Wild duck and blackcurrant salad

Serves 4-6

Blackcurrants aren't everyone's favourite berry as they are a bit of an acquired taste. Yet the richness of wild duck, or farmed duck, works a treat with blackcurrants – either hot in a sauce, or like this in a salad.

If you haven't got a local game dealer you can order your birds by post from blackface.co.uk. You may need one or two wild ducks, depending on whether you're eating this salad as a main course or starter.

2 oven-ready wild ducks
A couple of good knobs of butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100-150g small salad leaves and herbs, gently washed and dried

For the dressing

1tbsp good-quality red wine vinegar, such as cabernet sauvignon
4tbsp walnut or hazelnut oil
40-60g blackcurrants, cleaned

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Rub the ducks with a little butter and season. Roast for 25-30 minutes, keeping them nice and pink. Leave them to rest.

Remove the breasts from the ducks, then remove the legs and cut away all the meat and shred into largish pieces. Mix the vinegar and oil together, season and add the blackcurrants; you can crush a few of the blackcurrants into the dressing with a fork if you wish to intensify it.

To serve, slice the breast thinly, toss the leaves with the dressing and shredded leg, season and arrange on plates. Arrange the pieces of duck breast on top.