Pan fried duck breasts | All Things Sicilian and more

Duck is what I cooked one night last week for dinner.

The greatest component in my diet has always been vegetables, but now and again there is a definite main dish.

Most of my cooking is about “using up” something and I chose duck because I had some left over cumquats in the fridge. Last year when it was cumquat season I preserved some in vodka, and some in brandy. When I remember that I have them I sometimes present them at the end of a meal when I have guests. There were a few cumquats in vodka left over from a dinner with friends recently.

Duck breast does not have to be a dish for important events. It is very quick and easy to cook especially if it is pan fried and the cost is very similar to free range chicken.

An advantage of pan frying duck is that you can quickly and efficiently drain off the fat either to keep for another time or to pan fry potatoes, cooked beforehand and browned in the fry pan.

Pan fried duck is versatile, and you can alter and enhance its taste with the addition of small amounts of other ingredients like pulses, nuts, fruit, herbs and vegetables. Different liquids (alcohol, flavoured stocks) used to deglaze the pan will make delicious sauces.

What is added to the duck is the embellishment and not the vegetable sides. When I cook a protein main (meat, fish, cheese, eggs), I always present it with large quantities of vegetables. On this occasion the accompaniments were sautéed spinach cooked in a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic, and some steamed green beans.

I use mostly wine, vinegar or stock for deglazing but I also like different-tasting alcohols perhaps because there are many bottles left over in my cupboard from past times when serving a nip of spirits instead of a simple aperitivo before a meal or as a digestivo after, was fashionable. I particularly like to use different flavoured grappa, vodka, vermouth, brandy, Pernod and dry marsala. I prefer the sweeter liqueurs for desserts.

I am almost embarrassed to show you this photo but in some ways the “‘using up” priciple applies.

As well as playing around with alcohol, I am a great user of herbs and spices and I greatly enjoy selecting what could pair well with the ingredients I am using.

The recipe below may help clarify what I am discussing above.

I use a non-stick pan, to prevent the duck from sticking during cooking. I used another frypan to cook the potatoes.

INGREDIENTS

Duck – 2 pieces of breast, a couple of spring onions, a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Cumquats in vodka, star anise and some blood orange juice.

Fresh herbs were parsley and thyme.

PROCESS

Score the skin, forming a grid of fairly deep cuts. This assists the speed of cooking and the fat to melt and escape.

Heat a smear of oil in the pan and place the duck pieces on top and always skin side down first, so that the fat melts. I added thyme.

Keep the duck on that skin fat side first and drain the fat off at least a couple of times as you are cooking that side of the duck. This may take about ten minutes.

Turn the meat over, seasoning with salt and pepper and continue cooking for another 6-8 minutes. I like my duck pink and you may wish to cook your duck for longer.

Remove the meat from the pan and rest it while you deal with the sauce and complimentary ingredients. At this stage you may notice that there is still some blood running off the meat but the duck will be added to the sauce once it is made and this will finish the cooking.

Make sure that there is still some grease in the pan (or add some oil) for the next part of the cooking. Begin with some finely chopped shallot or a spring onion or two and toss them around till softened. I then added some parsley.

Now is the time to add some partly cooked vegetable, fruit or pulses to the pan and as you see in my recipe, I added the comquats and I drained them first.

Add a glass of alcohol and on this occasion, mine was vodka, paying close attention to the height of the flame and safety issues. The vodka had some star anise and some blood orange as flavouring I had used for the cumquats.

When the alcohol has completely evaporated, return the duck breasts back in the pan to flavour for a few minutes. Slice the meat and serve them in the sauce.

It looks so elaborate for a weekday dinner, but it was quick and easy.

Preserving cumquats in alcohol is super easy:

Wash and dry cumquats well, prick each one several times with a fine skewer or a thick needle.

Place cumquats into sterilised jars, add spices, for example – star anise, cinnamon, vanilla beans; pour liqueur or spirit to cover cumquats completely. I rarely add sugar and in most cases the liqueur I add is sweet enough. If I add sugar I dissolve it in a little hot water.

Stand the jars in a cool, dark place for at least 2 months before using.

Other duck recipes:

RIGATONI CON RAGU; ANATRA (duck ragout)

DUCK AND MUSHROOM RAGÙ

Sicilian Duck with green olives and anchovies; Anatra a Papparedda cu ulivi

LEFTOVERS, PAN FRIED DUCK WITH DRIED CHERRIES, PARSLEY OIL recipes

Leftovers imply something that is superfluous, redundant and unneeded, but frankly my cooking and food presentation would not be the same without them.

It does not mean that I never cook something entirely with fresh ingredients – of course I do – but I welcome using up something from a previous meal to convert into something new. It allows me to be creative and I feel saintly about not wasting food.

The duck breasts were cooked very simply and quickly and I used some dried sour cherries (Middle Eastern produce) that I steeped in some red wine and a dash of vin cotto (slightly sweet) for the sauce. If I did not have cherries I may have used some green or black olives or slices of orange with perhaps a little marsala or white wine.

Pan fried duck

Score the skin of the duck and sprinkle with salt; leave them for about 20 minutes.
Pan fry the duck breasts over gentle-medium heat with some spring onions and bay leaves. Turn the breasts over a couple of times to help the fat to melt and raise the heat when you are ready to brown the duck. This whole process should take no longer than about 12-15 minutes.

Remove the duck breasts from the pan, cover with foil or a plate so that they can keep on cooking and remain warm . Drain the fat off but try to keep the brown meat juices that will stick to the bottom and sides of the pan.
Add the cherries and liquid to de-glaze the pan. Heat and evaporate the liquid slightly. Return the duck and any juices to the pan and heat through.

I cooked three duck breasts and the one that was leftover I carefully stored in my fridge. This became a duck salad the night after. The sliced breast went on a bed of thinly cut fennel, spring onions and batavia lettuce, some shaved kohlrabi, leftover roasted pumpkin which I had cooked to go with the duck and some pumpkin seeds.

I had braised some artichokes with small whole potatoes and peas during the week. These potatoes were sliced and added to the duck salad and contributed an extra layer of flavour (of artichokes). In the fridge I also had some ready made parsley oil. The parsley oil was drizzled over some yogurt that I had drained (labna/labneh) – it made the labna look spectacular and contributed to the taste. To the leftover parsley oil I added lemon juice and salt and pepper and this became the dressing for the duck salad.

The duck fat that I had drained off the duck was used to sauté the vegetables that went into the soup (rather than olive oil) and the leftover sauce from the duck went into the making of a minestrone (which by the way means ‘big soup’ because it usually contains pulses and therefore makes it a thick soup). I had some cooked borlotti beans – I usually cook extra and store containers of them in the freezer. The vegetables were onion, celery, carrots and kohlrabi, both the bulb and the green tops.

With the very flavourful artichoke braising liquid, some artichoke stalks and the peas I will make some eggs taste very special.

Poached eggs with peas

Bring the liquid and peas to the boil and clear little spaces in the peas – just large enough enough to gently slide in some eggs to poach. In order to keep the yolk soft and nicely shaped, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid and rest until the eggs are set just right.

Not much is wasted in my kitchen.

Parsley oil

You will find that most recipes for making parsley oil suggest that you cut the parsley (stems and all) into smaller bits, and plunge them them into some boiling water for about 10 seconds to soften. Then you drain the parsley and cool them by plunging into cold water. (And there go most of the vitamins?)

When I make parsley oil I don’t blanch my parsley. My parsley oil does not taste particularly grassy – this happens sometimes when parsley is chopped in a food processor rather than cut by hand. Perhaps the blades of my food processor are sharp – this always help.

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Place everything in a food processor (with sharp blades) and blend completely.
Pour the paste into a clean glass jar, cover and store it in the fridge overnight. The parsley paste will settle to the bottom of the jar.
Line some muslin in a funnel to act as a filter and place the funnel into a clean jar.
Carefully pour the parsley oil through the filter into the jar and keep it in the fridge.

I also used some of the parsley oil to flavour some thick yogurt- it makes a change from using mayonnaise and I used it to dress some boiled new potatoes. Ground pink peppercorns looked good too.

I did make use of those leftovers!

Tag: Pan fried duck breasts

DUCK BREAST, ALCOHOL and EMBELLISHMENTS

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LEFTOVERS, PAN FRIED DUCK WITH DRIED CHERRIES, PARSLEY OIL recipes

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