Mixed grill with turnips and quince

Serves 4

Mixed grill with turnips and quince (Jason Lowe)

Serving the various cuts of duck in different ways certainly does make a whole duck go a bit further and enables the various parts of the bird to be eaten and enjoyed for their own distinctive flavours – I think it's sad that so many of us only really taste duck in the form of duck breasts or confit legs. You can actually buy the under-fillets from the breast reasonably cheaply from supermarkets these days and whenever I see them in my local Waitrose I always snap them up.

2 large duck breasts with the fillets removed and halved
4 under-fillets
8 duck livers, cleaned
2 large or 4 medium turnips, peeled
A couple of knobs of butter
2tbsp clear honey
60-80g quince paste or membrillo, warmed and melted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a ribbed griddle plate or a heavy frying pan, season the duck breasts and cook them skin side down on a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, until the skin is crisp, then turn them. After about a minute spoon the honey over and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

While the breasts are cooking, cut the turnips into wedges and cook in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes until tender. Drain and keep warm. Thread the under-fillets on to skewers, season the fillets and the livers and cook in the same griddle pan for a couple of minutes, keeping them both nice and pink.

Arrange the breasts, fillets and livers on warmed serving plates, scatter the turnips over and spoon the melted quince paste around.