Duck With Mango On Belgian Endive Food

STUFFED BELGIAN ENDIVE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the baking dish with cooking spray.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add in the milk, whisking constantly. Allow the mixture to cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce begins to thicken, about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the mustard, garlic, and 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
• Meanwhile, cut off the woody stems of the endives and make a deep slit into them lengthwise, not quite cutting them in half. Place a small slice of cheese in the center of each endive. Season with salt and pepper and roll each endive in a slice of ham. Place the wrapped endives, seam-side down, in the prepared baking dish.
• Stir the sauce to blend the cheese into the mixture and pour over the endives. Cover with foil and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover, and add the remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Raise the heat to 400 degrees F and cook for 10 minutes more. Let cool a few minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley to garnish.
• Cook's Note: If Belgian endive is unavailable, substitute small wedges of cabbage and increase the cooking time by 10 minutes.

DUCK BREASTS WITH CORIANDER, ENDIVE, AND SWEET-AND-SOUR ORANGE SAUCE

Steps:

• For endive:
• Arrange endive in single layer in heavy large skillet; sprinkle with sugar and salt. Add juice and stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer 15 minutes. Turn endive over. Cover; simmer until tender, about 10 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer endive to plate, draining juices back into skillet. Boil juices in skillet until reduced almost to glaze, whisking occasionally, about 9 minutes. Season juices with salt and pepper. Return endive to skillet.
• For sauce:
• Stir vinegar, sugar, and coriander seeds in heavy small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil (do not stir) until syrup is dark at edge of pan and bubbles break thickly on surface, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes. Carefully add juice and stock and boil until sauce is reduced to 1 cup, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Strain sauce into another small saucepan. Add peel. Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 3 minutes. (Endive and sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately; chill.)
• For duck:
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Melt butter with oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add duck, skin side down; cook until skin is very crisp, about 5 minutes. Using tongs, transfer duck, skin side down, to work surface. Brush meat side of each duck breast with 1/2 tablespoon honey. Press 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds into honey on each breast. Discard fat from skillet. Return duck, skin side up, to skillet. Press 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds onto skin of each breast.
• Place duck in oven and roast until cooked to desired doneness, about 7 minutes for medium-rare (150°F to 160°F). Rewarm endive in covered skillet. Transfer duck to work surface. Brush most seeds off duck. Cut each breast crosswise into thin slices. Overlap slices of 1 breast on each plate. Spoon sauce over. Set 3 heads of endive on each plate.

DUCK WITH MANGO

Steps:

• Make cuts in the duck breast skin and rub with salt and pepper.
• In a preheated heavy frying pan, fry the breasts on a fairly hot heat, skin side down for about 5/6 minutes until the skin has turned golden brown.
• Turn over, lower the heat and cook for several minutes more until tender and to your own liking.
• Remove the duck from the pan, cover and keep warm.
• Skim off the duck fat from the juices in the pan, there will most likely be a lot of fat.
• Add the stock to the pan, stir to deglaze, then add the butter, chutney, orange juice and the brandy.
• Stir well, mix the potato flour with some water and add to the pan to thicken the sauce.
• Slice the duck diagonally, arrange with the mango slices on warmed plates. Pour over the sauce.

DUCK BREAST WITH BRAISED BELGIAN ENDIVE, SHAVED CAULIFLOWER AND GREEN PEPPERCORNS

Steps:

• Split and trim the duck breasts to yield 4 individual breasts. Some people remove the "tenders," as there is a small span of unchewable silver skin within, but I just leave them intact and deal with it when eating, like the fat or gristle in any steak or chop. It's just part of the deal.
• Season the duck with salt and pepper generously on both skin and flesh sides, then place breasts skin-side down in an extra-large heavy-bottomed steel pan.
• Set the pan over medium-low heat, and gently cook the duck breasts 20 to 25 minutes, skin-side down the whole time, pouring off the rendering duck fat many times along the way so that the duck does not poach or steam in its own fat. Save all of that duck fat.
• In the meantime, split the endive heads in half lengthwise, and remove any limp outer leaves. Crush the green peppercorns with the flat side of your chef's knife, then mince the crushed peppercorns further, sometimes dragging the mince under the flat side of your knife to make it into a paste, as you might with a clove of garlic.
• When the duck skin is dark golden brown and crisp and most of the white fat has rendered out, turn the breast flesh-side down. Increase heat to medium-high (you want to get a true sear and not a gray "steam"), and sear for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the flesh is golden brown. Remove the duck breasts from the pan, and set them aside in a warm place.
• Add a nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat back into the hot pan, and lay in the endive halves, cut-side down. Cook until you get a dark golden sear on the cut sides of the endive, about 3 minutes. Turn the endives over onto their rounded backs, and add the cauliflower, shallot and peppercorn paste to the pan.
• Add back in another nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat, and stir together as best as you can without disturbing the endive. You can move it to the side and give yourself some room for stirring and cooking the cauliflower. You want to make sure the cauliflower and the shallots have contact with the fond (the fat, salt and pepper that have been left behind from the cooking of the duck breasts) in the pan.
• Add the chicken stock and the sherry or vermouth, and partly cover the pan to simmer the vegetables until soft and cooked, about 4 minutes. The liquid will be absorbed, the high note of the alcohol will burn off and a loose sauce will remain when finished cooking.
• Season the vegetables with salt and pepper as needed, and drizzle some more of the rendered duck fat over the whole deal if that moves you, as it does me.
• Slice the duck breasts across at a slight bias, approximately the thickness of your pinkie, and serve each with endive and cauliflower. Sprinkle a few drops of sherry vinegar over each serving to finish.