Ingredients

• 4 mallard breast
• 50 ml olive oil

Marinade

• 50ml whisky
• 2 tbsp walnut oil
• zest of 1 orange
• juice of 1/3 orange
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 2 bruised garlic cloves
• 4 crushed juniper berries

To smoke

• 2 tbsp jasmine rice
• 2 tbsp green tea leaves
• 1 piece cassia bark
• 1 star anise

Serving suggestion

• Poached Pear
• 200ml pear poaching stock, boiled down to a sticky syrup (around 50ml)
• Mixed small leaves i.e. watercress and rocket leaves
• 80g toasted walnuts roughly chopped

Method

Cook, to serve etc.

1. Marinade: Mix together all the marinade ingredients in a bowl largest enough to hold the mallard. Place the mallard in the bowl and coat in marinade.Cover and refrigerate for 2-12 hours, turning halfway through marinating.
2. To Cook: Remove the breasts from the marinade season with a little salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a moderate high heat. When hot add the mallard skin side down. cook for a couple of minutes so that the skin begins to colour, turn over and cook for a 2 minutes until lightly browned.
3. To Smoke: Place the rice, green tea, aniseed and cassia bark in a smoker, cover and place over a moderate heat. When it begins to smoke place the mallard breasts on the rack in the smoker and cover. Cook over a moderate low heat for 10 minutes turning halfway through. Remove the mallard from the smoker. Rest for 5 minutes before serving. Also delicious served cold.
4. Serving Suggestion: Slice mallard breast at an angle, with spiced poach pears, salad leaves, scatter over toasted walnuts and drizzle over reduced pear syrup.