Creamy Truffle Mushroom Tagliatelle with Pan Seared Duck Breast

Serves 2

Takes 40 minutes

A properly decadent sharing dish, showcasing how our beautiful Botterills’ duck breasts really can go far – just one breast is more than big enough to feed 2. The addition of fresh truffle is optional but if you are going all out for a date night to remember, we highly recommend – the earthy flavours compliment the mushrooms and a brandy-ladened cream sauce perfectly. A treat to impress your loved ones, be sure to pair with a rich, buttery chardonnay for a rather memorable meal.

1. Preheat your oven to 180C fan.
2. Set a skillet on a very low heat, place the duck breast skin side down and allow the fat the render into the pan, slowly increasing the heat up to medium/high as it begins to cook. (You may need to drain some of the fat from the pan once at optimum heat). Keep the excess fat for lovely roast potatoes!
3. Once the skin is crispy and golden, season the meat with a pinch of salt then flip and add in 1 knob of butter. Baste for 3 minutes then transfer to the oven for 5 minutes. This is for duck breast that is lovely and blushing, if you want it cooked more, leave in for a further 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover well with foil and let rest whilst you cook the rest of the dish.
4. Set a pan on a medium heat and add in the remaining knob of butter, melt down and add in the onions, sweat until soft and jammy, add in the garlic and cook until smelling fragrant.
5. Tip in the sliced mushrooms and cook until beginning to soften. Turn the heat up to high and pour in the brandy, cook off the alcohol for 6 minutes then reduce the heat back to medium.
6. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, allow to reduce for 7 minutes until the liquid thickens and starts to coat the back of a spoon.
7. Pour in the cream and grate in the parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste at this stage, stirring well to combine.
8. Set a pot of salted water onto boil and cook the tagliatelle until al dente, retain a mugful of the pasta water and drain the rest.
9. Grate as much or as little as you like of the truffle into the mushroom sauce – this is a decadent dish so we wouldn’t be shy!
10. Add the pasta to the creamy sauce and toss well to combine.
11. Uncover the duck breast and carve into thick slices.
12. Serve the truffle pasta in a large sharing bowl and fan the sliced duck breast around it. Finish with a scattering of chives, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt over the duck then another grating of truffle for a final flourish. Enjoy!

• 1 Botterills’ Duck Breast, skin lightly scored
• 300g tagliatelle (we used fresh but dried is also fine)
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 knobs of butter
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 500g chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced
• 175ml brandy
• 300ml chicken or veg stock
• 200ml double cream
• 100g parmesan, grated
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh truffle, for grating
• Handful of chives, finely chopped for garnish
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling