Orange Balsamic Seared Duck Breast

By Mangia Paleo January 16, 2014 Recipes 6 Comments

Cooking duck has always been very intimidating to me. Especially considering I’ve never done it until now. I mean, those little guys you feed bread to at the park?… HOW COULD I? Then again, that damn Alfac duck.Throwing that guy in a frying pan would shut him up, right? HAHAHA. I just quack myself up sometimes.

I found duck breast at Stop and Shop and thought, “This sounds like it will be an adventure”. With the help of google, my brother, and advice from WWJME, I was able to successfully cook a duck breast for the first time. The key is rendering the fat correctly. That’s what gives you the crispy skin instead of the fatty chewy mess. Duck pairs great with acidic sweetness like orange and balsamic, hence the following ingredients!

Ingredients:

1 boneless duck breast

1/8 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp garlic

2 tbsp orange juice

APPLE BEET ORANGE SALAD

1 apple

1 orange

2 roasted beet root

1 tsp honey

Peel and chop the fruit. Toss with honey.

GREEN BEANS

Green beans, olive oil, and garlic. Sauté until tender. SIMPLE!

ORANGE BALSAMIC REDUCTION

Add 1 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/3 cup orange juice to a small frying pan. Heat on medium-low until the liquid concentrates to about half the original amount.

Directions:

Score the fat in a criss-cross motion so that the fat looks like it has Xs in it. Make sure you don’t pierce the meat while doing so.

Season with 1 tbsp orange juice, paprika, ginger, and garlic.

Place duck breast fat side down in a cast iron pan on medium heat for a few minutes. Then the rest of the way on medium-low. Cook until the fat is rendered and deliciously crispy. This part takes patience.Then flip over and finish cooking the other side. Pour the other 1 tbsp orange juice over the duck while cooking. The duck will get larger and expand when cooking.

While the duck is doing his thing, prep the balsamic reduction.

Slice thinly on a bed of orange slices and drizzle with orange balsamic vinegar reduction.

Note: This photo does not depict correctly rendered duck fat. See how it’s still kinda fatty? I got impatient and confused and the pan was getting loud and it was all just getting reduckulous in my kitchen!. So it’s supposed to be crispier than that. Ya live and ya learn, right?!

MANGIA!