A Post From Paul - just while we're on the topic...

 Canard Avec l'inspiration de la France (a la Paul)

Now I’m not one to skite and of course I realise you may have limited resources on which to draw but I thought I would share a recipe I kind of made up. (Well, the fig bit, anyway.)

Ingredients

1 extraordinary Provencal Marché

1 very Gallic gentleman with an even more Gallic moustache who runs an unbelievably Gallic wild duck stall in the aforementioned market.

One large breast of his produce

Unfiltered Olive Oil of Nyons bought from the above Marché

 Lashings of an extraordinary red wine from your own village

 The juice of an orange from Spain (Dois-je vous entendre dire "traitre"?)

 Some finely-grated zest from the above

 A good dollop of that rustic fig conserve made last week by woman in your marche, who, when you greet her with an enthusiastic « Bonjour.Madame » responds with a smile that can light up the world.

 Fabulous salt (from the Carmargue, of course)

 Mixed poivre

 A good baslamic vinegar from Italy (Did I hear Bruce say «Sacre blue ! »)

 Local beurre moule extra- fin (demi sel, of course)

Instructions

Wander  into your quintessentailly Provençal kitchen and turn up enough heaters to make cooking fun; uncork your fabulous local wine by your landlord’s father  - whose father of course took over the vineyard from his father's father (6 euros). And now spill an appropriate amount of your unfilterred olive oil into the pan at a moderate heat.

When the oil is hot place your well-seasoned breast skin-side-down into your pan and leave to sumptuously brown for about 8 minutes – (or 1/2 of a glass of your vin rouge in the old scale). The skin should now be a golden brown and crisp.

Now turn your duck breast and, after piercing the skin generously to allow fat to expel, cook for a further 1/3rd of a glass (or five minutes if you must).

Retire it to a warm oven.

Skim off the fat from the juices in the pan. Add to it two tablespoons of your rustic smiling fig conserve, juice and zest from half of your orange, a smallish glug of baslamic (tablespoon ?) and a larger glug of your local tipple.

Reduce until syrupy. Add your local butter. Reduce a little bit, being careful not to burn the butter.

Bring the canard ouvre le oven and thinly slice it. It should still have quite a bit of colour.

Now generously drizzle the reduced sauce and go into a room all by yourself and indulge…….

That's it….I’m finished…..I don’t care if i ever cook again….. J

There would have been a photo but we ate it.