With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, wild game specialist Wild and Game has created a recipe box containing seven romantic recipes for two, and all the game you need to cook them.
Wild and Game was founded in 2017 with a mission to champion game consumption in the UK. Wild game is in plentiful supply here, has great sustainability credentials and is leaner, higher in protein and higher in key nutrients than farmed meats.
By substituting meats such as pheasant, venison and wild boar for chicken, beef or pork, consumers can reduce their carbon footprint, eat more healthily and enjoy meats that have far more interest and depth of flavour than regular farmed meat.
Wild and Game’s monthly recipe boxes are converting more people to cooking with game by using it in a broad range of international and modern recipes, rather than solely focussing on the traditional recipes it’s most commonly known for. The recipe boxes are designed to help people gain confidence when cooking with game and discover its versatility as a year-round ingredient.
February’s recipe box includes recipes for French-style pan-fried mallard with Puy lentils and a balsamic sauce; Chinese mapo tofu; Mexican carne guisada and much more.
The box costs £49.99 and is available here.
See also: Rhubarb Mocktail for Valentine’s Day
Pan Fried Mallard with Lentils and Balsamic Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Wild and Game mallard breasts
- A knob of butter
For the sauce
- 150ml chicken stock
- 2 tbsp smooth cranberry sauce
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
For the lentils
- 200g dried Puy lentils
- 600ml water
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 medium carrot, finely diced
- 1 stick of celery, finely diced
- 2 rashers of bacon, chopped into small pieces
- 2 tsp powdered vegetable bouillon or salt to taste
- A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
- Olive oil
Method
- Heat some olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion, carrot and celery until soft.
- Add the bacon and cook for a further couple of minutes until cooked through. Towards the end of this time add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the lentils and water, bring to a simmer and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, then stir in the bouillon powder or salt to taste.
- Cook for a further 15 minutes until the lentils are cooked but retain some bite.
- Score the skin of the mallard in a crisscross pattern but don’t cut the flesh.
- Place the mallard in a cold, dry pan and cook on a medium heat until the fat starts to bubble out of the skin. Continue cooking for about 3 minutes until browned.
- Turn the breasts and add a knob of butter to the pan. Cook for a further 3 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Mallard should be served pink and is cooked when springy to the touch and (if you have a meat thermometer) it has reached 52C internally.
- Remove the mallard and keep warm. Add the sauce ingredients to the pan and stir until you have smooth sauce. Season to taste.
- Stir parsley into the lentils and heat through if they’ve cooled too much while cooking the duck.
- Serve the duck with the Puy lentils and the sauce.
The Wild and Game website is at www.wildandgame.co.uk
See also: New Year, New Diet? Why You Shouldn’t Embrace Food Fads
