Succulent Stuffed Roast Duck With Balsamic Cherry Sauce Food

SUCCULENT STUFFED ROAST DUCK WITH BALSAMIC CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375ºF.
• To prepare the stuffing: Sauté onion in butter until onion is transparent.
• Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl Add salt, and combine with rice, chopped sage and pecans.
• Taste and adjust seasoning to your taste.
• You may wish to add more salt and if you like you can add a bit of garlic pepper, but that is optional.
• Remove the bag from the duck cavity that contains the giblets and neck bone and set aside in refrigerator, you won't need it for this recipe.
• Rinse and dry the duck.
• Stuff the duck with the prepared brown rice stuffing and sew the stuffed cavity closed or secure with round tooth picks.
• Place the stuffed duck on a rack in a roasting pan breast side up and sprinkle all over top and bottom with salt and garlic pepper.
• Ducks contain lots of natural fat so require no basting.
• Roast at 375ºF for about 22 minutes a pound.
• A 6 pound duck should be done in about 2 1/4 hours.
• When duck is done let it set for about 20 minutes to let the juices settle before carving.
• While the duck is resting prepare the cherry sauce: In a medium size saucepan, combine the 15 ounce can of cherries, honey, wine, and Balsamic vinegar.
• Heat over medium flame until the mixture is reduced by half.
• Transfer to a serving touraine with a ladle.
• Place the touraine on table beside the carved Duck and let guests spoon as much sauce as they like on their portion of duck.

SEARED DUCK BREAST HALVES WITH BALSAMIC CHERRY REDUCTION

Steps:

• To prepare marinade, whisk balsamic vinegar through pepper together until combined.
• Marinate duck breast halves in a covered dish in the refrigerator for 2-10 hours, turning occasionally.
• Remove duck from marinade; reserve marinade.
• Wipe and pat duck breast halves dry with paper towels, rub on all sides with one teaspoon of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
• Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a heavy skillet on medium-high until the oil starts to smoke.
• Add the duck breast halves and cook 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
• Remove to platter and keep warm.
• Turn heat to high; add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom to release browned bits.
• Add reserved marinade and cherries and cook, stirring frequently, several minutes or until sauce has reduced by about half.
• Taste and adjust for seasoning if needed.
• Pour reduction (sauce) over duck and serve at once.

DUCK BREASTS WITH BALSAMIC CHERRY GLAZE

Steps:

• For the glaze, combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, cherries and cayenne pepper in a small saucepan.
• Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the mixture has reduced by half to form a thick, syrupy glaze; keep warm until ready to serve.
• With the point of a knife, score the skin side of the duck breasts in a crosshatch pattern, being careful not to pierce the flesh.
• Season the duck breasts with the salt and pepper.
• Preheat a dry (oil-less) saute pan over medium/high heat before adding the breasts, skin-side down.
• Cook the duck over medium/high heat approximately 6 to 8 minutes (rendering out the fat).
• Momentarily remove the duck from the pan and set the duck aside.
• Fry the sage leaves in the rendered duck fat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the leaves are crisp and dark green.
• Transfer the sage to paper towels to drain.
• Remove the excess fat from the saute pan, then add the duck (opposite side) back into the hot pan.
• Saute the opposite side of the breasts for another 3 to 4 minutes (the meat should be medium-rare).
• Remove the duck from the pan and slice the breasts crosswise or diagonally.
• For serving, arrange the slices on each plate, drizzle the duck with the warm balsamic cherry glaze and garnish each serving with two fried sage leaves.

ROASTED DUCK WITH SAGE & ONION STUFFING & APPLESAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 220°C.
• Stuffing:.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan. When the foaming subsides, add the chopped onion. Saute on a gentle heat for around 10 minutes. Cook until translucent, avoid browning.
• Take pan off heat and add all remaining ingredients.
• Mix well with your hands to incorporate the egg. If the mixture seems a little too dry, add a touch of water. If too moist, add some more breadcrumbs. It should hold its shape easily.
• Duck:.
• Cut neck off duckling, and put aside for future use in gravy (below).
• Put the stuffing inside the cavity of the duck. Close up the flaps of the cavity, securing them with toothpicks.
• Cover the duck with melted butter, and season generously with salt and pepper.
• Place the duck breast-side down (to make all the juices run into the breast, making for a more succulent final result) on a rack. Then place rack & duck in a roasting tray.
• Add a little water to the bottom of the roasting tray to prevent burning.
• Place tray in oven. Cook at 220°C for 15 minutes.
• After the 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 180C, and cook for a further 30 minutes.
• After the 30 minutes, turn duck breast-side up and continue cooking for another 60-70 minutes (still on 180°C), checking on occasion that it does not burn/is not browning too much.
• Note: While duck is cooking, make your gravy and apple sauce.
• If duck is getting too brown/dark, reduce heat to 160°C, or cover the extremities of the duck with aluminum foil.
• At the end of the cooking time, remove duck from oven. Place in a warm spot (perhaps atop an unused part of the stove) and cover with aluminum foil until serving time.
• Gravy:.
• Chop neck from (above) duckling into pieces with a meat cleaver.
• Put the pieces of neck and oil in a saucepan over the heat and allow some of the duck fat to render.
• Add roughly chopped vegetables, herbs, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt and fry for 20 minutes on medium heat, stirring regularly.
• After the vegetables and duck neck have achieved a good brown color, add enough water (or stock) to barely cover the contents of pot.
• Bring slowly to the boil, skimming any scum (bubbly impurities that gather at the surface) that appears.
• When gravy has come to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, and continue to skim scum from time to time. Keep on gentle simmer for as long as possible for the best flavor, adding a touch more water or stock from time to time if needed.
• When the duck (above) gets close to being cooked, strain the gravy through a fine sieve to remove the vegetables, herbs, etc. Push down hard using the back of a spoon so as to extract as much juice as possible. Discard vegetables (or feed to your chickens/compost heap!).
• In a clean pan, bring the strained gravy to the boil, stirring occasionally.
• When gravy has reduced by a third, thicken with cornflour dissolved first in a small amount of cold water (3-4 tablespoons). Make sure to quickly stir gravy once cornflour is added to ensure good dispersion of cornflour & smooth gravy consistency.
• Season the gravy with salt and pepper according to your personal tastes.
• You could also add some of the pan juices from the roast duck once it has finished cooking - just stir in well.
• Apple Sauce:.
• In spaces where duck and gravy are cooking & able to be left alone for a bit, prepare apple sauce.
• Peel and core the apples. Roughly chop them.
• Place apples in saucepan with all other ingredients (except lemon juice).
• Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking until the apples collapse (should take around 30 minutes). Stir frequently to prevent burning/sticking.
• When cooking has finished, take off heat and add lemon juice. Stir.
• Serving:.
• Place gravy in a sauce boat.
• Place apple sauce in a bowl/boat.
• Carve the duck.
• Enjoy!
• This dish is excellent when served with additional accompaniments like roasted new potatoes, pumpkin, minted peas, blanched green beans, honeyed carrots, etc.