Duck Breast Tartare with Seaweed Recipe

An atypical union of surf and turf on your plate... The kelp – also called laminaria or “sea lettuce” – used in this recipe is farmed and harvested in France. Seaweed grows along the French coast, more specifically in Brittany, where it is collected under strict regulations from May to October.

• 300g duck breast from southwestern France
  
• 1 shallot
  
• 10 chive stalks
• 5 medium gherkins
  
• 1/2 red onion
• 20g pine nuts
  
• 40g kelp tartare
  
• 1 tsp mustard
  
• 2 tsp ketchup
  
• 1 pinch Espelette pepper
  
• 4cl olive oil
• 3cl balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 egg yolk
  

- Trim the duck breast (remove the silver skin, fat) and slice into small cubes or thin strips. Place in a mixing bowl.
- Mince the shallot and snip the chives. Add to the bowl.
- Brunoise (julienne and then dice) the gherkins and red onion. Add to the bowl.
- Add the pine nuts (set a few aside) and half of the seaweed tartare.
- Whisk together the mustard, ketchup, Espelette pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and egg yolk.
- Combine the two mixtures and adjust the seasoning as needed.

- Arrange the tartares on each plate using a pastry cutter.
- Scatter a few pine nuts on top.
- Make some nice quenelles (3-sided ovals) with the rest of the seaweed tartare and place them atop each mound.

Don’t discard that duck fat! Instead, turn it into crisps or crackling.

For this dish, our wine experts suggest a well-structured white wine, complex with a brilliant liveliness that will highlight the flavour of duck, to which the seaweed brings a touch of iodine. Like a good bottle of La Clape Cuvée du Planteur 2015, PDO, Domaine Sarrat de Goundy. Aged in oak barrels with Bourboulenc, Roussane, Grenache Blanc and Macabeo grape varieties, this wine has a beautiful golden colour with glints of green, an expressive bouquet of pear and star anise, a round mouthfeel and a long finish with aromas of butter, honey and nuts. A white Tursan or white Languedoc would also pair beautifully.

As a second and perhaps bolder choice, opt for a white that plays up the iodine of the seaweed. A good selection is a mineral white wine with subtle hints of fruit (grapefruit, pineapple, apple) like Les Baronnes 2015 from the Domaine Henri Bourgeois, sauvignon blanc, AOP Sancerre. Seaweed, particularly kelp, has a salty tang that wonderfully complements Sancerre’s herbal and earthy notes, which is tempered by the buttery smoothness of raw duck, the roundness of pine nuts and the sweetness of ketchup. An excellent pairing that balances a rich, flavourful dish with a gourmet, thirst-quenching wine.

Chef Willy Camboulin – Barricot