Duck breast stuffed with ceps (boletus mushrooms) / Magret de canard farci aux cèpes

For 2 people / pour 2 personnes

1 duck breast / magret de canard

20 gm dried ceps / cèpes sechés

50 gm white cultivated mushrooms / champignons de Paris

25 gm pancetta (or cured ham / ou jambon)

1/2 sweet onion, chopped / oignon doux, haché

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs / grande cuillerée chapelure

salt, pepper / sel, poivre

Soak the dried ceps in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain, chop in small pieces and sauté for a few minutes in a little olive oil. / Faire tremper les cèpes à l'eau chaude pour 20 minutes. Egouter-les et couper en petits morceaux. Sauter les morceaux pour quelques minutes dans un peu d'huile d'olive.

Chop the cultivated mushrooms, onion and pancetta finely in a food processor. / Émincer les champignons de Paris, la pancetta et l'oignon doux dans un mixeur.

Add the breadcrumbs, the pieces of cep, salt and pepper and mix together, keeping the cep pieces whole. Ajouter la chapelure, les morceaux de cèpe, le sel et le poivre, et mélanger en gardant les morceaux de cèpe entièrs.

Slice the duck breast almost completely across the middle and put the stuffing between the two layers. Use cocktail sticks to hold the two sides together if necessary. / Couper le magret au centre, en presque séparant les deux moitiés et mettre la farce entre les deux moitiés. On peut utiliser des bâtonnets d'apéritif pour maintenir les deux moitiés ensemble.

Cook in the oven at 180 degrees C for about half an hour. / Faire cuire au four à 180 dégrées C pour une demie heure.

Slice and serve with a sauce made from red wine reduced with some of the liquid left from soaking the ceps. / Couper en tranches et servir accompagné d’une réduction de vin rouge et un peu de l’eau qui reste après tremper les cèpes.

This is my interpretation of a dish we had when we ate with our Occitan group at Le Sanglier in Cabrières. We had duck legs stuffed with ceps there and they were so delicious I had to try to re-create the dish at home. The stuffing was a bit meatier than the one I’ve made here and it may have had a sausage meat base rather than the cultivated mushrooms. Both are good.

If there are any leftovers the slices of duck breast can be eaten cold as a salad on a bed of lettuce or other salad leaves.