Sour Cherry Stuffed Duck Breasts With Thyme Recipes

SEARED DUCK BREAST WITH CHERRIES AND PORT SAUCE

Steps:

• Place duck breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound lightly to even thickness (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch). Discard plastic wrap. Using sharp knife, score skin in 3/4-inch diamond pattern (do not cut into flesh). DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Add duck, skin side down, to skillet and cook until skin is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn duck breasts over, reduce heat to medium, and cook until browned and cooked to desired doneness, about 4 minutes longer for small breasts and 8 minutes longer for large breast for medium-rare. Transfer to work surface, tent with foil to keep warm, and let rest 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add shallot to skillet and stir over medium heat 30 seconds. Add broth, cherries, Port, and honey. Increase heat to high and boil until sauce is reduced to glaze, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Whisk in 1 tablespoon cold butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice duck. Fan slices out on plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.
• What to drink:
• With the duck, pour a medium-bodied red from Spain's Rioja region. We like the Viña Santurnia 2005 Crianza Rioja ($13), which has black cherry flavors and smoky notes.

BRAISED DUCK TAMALES WITH SOUR CHERRY MOJO

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine the kosher salt and chopped thyme and mix it well. Rub the salt and thyme mixture on both sides of the duck, layering it on thickly. Place legs in a shallow pan and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the same shallow pan, add the onion, garlic, star anise, canela, and duck fat over the legs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for 3 hours.
• Meanwhile, soak the cornhusks in warm water for 1 hour.
• To make the dough for the tamales, moisten the instant corn flour with the warm water. Set aside. Beat the shortening in a mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 10 minutes, then fold in the corn flour and chicken stock.
• After 3 hours remove the legs from the fat, remove the outer skin and shred the meat away from the bone and set aside.
• To assemble the tamales, open the soaked cornhusks and add 2 tablespoons of dough. Spread the dough over the cornhusk leaving a 1/2-inch border. Put 1 tablespoon of the shredded duck meat in the center in a line. Fold the cornhusk over, enclosing the duck in the dough, and secure the tamale with a string or ripped-off piece of the cornhusks. Repeat the process until all the dough and filling is finished.
• In a double boiler or steamer, steam the tamales for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.
• To make the sour cherry mojo: Soak the dried cherries in a bowl with red wine for 1 hour.
• In a medium saucepot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat. When the oil has begun to smoke, add the shallots, chipotle, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes then deglaze with red wine vinegar and duck stock. Cook for 3 minutes then add the cherry mixture. Cook for 30 minutes until the liquid has thickened. Add the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
• To serve, remove the tamale from the steamer. Open the tamales and serve with a spoon of the cherry mojo.

SOUR-CHERRY-STUFFED DUCK BREASTS WITH THYME

Steps:

• Lightly season the duck breasts all over with salt and set them skin side down on a large baking sheet. Refrigerate uncovered until the meat looks shiny, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, melt the butter. Add the shallot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until just starting to brown, 4 minutes. Add the dried sour cherries and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and just starting to caramelize, 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and 1/4 cup of water and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed, 3 minutes. Fold in the parsley and thyme and season the stuffing with salt and pepper. Let cool completely.
• Preheat the oven to 400°. Set the duck skin side down on a work surface. Spread the cherry stuffing over the breasts evenly. Fold over one side of each breast to enclose the stuffing and tie them in 5 places with kitchen twine to make 4 neat roasts.
• Heat a large ovenproof skillet. Season the roasts all over with pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until the skin is browned and nearly crisp, 10 to 12 minutes; spoon off the excess fat in the skillet as needed.
• Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the duck for about 12 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of each breast registers 118° to 120°. Transfer the duck breasts to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes. Snip off the kitchen twine. Thinly slice the roasts crosswise and serve.

HONEY-LACQUERED DUCK WITH SOUR CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Put 10-12 sage leaves into a small saucepan with 1 cup of water and bring to the boil; simmer for 7 minutes and remove from heat; remove leaves and allow to cool.
• Wash the duck out and pat dry with paper towels; season generously with salt and put on a plate in the refrigerator to air-dry for 1 hour (2 hours is even better ;-) ).
• In a small saucepan, combine sage infusion, honey, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and bring to the boil; boil at medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes until mixture becomes slightly syrupy and is reduced to 2/3 of a cup; pour 1/3 cup+ 1 tblsp into measuring cup and keep remainder in saucepan.
• Preheat oven to 415F°.
• Put duck in roasting pan, breast-side-down and roast for ½ an hour (drain fat off, retain); turn duck breast-side-up and roast ½ an hour longer (drain fat off again, retain); brush duck with the honey glaze and continue roasting 15 minutes; after the 15 minutes, turn duck so that it is breast-side-down again and brush with more honey glaze, do this once more after 15 minutes then turn duck breast-side-up again, brush with glaze and roast for a final 15 minutes; in all, the duck will have roasted a total of 2 hours and have had 4 glazings, 1 up, 2 down, and the last one up again; remove roaster from oven and allow duck to stand for 10 minutes while you finish the sauce.
• Pour off the fat you have retained into a small container (duck fat is great for frying potatoes!) and pour any accumulated duck juices into the saucepan containing the remaining honey glaze; add the cherries and any accumulated cherry juices as well as the cinnamon and bring to a boil; boil for 7-8 minutes, or until cherry sauce has become slightly-thickened and syrupy (if you want your sauce slightly thicker, you can sprinkle 1/2-3/4 tsp of cornstarch over cherries).
• Carve duck (in our case, this just means quartering the duck), and serve with the sour cherry sauce.
• Note: I have a special double-lined roaster, with one inclined tray with a hole in it fitting over a classic pan, this allows the fat to drain off the roasting meat, drip through the hole, and gather in the pan underneath; if you do not own this type of pan, use a classic roaster but drain fat off roasting duck more often.