PrintIdeas for Duck Breasts
I have a case of duck breasts going south in the walk-in left over from the previous chef. I need ideas on how to utilize these before they go bad. Problem is that the menu consists solely of salads, sandwiches and pizzas.... Any ideas would be great!
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9 Comments:
I just clipped a recipe for a rhubarb "bbq" sauce from this week's Washington Post. It would work for a grilled duck breast salad.
Tangy Rhubarb “Barbecue” Sauce
The Washington Post, May 7, 2008
• Course: Condiment
Summary:
This is a nice change of pace from the usual smoky and/or sweet barbecue sauces. The rhubarb gives it thickness and a fruity flavor. The amounts below are suggestions only. Add more honey if you like it sweet, more apple cider vinegar if you like a vinegary kick. Or leave out the ketchup and double up on the mustard and vinegar for a Carolina-style sauce.
The sauce is good with grilled pork chops and chicken thighs, but it’s a particularly good match with duck breasts that have been pan-fried and sliced. It may be refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
• 2 to 3 teaspoons mild olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion, from 1 small (2-ounce) onion
• 8 ounces rhubarb, thick stalks cut in half vertically, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices (2 to 2 1/4 cups)
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water, plus more as needed for thinning the sauce
• 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Apple juice, for thinning the sauce (optional)
Directions:
Add enough of the oil to coat the bottom of a medium (2-quart) saucepan; heat over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 to 6 minutes, until it is translucent and soft, watching closely to make sure it does not brown. Add the rhubarb, brown sugar and water; increase the heat to medium-high. Allow the sugar to melt, bringing the mixture to a low boil. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the rhubarb has softened and can be mashed with a spoon.
Remove from the heat and let the mixture sit in the saucepan for 15 minutes. Then add the mustard, vinegar, honey, ketchup, salt and pepper to taste, stirring to combine. Transfer to a blender and puree, or use an immersion blender in the saucepan to puree until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
To serve, warm the sauce. For a thinner sauce, add water, apple juice, if desired, or the cooking juices from whatever main ingredient the sauce is being served with.
Recipe Source:
From In Season columnist Stephanie Witt Sedgwick.
kjgibson at 1:47PM on 05/09/08
Here's another duck salad recipe I clipped but I didn't save the source. Had to be a weekly food section from either the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times or New York TImes. You should be able to adapt this with the rhubarb sauce I just posted.
2 boneless duck breasts, skin on (about 12 to 14 ounces each)
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 1/2 tablespoons good sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup good olive oil
3 heads Belgian endive
3 ounces mache or other delicate baby lettuce
Navel oranges, peeled, cut in 1/2, and sliced
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
1 cup toasted whole pecan halves
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the duck breasts on a sheet pan, skin side up. Sprinkle with salt and roast for about 20 minutes, until medium-rare. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and discard the fat and skin on top (unless you're making cracklings), slice the duck, and then cut the slices crosswise into julienned pieces.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the shallots, sherry vinegar, orange zest, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Whisk in the olive oil and set aside.
For the salad, trim the bottom half-inch from the endive and cut them diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Separate the leaves and discard the cores. Place the slices in a large salad bowl. Add the mache leaves, oranges, raspberries, and toasted pecans. Toss with enough dressing to moisten. Gently toss in the warm duck meat and serve immediately.
kjgibson at 1:52PM on 05/09/08
I would just be sure to pair it with really strong flavors. Wild duck tends to have a muddy/liver-y kind of flavor.
unarata at 1:54PM on 05/09/08
Duck breast prosciutto
Ingredients
1 fresh duck breast
approx:
1/2 cup whole black peppercorns
1/2 cup whole white peppercorns
1 clove
1 bay leaf
Dried citrus rind (orange, tangerine, grapefruit, whatever)
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
Dried Thyme, rosemary, marjoram
Kosher or coarse salt
Procedure
1. Put peppercorns, clove and dried citrus rind in the blender/food processor and pulse a few times to break them up.
Add about a half cup of the salt, baf leaf, the chili and dried herbs and pulse again to blend.
2. Pat the duck breast dry with paper towels, slice diamond patterninto the skin side
3. Rub the breast all over with the spiced salt.
4. Pour a bed of salt into the loaf pan about 1/2 inch deep.
5. Pour about 1/3 of remaining spiced salt on the salt bed.
6. Place breast in loaf pan on the spiced salt.
7. Cover with remaining spiced salt.
8. Cover with clean salt as need to completely submerge the breast.
9. Cover in plastic wrap.
10. Refrigerate for 48 hrs. or until the breast is very firm
11. Remove the breast from the salt, and brush off as much of the spiced salt as you can, but dont really worry about getting it all off. The meat will have deepened in color to an almost black mahogany color, and should feel firm when squeezed
12. Unfold your cheesecloth, cut a rectangle large enough to wrap the breast in two layers of cheesecloth. You want it to breathe.
13. Tie it with butchers twine to close the bundle
14. Hang it somewhere cool dark and drafty, with some humidity.
15. Forget about it for about 2 weeks.
After two weeks, take it down and cut a piece of and test it. It should be pretty dry all the way through, basically having the same consistency as prosciutto. If it's still too moist inside, wrap it back up and let it dry for another week. I let mine hang for almost two months and it was great.
When it's ready, cut it as thinly as possible, if you have one, on a deli-meat slicer. Cut it the long way.
It's great on it's own, or any way you would serve prosciutto: with julienned pears, melon, with cheese, wrapped around scallops, whatever you like.
That's what I would do if I had a ton of duck breasts that needed to be preserved quickly. Cheap and easy to make, delicious, and on a menu, a very chic and high ticket item. Especially with spring here and summer coming, you can use this to pair with fruit and veggies for dynamite salads and sandwiches. Think smoked mozzarella, duck prosciutto, basil, olive oil and oven roasted garlic sandwich for example...
simon at 2:02PM on 05/09/08
oh, and i forgot, lasts forever.
simon at 3:22PM on 05/09/08
another idea, since you do pizza, would be to make duck sausage. really really good and would work in more ways than just as a pizza topping. i dont have access to my recipes right now, but will post one later. they are pretty quick and easy to make too, and if you make a dry salami lasts forever too.
simon at 10:42PM on 05/09/08
Marinate them----1 part soy, 1 part worchestshire, 2 parts appropriate wine, garlic or shallots--will help tame any gaminess. Then grill & use on salad--w/ cherries & goat cheese or on pizza. Ask Cookey
Ask Cookey at 12:31AM on 05/10/08
Thanks for the great idea simon!
HoustonJoe at 4:37PM on 05/11/08
simon - that sounds fabulous - I'm definitely going to try this.
kittie at 9:49AM on 05/12/08