disintegrated and the beetroot is fully cooked. Leave to cool slightly before blitzing till completely smooth. Place in a bowl or jar to serve. This can be done the day before and kept in the fridge. It will keep for at least two weeks in a sealed container.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Drizzle very little olive oil over the turnip chips on a large baking tray. You’ll be adding duck fat soon so use the bare minimum oil. Place in the oven to roast for 25 minutes.

Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper. Place a nonstick frying pan over a high heat. Once hot, place the duck breasts fat side down and leave the fat render out and the duck gain some colour and crisp up for about 6-7 minutes. Set the duck breasts aside and pour the resulting fat over the turnip chips and turn to coat. Make a little space on the tray and place the duck breasts on. Finish roasting for a further 5-7 minutes till turnip chips are golden at the edges and duck is cooked through but still a little pink, Leave to rest for five minutes.

To serve, slice the duck and arrange on each plate with the chips and a dollop of beetroot ketchup.