Duck Breast With Braised Fennel And Golden Raisins Recipes

DUCK BREAST WITH FENNEL PUREE

Steps:

• Place the duck breast in an oven-proof skillet over high heat. Fry it for 5 minutes.
• Transfer to the oven and roast for 5 minutes at 380⁰F/190⁰C.
• Add the milk to a medium pot over low heat. Also, add the fennel to the pot. Simmer for 12 minutes.
• Transfer the fennel to a blending cup and discard the milk. Add the cooked potato, yogurt, and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Serve this sauce with the cooked duck meat.

DUCK BREAST WITH FENNEL AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• Place duck breasts, skin side down, on work surface. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine garlic, fennel, rosemary and olive oil in small bowl. Press herb mixture over duck breast meat. Place 1 breast atop the other, meaty sides together. Tie breasts together with cooking string.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add tied duck breasts and cook until well browned on all sides, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Pour fat from skillet and discard. Transfer skillet with duck to oven. Roast duck to desired doneness, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes for medium. Transfer duck to work surface; let rest 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, pour pan drippings into glass measuring cup. Spoon fat off top. Remove string and cut each breast into 1/2-inch slices. Drizzle any pan juices over and serve immediately.
• *Available at specialty foods stores or from Joie de Vivre; call 800-648-8854, or go to www.frenchselections.com.

SEARED CRISPY SKIN DUCK BREAST WITH DUCK FAT FRIED POTATOES RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Pat dry the duck breasts with a paper towel.
• Score the duck skin with sharp knife, making sure to not cut into the flesh.
• Season the duck breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Add the potatoes to a pot of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until fork-tender. Drain the potatoes in a colander.
• Using the bottom of a ramekin or your palm, gently smash the potatoes.
• Preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
• Starting with a cold and dry oven-safe skillet, place the duck breasts skin side down. Cook for 12-15 minutes over medium heat.
• Flip the breasts over and sear the other side for 1 minute. Flip to the skin side down, and transfer the skillet to the oven.
• Roast for 4 minutes for medium-rare, or 6 minutes for medium.
• Rest the duck skin-side up for 10 minutes. Do not discard the fat in the pan.
• In a small pot, combine the red wine, chicken stock, orange juice, and honey and reduce by half over medium heat.
• Fry the potatoes with remaining duck fat in the pan, until golden brown, 5-6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and rosemary.
• Slice the duck ½-inch (1 cm) pieces.
• Serve with the sauce and the potatoes.
• Enjoy!

BRAISED DUCK LEGS AND SAUTéED DUCK BREAST

Steps:

• Cut off legs, wings, and breasts from duck and cut up carcass and wing tips for stock. Remove any bones from breasts, leaving skin on. Chill legs, wings, and breasts in a sealable bag.
• Wash leek , then put in a 6- to 8-quarts pot with carcass, 1 onion (cut in half), carrot, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil, skimming foam. Reduce heat and gently simmer, uncovered, skimming occasionally, 1 hour. Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, discarding solids. Skim off and discard fat.
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
• Coarsely chop remaining onion. Peel parsnips and cut into 3-inch batons (1/4 inch thick). Pat legs and wings dry and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wide 6- to 7-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then brown legs and wings, turning over once, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Add onion to pot with parsnips, ginger, zest, juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and pale golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add 2 cups duck stock (save remainder for another use) and nestle legs and wings in vegetables. Bring to a boil. Cover pot and braise in oven until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Let stand, uncovered, at room temperature 1 hour while cooking breasts.
• Season duck breasts with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper (total).
• Heat remaining teaspoon oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Cook duck breasts, skin sides down, until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn and cook about 6 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.
• Mix together parsley and garlic. Slice breasts crosswise. Serve legs and wings over parsnips and serve sliced breast on the side. Sprinkle with parsley mixture.

DUCK BREAST WITH BRAISED BELGIAN ENDIVE, SHAVED CAULIFLOWER AND GREEN PEPPERCORNS

Steps:

• Split and trim the duck breasts to yield 4 individual breasts. Some people remove the "tenders," as there is a small span of unchewable silver skin within, but I just leave them intact and deal with it when eating, like the fat or gristle in any steak or chop. It's just part of the deal.
• Season the duck with salt and pepper generously on both skin and flesh sides, then place breasts skin-side down in an extra-large heavy-bottomed steel pan.
• Set the pan over medium-low heat, and gently cook the duck breasts 20 to 25 minutes, skin-side down the whole time, pouring off the rendering duck fat many times along the way so that the duck does not poach or steam in its own fat. Save all of that duck fat.
• In the meantime, split the endive heads in half lengthwise, and remove any limp outer leaves. Crush the green peppercorns with the flat side of your chef's knife, then mince the crushed peppercorns further, sometimes dragging the mince under the flat side of your knife to make it into a paste, as you might with a clove of garlic.
• When the duck skin is dark golden brown and crisp and most of the white fat has rendered out, turn the breast flesh-side down. Increase heat to medium-high (you want to get a true sear and not a gray "steam"), and sear for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the flesh is golden brown. Remove the duck breasts from the pan, and set them aside in a warm place.
• Add a nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat back into the hot pan, and lay in the endive halves, cut-side down. Cook until you get a dark golden sear on the cut sides of the endive, about 3 minutes. Turn the endives over onto their rounded backs, and add the cauliflower, shallot and peppercorn paste to the pan.
• Add back in another nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat, and stir together as best as you can without disturbing the endive. You can move it to the side and give yourself some room for stirring and cooking the cauliflower. You want to make sure the cauliflower and the shallots have contact with the fond (the fat, salt and pepper that have been left behind from the cooking of the duck breasts) in the pan.
• Add the chicken stock and the sherry or vermouth, and partly cover the pan to simmer the vegetables until soft and cooked, about 4 minutes. The liquid will be absorbed, the high note of the alcohol will burn off and a loose sauce will remain when finished cooking.
• Season the vegetables with salt and pepper as needed, and drizzle some more of the rendered duck fat over the whole deal if that moves you, as it does me.
• Slice the duck breasts across at a slight bias, approximately the thickness of your pinkie, and serve each with endive and cauliflower. Sprinkle a few drops of sherry vinegar over each serving to finish.

BRAISED FENNEL

Steps:

• Cut the green stalks from the top of the white fennel bulbs and cut the brown, round stump from the base. Cut fronds from stalks. Chop the fronds and set aside 2 tablespoons for serving. Cut bulbs in half 4 times, making 8 wedges out of each.
• Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add fennel wedges, flat-side down, and brown for 3 minutes. Flip and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds. Add wine and deglaze the pot, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Let wine reduce by half. Pour in chicken broth and orange juice.
• Reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer until fennel is very tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Plate fennel. Sprinkle with salt and garnish with orange zest and fennel fronds.

DUCK WITH CHERRIES AND RED WINE VINEGAR

Steps:

• Trim excess fat from duck breasts, leaving a 1/4-inch layer covering the breast. (Save fat trimmings to render and use for another purpose.) With a sharp knife, lightly score fat cover diagonally in two directions, taking care not to cut too deeply and expose meat. Turn breasts over and remove the thin tenderloins from underside. Trim away any veiny or ragged bits. (Save meaty trimmings for making stock.) Season generously on both sides with salt.
• Pulverize the peppercorns, allspice berries, cloves, bay leaves and fennel seed in a mortar or electric spice mill. Sprinkle spice mixture over duck breasts; massage seasoning into meat on both sides. For more-intense flavor, do this several hours ahead or overnight and refrigerate (recommended). Bring duck to room temperature before cooking.
• Make the sauce: Put turbinado sugar and red wine vinegar in a saucepan and simmer over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, until syrupy. Add red wine and chicken broth and simmer briskly until sauce coats spoon, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside. You should have about 1 cup sauce. (Sauce may be made a day or two in advance, if desired.)
• Place a wide cast-iron pan over medium high heat. When pan is hot, place duck breasts side by side, skin side down. Let sizzle gently for about 7 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden, turning down heat as necessary to keep from getting too dark. Turn breasts over and cook 5 to 7 minutes more. (Alternatively, finish cooking breasts in a 400-degree oven.) Check temperature frequently with an instant-read thermometer; internal temperature should be a bit less than 125 degrees. Remove breasts and let rest on a warm platter for 8 to 10 minutes.
• To finish sauce, put butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add cherries and granulated sugar and cook for a minute or two, stirring, until cherries are heated through and beginning to get juicy. Add kirsch and cook 1 minute more, then add previously prepared sauce and bring to a simmer.
• Thinly slice duck breasts at an angle and arrange slices on a platter. Spoon some of the sauce and cherries over meat and pass remaining sauce at table.