duck breast with tart cherry sauce
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Who doesn't like a quick and easy meal that looks fancy, too? My husband loves duck and often asks for it on special occasions, but I wanted something different than orange sauce to accompany it. I decided instead to try cherries. What I ended up with is quick, easy, and delicious over duck. Note: I chose the 'wild game' category for the meat because duck's not an option, but we've always just gotten duck breasts from either online butchers, our local Central Market or Whole Foods. Enjoy!
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yield
2 (with leftovers)
prep time
5 Min
cook time
20 Min
method
Bake
Ingredients For duck breast with tart cherry sauce
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23/4 - 1 lb duck breasts (moulard preferred)
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10 ozpackage frozen cherries
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3 Tbsppure cherry juice (bottled)
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2 Tbspblackberry patch tart cherry syrup (purchased at central market)*
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duck fat
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olive oil
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4 Tbspbrown sugar
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dashcinnamon
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1/2 tspcornstarch
How To Make duck breast with tart cherry sauce
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1Preheat oven to 430 degrees. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of duck fat into oven resistant skillet (I used a cast iron pan.)
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2Slice duck skin across, removing any extra fat, pinfeathers or silverskin.
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3Fry duck, skin side down, until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Repeat on the other side. Put into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.
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4While duck is baking, pour (thawed) cherries into skillet and heat, pressing with a wooden spoon to express all the juice. Put cherries and juice through a fine strainer, crushing cherries with the back of a spoon to get all the liquid. Put liquid back in skillet.
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5Heat cherry juice to bubbling, then add sugar, cinnamon, cherry juice and cherry syrup, whisking with each addition. Sift cornstarch slowly over liquid, whisking so that the cornstarch combines without lumping. If the mixture is too thick, add additional cherry juice.
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6Heat again until edges are bubbling, whisking frequently. The sauce should have a shine to it and be very smooth.
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7Remove duck from oven and check temperature. Allow to rest for five minutes, then cut across the breast into small slices. Pour sauce over duck to serve.
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8*If you can't find the tart cherry syrup, you can try a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. The end result should be faintly sweet but tart, with enough bite to lessen any gaminess and enhance the duck's flavor.
- Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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