Duck With Sour Cherries


Sour cherries are a popular addition to meals on the Continent of Europe just like the addition of fruit to meat meals is popular in North Africa (I'm thinking of lamb and apricots). There's not enough of it going on so I tried to match duck with a few soured cherries. We tend to fight shy of duck - it's fatty (yes, so eat very little of it but don't run away from it either - the French eat plenty of duck and live long healthy lives), it's complicated to cook (it isn't). It worked out pretty well.
My butcher sells imported French ducks breasts. I used two in this recipe.

You need:

Two good quality duck breasts
A cup full of sour cherries
A few drops of balsamic vinegar
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic paste or a crushed clove of garlic

Cooking the duck.
Pre-heat the oven to 190 Celsius

Prick the skin of the duck breasts with a fork.
Rub in the salt, pepper and garlic.
In a frying pan over a medium/high heat, fry the duck breast on both sides for two minutes.
If your pan is oven proof now place it in the oven for twenty minutes. If not transfer to a pre-warmed dish and put that in for twenty minutes.
After twenty minutes take the duck out, cover and leave to stand for ten minutes.

The sauce.
Drain the fat from the duck into a small saucepan. Liquidise the cherries and our into the pan with the fat. Stir while reducing. Add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and continue reducing to your taste.

Slice the duck breast into small tokens.
Dribble over the duck.

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Tags: recipes · duck · sour cherries

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