I used a specklebelly goose breast for this recipe, but you could use any duck or wild goose breast here. I would not use a domesticated goose breast, though; it's a bit too large. Making spätzle is easy, especially if you have a spätzle maker on hand. If you don't, increase the milk to 3/4 cup to make the batter runnier and use a colander with large hole to make the little dumplings. Or, you can buy regular spätzle in most supermarkets; look in the Jewish or "ethnic" section.
2tablespoonssquash seed oil or other high-quality oil
1tablespoonsalt
1/2cupred wine
1/2cupduck glace de viande,demi-glace, or 1 cup beef stock boiled down by half
1whole large duck or small goose breast(both halves, about 1 1/2 pounds)
1tablespoonduck fat or butter
Salt and black pepper
Splash of malt vinegar
Instructions
Start with the spätzle. Mix all the spaetzle ingredients together in a large bowl. The batter should be sticky and should flow like thick lava. Set aside while you bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water heavily; it should taste like the sea.
Load up your spätzle maker and get a large bowl of ice water ready. Fill up the pot of boiling water with the dumplings. Once they float to the top, let the spaetzle cook for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and dunk in the ice water. When all the spätzle are cooked, remove from the ice water to a tea towel and let the dumplings dry a few minutes. Put into a baking sheet and toss with the vegetable oil to prevent them from sticking. You can make the spaetzle up to a day in advance.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Remove the greens from the turnips and set aside. Toss the turnips in the squash seed oil, salt well and roast in an uncovered baking sheet for 35 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Meanwhile, put the red wine in a small pot and boil it for 2 minutes. Add the glace de viande and keep boiling the mixture. You need to be vigilant here, tasting every few minutes, because you can get a weird, bitter taste to the sauce if you boil it down too much. When it tastes good to you, turn off the heat. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes total.
When the duck breast is resting, add the turnips, turnip greens and half the spätzle to the pan you cooked the duck in. Saute over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the spätzle is hot and the greens are wilted. (You can either repeat the process with the rest of the spaetzle or reserve it for another dish.)
To serve, give everyone some of the spätzle-turnip mixture and pour over some sauce. Slice the duck breast thickly and put it on the spaetzle. Splash a little malt vinegar over everything right as you serve.
Notes
If you can find baby turnips, buy them. If not, you can either use radishes -- they taste like turnips when cooked and add some nice color -- or smallish turnips cut into pieces. Don't use large turnips, as they are pretty starchy.