Henri the boxer waiting for a car ride

Cooking on a barbecue is quite common in the French riviera, considering the superb weather – blue skies with no clouds – absolutely the opposite of the UK and its impredictable forecast. I like to barbecue beef, lamb, chicken, some fish and seafood (a lobster with garlic butter and flambé with whiskey is absolutely delicious) but magret de canard (duck breast) is one of my favourites.

A magret a canard is a lot easier to cook on a barbecue than chicken, which has a very easy to burn skin. The only thing to be careful of is watching the grease when it becomes liquid as it has a tendancy to burn quickly. With a knife cut the fat of the magret in little squares, it will become the crispy “skin”.

Ingredients:

• magrets de canard
• salt and pepper, herbes de Provence
• garlic butter

Starting the charcoal fire

Wait until all coals are ashed over before spreading them

Someone is interested by the magrets de canard...

It is safer to use an aluminium foil

Watch the grease coming from the duck skin

Smelling good!

Crispy skin

Oops!

Ready to be eaten with their crispy skin

Yummy! Crispy outside and tender inside.

A magret of duck has enough flavour with just some salt and pepper. I usually eat it with some garlic butter but it is also great with a pepper sauce. It goes very well with a glass of red wine, especially a Bordeaux or a Cahors.

Bon appétit !