Family recipes 1: Camille's duck breasts in salt crust with a juniper flavour

This is the first of a series that I want to run on the blog: favourite family recipes, contributed by different members of the family. The first is my sister Camille's gorgeous recipe for magrets de canard en croute de sel parfumee au genievre, duck breasts cooked in salt crust pastry with a juniper flavour. Camille's a fantastic cook and can whip up the most delicious and imaginative meals in a trice; this is one she developed while living for a long time in the beautiful countryside near Carcassonne in southern France. That's her at her kitchen window in the old house where she used to live. (She's

Camille's magrets de canard en croute de sel parfume au genievre.

Make a special pastry (that will not be eaten ) with 200g flour,a handful of whole juniper berries, bruised,3 egg whites and a tablespoon of rock salt. Make into a pastry. Line a terrine with half of this mix to make the bottom shell.

Grill your magrets(duck breasts) for 10 minutes to get most of the fat off. Then let them cool down, add lots of freshly ground pepper.Place them carefully into the pastry, then cover the top with other half of the pastry.

Make a few top holes to let some steam out.
Leave in oven for about 30 minutes. Then serve the whole dish and crack the pastry open before the guests. Serve with millas(polenta cake--polenta and water and salt made into a stiff dough, then cut into squares and fried) and a pissenlit(dandelion) and rocket salad.