A few weeks ago it was the height of blackberry season, and the weather felt cold for the first time, and I felt like something dark and rich. So I Googled “crispy duck blackberry sauce”, scanned the details of the top hit and decided it was exactly what I wanted.

👉  Crispy Roast Duck with Blackberry Sauce on Epicurious

Looking for something that could be puréed into a flawlessly creamy mash to contrast with the crispy duck, but could also stand up the strong flavours, I Google “pureed parsnips”, which, even better, showed the me method right in the search results.

👉  Parsnip Purée from Bon Appétit

I invited over a pair of my most available and enthusiastic gourmand friends, and popped out to the grocery store on my lunch break. I later picked up some of may favourite green beans at the Turkish grocery on the way home. (I bought French beans as an emergency backup. We ended up eating those days later.) I sautéed them very simply with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Between mixing drinks, and chatting, I manage to plate us up four rather impressive looking servings, if I do say so myself.