Duck redux

A few weeks ago I had the grand idea to cook one of my very favorite dishes, duck au poivre, for our New Year's Eve meal. I've made it successfully before, but I ran to the internet to remind me of the basic method. And lo, what did appear? My very own recipe from this very blog ranked third in Google results. I immediately thought I'd made an embarrassing spelling error in both the recipe title and my search terms (poivre? pouvre? pwav?) but no. Maybe those crazy spam comments with viral links were good for something after all? Higher Google rankings?

Anyway, I ended up following the same recipe I blogged previously and it was just as amazing as it was in 2007. I still want to bathe in this sauce. These took about twice as long to cook as last time because there were huge magrets, not muscovy (I think). Here is an ever-so-slightly-better photo:


(Phood photography iz hard)

And! We had not only leftover duck breast, but a fair amount of wonderful rendered duck fat. For dinner one night this week we'll have Asian Duck Wraps (wraps, rice, shredded lettuce, duck and green onions topped with plum sauce). And we enjoyed potatoes and carrots roasted with duck fat and rosemary as a side to tonight's mediocre turkey meatloaf.





Quack.

Fa La La La La

La La La Laaaaaa! Happy holidays, everyone! We are so very, very full right now. This season we celebrated two Christmas meals with Chris's family and three with mine. Plus, we're hosting a little cocktail party (with snacks, of course) this weekend. And my gym is closed til January 2nd. Sheesh.

Well anyway, let's go ahead and have virtual seconds-- this was the Christmas night menu at our house:

-Salad (Romaine, Roquefort, pecans and fuji apples with balsamic vinaigrette)
-Duck breast with a port-cherry sauce (recipe below)
-Risotto
-Sweet potatoes roasted with sage
-Lemony haricot vert with shallots

-Rum cake
-Creme de menthe brownies

Duck Breast with Port-Cherry Sauce
Adapted from epicurious.com
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed, halved
• 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 cup beef stock or canned beef broth
• 1/2 cup ruby Port
• 1 fresh thyme sprig
• 4 6-ounce duck breast halves

Directions:

• Combine first five ingredients in small sauce pan over medium high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced and syrupy, about 20 minutes.
  
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. High heavy oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Score the skin of the duck breasts with a paring knife. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
  
• Sear breasts skin side down for several minutes, until skin is brown and crisp. Flip breasts over and sear for a minute or two. Remove skillet from stove and place in preheated oven. Cook until medium rare, about 10 minutes.
  
• Remove to cutting board and allow to rest. Taste cherry sauce and season with salt and pepper. Slice duck thinly on the diagonal and top with sauce.
  

Celebrating Marriage with Heavy Cream

Happy 2nd Anniversary to me and Chris! What did I give him this year? An extra 5 pounds by forcing him to inhale this menu:

• Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam and water crackers (washed down with a bottle of Domaine Chandon's Riche) Mt. Tam is pretty much my favorite cheese. It's a lovely triple-cream that is a lot like brie but with a smoother flavor.

• Salad of baby greens, blue cheese, pears and pancetta crumbles with a port dressing. To make the dressing, I simmered a cup of port (the cheap cooking kind, not real port) with a diced shallot until it was reduced by half. Then I strained it, added a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme. It was surprisingly sweet and mellow and went well with the blue cheese, which had a lot of kick.

• Duck au poivre (recipe below), potatoes gratin and roasted asparagus

• An unbelievable Samoa cheesecake (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody) Mine was not nearly as pretty as Peabody's, but it sure was good!

Duck Au Poivre
I had a hard time finding a recipe for exactly what I was looking for, so I combined the cooking instructions from this recipe (The Gilded Fork) with the sauce from this one (Epicurious). Just thinking of this sauce makes me drool. I will definitely be making it with steak sometime soon.

Ingredients:
4 duck breast halves
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns (I used Penzy's French style peppercorns)
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 cup Cognac or other brandy
3/4 cup heavy cream

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Score the skin side of the duck almost through to the meat in a crisscross pattern. Mix the peppercorns and salt and rub on both sides of duck breast.

Heat heavy-bottom skillet over low heat. When skillet is hot, place breast skin side down. Brown the duck without turning. Discard any fat throughout the process. About 7 minutes.

Turn the duck over. Place skillet into preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until center is rare. Remove from oven. Let rest on a board for 5-7 minutes. For service, slice duck, skin side up on a 45-degree angle, into thin slices.

Pour off fat from skillet, then add shallots and half of butter (2 tablespoons) to skillet and cook over moderately low heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until shallots are well-browned all over, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add Cognac (use caution; it may ignite) and boil, stirring, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cream and any meat juices accumulated on platter and boil sauce, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, 3 to 5 minutes. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook over low heat, swirling skillet, until butter is incorporated(not the most appetizing picture of the duck, I know. You will just have to take my word for how awesome it was)