La Cocotte Verte

Magret of Duck with Cherry Sauce, paired with Wild Rice Pilaf with Forest Mushrooms

— Serves 4

Gamey red meat like duck pairs beautifully with a cherry sauce — the slight acidity of the fruit cuts through the richness of the meat. Red wine and shallots cooked until soft and sweet round out the sauce.

Suggested wine pairing: Pierre Amadieu Vacqueyras 2008

*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.

Ingredients

• 2 magret of Muscovy Duck (about 2 pounds total weight)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup sour cherries, or 1/2 cup dried sour cherries reconstituted with boiling
  water
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon Échiré unsalted butter

Magret

Clean the duck breasts of any excess fat and silver skin. Score the skin almost to the breast meat in a crisscross diamond pattern, which will help to render the fat and crisp the skin as it cooks.

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat so that the pan is warm but not excessively hot. The duck breasts should sizzle when they are placed in the pan, but should not start to smoke. Season the duck breasts on both sides with salt and pepper, and place them skin side down in the pan. If necessary, adjust the heat as the fat renders to ensure that it does not start to smoke. As the rendered fat accumulates in the pan, carefully spoon it off into a heatproof container. Keep rendering the skin side of the breasts until no more fat is released and the skin is crisp, 15-20 minutes.

Turn the breasts over and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and cook 5 more minutes for medium-rare breasts. Remove the breasts from the pan and let them rest for 10 minutes before beginning to slice them.

Cherry Sauce

Drain all the fat from the pan except for one tablespoon. Saute the shallots until they are golden and then sprinkle them with the sugar. When the sugar starts to caramelize add the cherries and thyme, then deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the bay leaf and reduce the liquid in the pan until the pan is almost dry. Add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil, then remove the bay leaf and whisk in the butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add any juices which have escaped from the duck breasts to the saute pan, and then place the breasts on a cutting board.

Plating the Magret

Starting at the small pointed end of the breast, slice the breast at a 45 degree angle against the grain. If you see long strands of muscle in the slices, you are not cutting the against
the grain, (the slices should be tender but not chewy), in which case start slicing perpendicularly to the previous direction. You should be able to obtain about 12 slices from each breast. Fan out the slices on individual plates, top with the sauce from the pan and serve.

Tags: cherries, duck, shallots

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Entrees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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