Duck Breasts in Red Wine with Kumquats
Even though I haven't posted anything this week doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I've been experimenting a little more with duck (and rabbit and lamb and stuffed vegetables and cakes!). Yara placed an order with Sonoma County Poultry and I went in for one whole duck and one additional whole breast. I have had two weekends in a row of houseguests, so I wasn't up for doing a confit of the legs. Instead I made a half recipe of Canard aux Pruneaux, which was particularly delicious. (I much prefer the French name for this recipe--I could say it 100 times in a row I think. In English it is the rather dreary sounding Duck with Prunes.) I had intended to make more duck prosciutto with the breasts, but in the end I decided to cook them.
I went recipe hunting and found Duck Breast with Thyme Infused Honey. I bastardized it as follows:
Duck Breasts in Red Wine with Kumquats
--inspired by Duck Breast with Thyme Infused Honey from The Splendid Table
Four generous servings
2 whole (boneless) duck breasts, skin on and cut in half (4 half breasts)
Salt
Pepper
1 TBS duck fat (optional)
1/4 cup honey
4 small sprigs thyme
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 bay leaf
1 whole clove
1/4 cup duck stock (sub. chicken stock)
4 or 5 kumquats, sliced thin
Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper and refrigerate, covered, for as little as 1 hour to as long as 1 day in advance. Remove seasoned breasts from the refrigerator 20 minutes before cooking.
Add duck fat to the pan set over medium high heat. Let the fat get quite hot (in the absence of duck fat, just heat the pan). Place duck in the hot fat (or in the hot pan) skin side down and cook for 10 minutes or so (be warned that a lot of fat will render). Turn breasts over and cook another 7 minutes or so. You will still want the duck to be spring-y to the touch. (If you like very rare duck, reduce the time to 6 minutes on the first side and about 4 or 5 on the the second.) Remove the duck from the pan and let rest on a plate.
Meanwhile bring honey and thyme to a boil in a small saucepan. As soon as it boils turn off the heat and set aside to let the flavors of the thyme infuse into the honey.
Pour off the fat from the duck pan and discard the fat. Add the wine to the pan and deglaze scraping up all of the brown bits. Add the honey, 1/2 bay leaf, clove, duck stock and kumquats and cook down, stirring constantly, until the sauce becomes a bit syrup-y. Add the pan juices to the sauce.
Plate the duck and spoon the sauce over the meat.
You could serve this over many things including barley, farro, polenta, or wild rice. A very simple delicate salad, perhaps a bit on the bitter side, would also be a tasty accompaniment.
