Steak with Marsala sauce and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

An idea inspired and adapted by a Masterchef recipe of originally venison. So if you don't like duck or prefer venison, simply change the meat with no other changes needed. BOTH work beautifully. However I recommend serving plum conserve with the duck cause it's Ah-Ma-Zing!.

This dish is super healthy and wonderful on a chilly winters eve. There is so many flavours literally bursting from this dish. Okay maybe not literally but every mouthful is a new sensation.

I will warn you in advance: There is a lot to do in this dish and it takes a while. From start to finish perhaps 2 hours. From preparing the vegetables to drying the last dish after washing up.

But it's worth it. At the end I was actually drinking the gravy with a spoon like soup.

Steak with Marsala sauce and Sweet Potato Mash

Serves : 2

Ingredients

For the Steak

• 2 steak fillets ( If you can find venison, get that! )

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 star anise

• 1tsp mustard seeds

• 8 juniper berries

• 1tsp espresso powder

• salt and black pepper

• drizzle of olive oil

For the Sweet Potatoes

• 2 small sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

• handful of thyme, leaves removed

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• drizzle olive oil

• salt and black pepper

For the Sauce​

• 8 juniper berries

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 star anise

• handful of thyme, leaves removed

• 3 shallots, finely diced

• 1 beef stock cube, dissolved in 250ml hot water

• 1 tsp soft brown sugar

• 20ml maple syrup

• 1tbsp high quality balsamic vinegar ( it should be sweet and thick )

• 2 glugs Marsala wine

• seasoning

To serve

• Watercress

• 2 medium carrots, cut into chunky matchsticks

• 1 large clove garlic

• knob of butter

• black pepper, to season

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius/350F, fan. Line a tray with baking paper or tin foil.

- First, prepare the duck by grinding all the spices in a pestle and mortar as fine as you can. A few chunky bits is fine.

- Rub it over the duck then drizzle over the olive oil. Gently massage the spices into the duck.

- Cover and pop it in the fridge while you make the rest of the dish.

- Line a tray with tin foil. Pop the sweet potatoes onto it and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle the thyme leaves over and season well. Evenly spread the garlic on top.

- Combine all the ingredients for the carrots together in a bowl then pour onto tin foil. Wrap it up like a parcel and pop it onto the tray beside the potatoes. Roast it in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour, or until all the sweet potatoes are soft and the carrots are tender.

- Finally make the sauce. Begin by sweating the onions with the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, until soft. Add in a splash of water to loosen of the onions.

- Lower the heat. Keep a watch on the onions and stir to ensure they don't burn.

- Keep adding small splashes of water every few minutes. Cook them for about 15 minutes to get them nice and sweet.

- Add in the sugar, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar to caramelise the onions. Stir well.

- Season the onions. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

- Add in the stock and spices. The sauce should look rich and dark. Cook for 2 minutes.

- Add a good plug of marsala. Continue to cook the sauce for 15 minutes. The sauce should be rich, sweet and thickened. Cook more if needed.

- 30 minutes before the sweet potato is ready, Take out the duck. Fry it in the same pan you made the sauce in. Crisp up the skin for about minutes.

- Then pop it in the oven for 20-25 minutes to finish cooking. Cook it to your preferred rareness. I did mine medium-rare.

- Once the sweet potato is ready, remove the two halves from the oven as well as the carrots and garlic. Scoop out the potato and add it to a bowl.

- Add in the onions cooked form earlier on and mash it in with a fork. Cover with tin foil to keep warm.

- Remove the roasted garlic form it's skin and stir it into the sauce. Gently heat up the sauce again.

- Serve the dish with the duck fillet, cut into slices, on top of a handful of spinach.

- Take a good spoonful of mash beside the duck as well as a handful of the roasted carrots. Drizzle some of the sauce over the duck and serve the remaining in a jug.

And we're done! I hope you managed to follow them okay and you enjoy this dish as much as I do.