Duck Breasts w/ Ginger Gastrique

Could have rested just a tad bit longer to prevent those excess juices from escaping, but still delicious =)

Duck has gotta be on the top of my list when I think of my favorite proteins.  Something about it just makes me salivate every time.  A crisp and tasty skin just really does it for me!

I've been trying to get rid of some items on our bar shelf so that we can make room for newer and tastier things.  There's been a bottle of ginger liqueur sitting there for quite some time.  I just haven't had the opportunity to do anything with it... until now.  A quick and easy gastrique was just the thing to pair with our duck breasts!

Ingredients:

2 large duck breasts
salt and pepper, to taste

Gastrique:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ginger liqueur
1/2 cup veal or beef stock
1 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter.

Roasted Carrots & Turnips, diced (optional)

In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar on medium low heat.  Cook until sugar caramelizes and turns into a syrupy liquid... like you're going to make caramel.  When the sugar is dissolved and has a nice amber color, deglaze the pan with the vinegar and ginger liqueur.  Whisk constantly to remove any clumps.  Reduce by about 3/4 and then add veal stock, star anise, cinnamon, juniper berries, and salt.  Continue to reduce until mixture is at a syrupy, sauce consistency.  Keep warm until needed.

Heat a large saute pan under medium heat.  Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.  Add the duck breasts to the dry pan, skin-side down.  Slowly render the fat from the skin until it is nice and crispy, about 7-9 minutes.  You don't want to rush this if you want to get the perfect duck skin!

Flip breast over and continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until duck is at a nice medium rare-medium.  Let rest for about 4-5 minutes before slicing.

Reheat sauce and mount with 1 tablespoon of butter.  Spread a nice bit of sauce on the plate.  Top with desired vegetable or starch (I had roasted from carrots and turnips for this).  Slice duck breasts into thin strips and arrange over top of the vegetables.  Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Another simple, but elegant meal. Take the time to splurge on some duck breasts once in a while - you won't be sorry!

Duck Breasts w/ Panzanella

Happy Monday everybody! 

How was your weekend?  Ours was pretty relaxed, nothing new right? 

We had our first Fantasy Football draft of the season (we're in 3 leagues!) yesterday and I ended up with a pretty solid team.  I'm just so happy that #1.  NFL Football is actually happening this year. & #2. That the season is actually here!  Sundays = Football in our house!  And I can't help but laugh when I think about when I first met Andy, he didn't like any sports whatsoever.  I guess we do rub off on eachother.

Anyway...

I usually don't post something I've made right away.  I usually wait a day or two most of the time.  I've just got tons of things in my Lightroom gallery that it's hard picking what to do next.  However, we had this for dinner last night, and it was so amazing that I couldn't wait to share it.  Seriously, if you like duck (it's probably my favorite protein) and want something special and elegant - this is it.  Trust me.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

2 boneless duck breasts
4 ears of corn
2 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
15 asparagus spears, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
4 slices of bacon, chopped
5 slices of bread (we used a local bakery's Cereal Loaf), cut into 1 inch cubes
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

I'm so glad I decided to buy a whole duck instead of just the breasts.  It's a lot cheaper, plus I have the rest of the duck to use to make a confit (which is actually in the works as we speak! The house smells so good right now!).

Food & Wine recommends aging the breasts for 4 days - but I didn't have 4 days.  So I quickly aged the duck breasts for about 2 hours.  Just place the duck breasts in a glass dish, skin side up.  Season with salt and pepper and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and up to 7 days.

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line up corn, asparagus, and potatoes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown, stirring occasionally.  You'll want to flip around your corn every once in a while too.  Let vegetables cool slightly, then cut off kernels from corn cob.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat a large cast iron skillet under medium heat and add bacon.  Cook until bacon is crisp, about 5-7 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel-lined plate.

Add the bread cubes to the bacon fat (this was genius!) and coat well.  Transfer skillet to the oven (on a rack underneath the vegetables) and bake until crisp, about 13-15 minutes.  Season croutons with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Add duck breasts, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden and crisp - about 12-14 minutes.  Turn duck over and cook until medium-rare (if you're not comfortable with that, cook it a little longer) about 4-6 minutes. 

Transfer duck to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice thinly.

While the duck is resting, you can prepare your panzanella.  In a large bowl, combine the corn, potatoes, asparagus, bacon, croutons, tomatoes, scallions, and oregano.  Toss well. 

In a small bowl, combine the red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil.  Season dressing with salt and pepper and drizzle over vegetables and croutons in bowl.  Toss to mix well.

Divide the panzanella among plates and top with slices of duck. 

Seriously, this was absolutely amazing.  I think it took Andy all of 5 minutes to clear his plate.  He said it was so good he couldn't help but keep shoving it in his mouth.  Me, I took it slow.  So I could enjoy every bite because it was really the perfect meal! 

Have a great Monday guys!

Project Food Blog: Challenge #3

Hot diggity!  I never thought I would even make it past Challenge #1, and here I am, at Challenge #3!  All thanks go out to you guys!  Without your votes, I wouldn't be here, and I GREATLY GREATLY appreciate the love!

Challenge #3 is as follows:

"You'll be asked to channel new and exotic flavors for a luxurious dinner party menu. Voters will pick which feast they'd like to RSVP to." 

One thing I love about cooking, is the end result of feeding people.  So naturally, I love to have people come over and eat!  And of course, my co-workers, jumped right on the bandwagon to come on over!

I blogged earlier this week that my favorite season was now upon us - the fall!  And so it's truly the fall season that inspired this menu.  I wanted to bring out something that my guests would enjoy, and would be new to them.  Turns out, 3 of my guests had NEVER had duck before, so that just made this main course all the more perfect!

 

The first course was just a group appetizer:  Carmelized Onion Dip w/ House Made Pita Chips.  I love the simplicity of this and it allowed for the guests to "share" and converse with eachother before the other courses rolled out.

Second course was a simple salad of Arugula, Baby Greens, and Watercress.  Topped with freshly sliced strawberries, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette.  It was a nice refreshing salad that brightened up the palette and had a great depth of flavor. 

Main course was the entree of Roasted Duck Breasts with a Pomegranate-Chile sauce.  Served with a brown rice pilaf that included golden raisins, dried apricots, and walnuts.  There was also a side of sauteed swiss chard.  The "Duck Virgins" said that they really enjoyed their first experience with duck and one of them even said that duck may be their new favorite!  Score!

 

The fourth and final course was the dessert:  Pumpkin Cheesecake w/ Caramel Bourbon Sauce & freshly made Whipped Cream.  This was a perfect night cap to end the dinner.  The cheesecake was thin and light, with an Oreo crust that matched perfectly with the pumpkin cheesecake layer.

At the end of the dinner, I asked everyone what their favorite course of the meal was, and it was a unanimous vote that the Duck definitely reigned supreme.  I'm glad, because personally, it was my favorite as well!

I want to thank my awesome sister, Frances, for decorating our back deck, also!  She did such a great job and really made it look elegant and classy!  My guests were awesome and at the end of the day, all you need are great friends and great food to have an amazing time!

 If you guys dug the menu and found yourself drooling the whole time, please please please, don't hesitate to vote for my entry in Challenge #3 of Project Food Blog (you can either click the link or check out the right sidebar to vote!)!  And thank you thank you SOOOO much for getting me this far!  You guys are awesome!

Spice-Rubbed Duck W/ Roasted Grapes & Kale

I love me some duck. It's absolutely amazing to be how people can say that it's too fatty or game-y. The fat is where the flavor is people! Stop counting calories and taste the flavor!! That's what food is all about right??? Adapted this from a recipe I found in the Oct. 2009 issue of Bon Appetit.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon fennel
3/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 whole duck (or 4 small duck breasts)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
1 bunch kale, thick center stems removed, and leaves roughly chopped
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 lb. red seedless grapes, stemmed

Now I didn't get off work in time to make it to the butcher's to get pre-cut duck breasts, so I had to buy a whole duckling from the grocery store. This was actually more cost efficient to me, as it was only $12 for the whole duck, as opposed to the $20 something I would pay for 4 nicely cut breasts. Yeah, I would only get 2 breasts out of the duckling, but I couldn't let the rest of that meat go to waste so I used both thighs and legs also. And it was my first time ever cutting a whole duck. It was kind of something amazing, but that's for another day, let's get to cooking...

Grind the first 5 ingredients in a coffee grinder or spice mill. I don't see the sense in buying an extra appliance when 1 appliance doubles as two, so I love my coffee grinder for that.

Score your duck, skin only of course, in a diamond pattern. Sprinkle spice blend all over duck and massage into the meat and skin, but not too rough. You're supposed to cover and chill overnight, but I did it in the morning and cooked the duck later in the evening, so I'd say as long as you give it about 5-8 hours, it's sufficient. Make sure you let the duck sit at room temperature for 1 hour before you start cooking though.

Place 1 rack of your oven in the top third and 1 rack in the bottom third. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add your garlic and saute until starting to slightly brown, about 3 minutes or so. Add your kale, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and let it wilt a bit. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce your heat to low and cover. Cook until the kale is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Then uncover your pot and increase the heat to high and cook until most of broth is evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Watch it carefully though because my kale almost burnt, but I keenly heard the first sizzle and quickly took it off the heat and added a tad bit of broth to save the day. Set the kale aside.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down, and cook until skin is brown and fat is rendered, about 8 minutes. Then place duck, skin side up, on baking sheet and place in oven. For medium rare, roast about 8 to 10 minutes. If you want it more done, then cook longer. Tent the duck with foil after taking it out of the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

In same skillet you used to brown duck, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat and add grapes. Roast in the oven until the skin starts to split, about 15 minutes.

Thinly slice your duck breasts, garnish with grapes, and serve alongside kale.


I made this duck the same day that we had out crazy cookoff with a bunch of our friends. We were still stuffed from lunch, but the duck was so worth it to eat, even when we really weren't that hungry. It left us feeling great inside and the duck was perfectly cooked. The grapes were a wonderful accompaniment and when you took a bite of the duck and the grapes at the same time, it was like a party in my mouth. Definitely a must try recipe for all the duck lovers out there! Enjoy!