WINTER // Recipe for four
Duck eggs with stock of old winter plants and bones
This recipe reminds me of frost-bitten vegetables, dormant and forgotten in the cold earth; it’s great to bring them back to life. You can use whatever vegetables you have; you’ll need about 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) in total. I tend to stick with green and white plants such as brassicas and tuber stems, leaves and roots. You don’t want the duck egg to be too soft here: it needs to be cooked so it has an almost gel-like consistency.
WINTER PLANTS AND BONES STOCK
4 beef bones with marrow
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) duck bones
1 litre (35 fl oz) chicken stock
Cabbage hearts, roughly chopped
Old mushrooms
Kale stems, roughly chopped
Brown onions, roughly chopped
Leek tops, roughly chopped
8 g (¼ oz) xanthan gum
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F) and roast all the bones, turning once, until dark brown. Transfer to a stockpot. Cover the bones with chicken stock and cook, covered, for 12 hours over low heat. Strain the stock, return to the stockpot and add the vegetables. Cook over low heat for a further 4 hours.
Strain the stock again and refrigerate until chilled. Remove the layer of fat from the top of the stock and season with salt. Whisk in the xanthan gum to thicken the stock and then strain.
Cook the duck eggs, unshelled, in a water bath at 64.5°C (148°F) for 45 minutes. Remove from the water bath and allow to cool naturally. When ready to use, put the eggs (still in their shells) in hot water (but not over any heat) for 4 minutes. Crack each egg into a bowl and season with salt and a little toasted garlic oil.
COOKED WINTER PLANTS
4 kale leaves
8 cabbage leaves
2 teaspoons linseed (flaxseed) oil
2 turnips
Lightly sear the kale and cabbage leaves in the linseed oil until soft. Cook the turnips whole in salted water until tender. Cool and then slice thinly on a mandolin.
PLANTS TO FINISH