Winter Dinner Menu from La Cuisine Provençale

• Heat the butter and olive oil together in a heavy-bottomed non-stick sauté pan to an almost searing point - a minute or so.
• Add the mushrooms and garlic. Allow space between the mushrooms while cooking an inch apart to ensure that they brown. You may need to cook the mushrooms in 2 batches. Once all the mushrooms are browned, you may add them back into the pan all together with the rosemary sprigs and cover, cook on low for about 2 minutes longer with the lid on.
• Add fleur de sel and black pepper to taste.

• Take the magret de canard (duck breast) out of the plastic package and leave out of the fridge at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Prepare the Squash:

• Slice the squash into thin (2-3 cm) half-moon shapes and remove the seeds.
• In a non-stick saucepan, heat 1-2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the butternut squash to a light brown colour on high heat, on either side. Note: You may also roast the squash in a hot oven (200°C - 400°F) until slightly blackened, which takes a bit longer (20-30 minutes).

Prepare the Duck Breast:

• Chop the shallot and fresh thyme. Set aside.
• Score the duck breast's fat side several times, slicing with a knife about 2 centimetres deep almost to the meat under the fat. This allows the meat to cook more evenly.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan for one minute on high heat. Then place the duck breast fat side down to sear until it is browned.
• Remove the duck and set aside. You can now sautée the mushrooms directly in the duck fat - should be a thin layer of fat, or you can drain away excess, use olive oil or butter if you prefer.
• Sear the sliced mushrooms to a golden brown. If you are using dried porcini, you first need to soak them in liquid, a hot broth like a vegetable stock is best, for 10 minutes to bring them back to life - then pat them dry with paper towels before searing.
• After cooking set the mushrooms aside.
• Reduce the heat so that the pan doesn't get too hot and begin to burn.
• Resume searing the other side of the duck breast using this same pan - using high heat as you want to sear the outside to a golden brown.
• After searing the duck meat side down to a nice brown colour, turn the heat down and add the shallots. After cooking the shallots for around 1 minute or until they are translucent but only slightly brown, deglaze the pan with the port wine, leaving the duck breast in the pan. Stir and scrape the saucepan's bottom to collect all the flavours from the sautéed mushrooms, shallots and duck.
• Let this reduce and further cook the duck to your desired temperature - 2 - 3 minutes for rare.
• Remove the duck breast and let it sit at room temperature for a good 5 minutes before slicing.
• Allow the port sauce to continue to simmer and reduce in the pan, adding salt, pepper and thyme. Turn off the heat and set aside.
• Slice the duck breast into thin portions and plate 3-4 slices per person.
• Serve 2 tablespoons of the sauce from the pan over your duck breast, then scatter the sautéed mushrooms on top or on the side.

• Cored and cut the quince into cubes, leaving the peel on.
• Add just enough water to cover the quince cubes in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil, let simmer for 20 min or until the quince are soft.
• Drain off excess water and put through a food mill or handheld blender, blending into a soft, smooth consistency. 
• Add as much white sugar, or a mix of white and brown, to the quince purée - which requires weighing or a good eyeball estimation. You want an equal amount of sugar by weight to quince purée. 
• Reheat this mixture to a simmer for 30 minutes stirring constantly to prevent it from burning on the bottom. 
• Add 1/2 vanilla bean, juice of 1 lemon and lemon zest, crushed seeds of 2 cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick and or 1 clove. Heat until the mixture thickens and turns slightly red in colour.  (Note - some quince varieties do remain yellow.)
• Remove the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick.
• Scoop the mixture into a shallow square Pyrex or a 2-inch shallow plate lined with parchment paper. Cover with parchment paper and set aside in a cool place for a few days, not in the fridge as it won’t set up properly. It will harden a bit and should be a bit softer than gummy bear consistency but firmer than jello when ready. 
• Cut into cubes or slices to serve.