Pintail duck with sprout tops and hazelnuts

Serves 4

Pintail duck with sprout tops and hazelnuts (Jason Lowe)

These small wild ducks such as widgeon, pintail and the smaller teal are perfect individual servings for a dinner party. If you are using teal you will need to serve a couple of birds per person.

4 small oven-ready wild ducks like pintail or widgeon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of knobs of butter
250g sprout tops, trimmed of any thick stalks
30g shelled hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 240C/gas mark 8.

Season the birds inside and out and rub with a little butter. Roast for about 15 minutes (less for teal), keeping them nice and pink.

While the birds are cooking bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the sprout tops for 2-3 minutes until tender; then drain.

Melt some butter in a pan and cook the hazelnuts for a minute until they begin to colour, then toss in the sprout tops and season to taste.

Arrange the sprout tops on warmed serving plates with the duck on top.