Bacon-Wrapped Duck Breast, Cranberry Duck Sausage with Sweet Corn Griddle Cakes

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Yield: 4

Working with 1 duck breast at a time, spread a butterflied breast skin down, on a work surface. Season the breast with salt and pepper.
Place cooked spinach down, in a thin layer along the centre the breast. Then top with a row of onion petals, followed by a row of cranberries on the center of the breast. Fold the duck breast meat over onto itself to form a roll. Place 4 lengthwise overlapping slices of bacon on the work surface and place 2 slices perpendicular to the 4 slices so they overlap by 1 inch to form a cross. Place the duck breast in the centre, parallel to the 2 bacon slices, fold the bacon over the duck, and then roll it up to make a neat package. Repeat with the remaining duck breast.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large oven proof sauté pan. Carefully place the bacon wrapped duck breast in the pan and cook all sides for about 6 minutes to render and brown the bacon. Drain off most of the fat from the pan and put into the oven to finish the cooking, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the pan from the oven and let the duck breast rest for 5 to 8 minutes before slicing. Slice each duck breast into 4 even slices.
Place the sliced duck breast on the plate, with the cranberry duck sausage, three sweet corn griddle cakes. Drizzle the corn cakes with the cranberry maple syrup.

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over high heat. Carefully place the onions in the pan cut side down. Cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Add the butter and continue to cook the onion in the foaming butter for about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and place the pan in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a large mixing bowl add the ground duck meat, thyme, sundried cranberries and mix well. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
Place the sausage mixture into a piping bag. Find the end of the casing and slip it over the end of the piping bag and push the casing over the tip of the piping bag so that it forms an accordion-like pleat. Keep the casing wet throughout this process (keep dipping your hands in warm water). Applying pressure to the piping bag with one hand, stuff the casing with the sausage mixture. As a sausage is formed, make links by twisting the sausage and then pipe again. Regulate the flow of sausage into the casing, by applying different amounts of pressure to the piping bag. This will determine how tightly packed the sausage is, if you try and pack the sausage too tightly the casing will burst. If the casing does burst, tie it off at that point and start again.
In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, add oil and sausages. Cook evenly on all sides until golden brown about 6 minutes.

In a small sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the maple syrup, cranberries and vanilla bean and cooked for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes.

Coat a large griddle with cooking spray and preheat to medium-high. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a fork and make a well in the center. In small bowl, whisk together milk, oil, chives and egg. Pour mixture into center of dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Pour 1 large tablespoon worth of batter onto griddle for each corn cake. Cook 2 minutes per side, until puffed up, golden brown and cooked through.