Sugar Glazed Duck And Exotic Fruit Food

SPICED GLAZED DUCK

Steps:

• Prep and roast duck: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Turn the duck breast side up and use a sharp knife to clip the wing tips; set them aside, along with the neck, for later. Season the inside with salt and pepper and add one star anise. Turn the duck over. Place kitchen twine under the tail of the bird, then tie the drumsticks together. Swing the twine around the edge of the drumsticks and flip over. Take the skin and lay it flat over the backbone, and tie it snugly like you would tie your shoes. Trim the loose ends and lay the duck on a roasting rack, breast-side up. (Optional: Store in refrigerator overnight to dry, which will ensure crisper skin when roasting.) Drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil over the bird and rub it into the skin evenly. Generously season with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, pour out the rendered duck fat (reserving it for later use) and return duck to the oven for another 20 minutes.
• Glaze: Pat neck and wing-tips dry; cut into 2-inch pieces. Add 1 teaspoon oil to a medium sauté pan and heat until smoking. Season duck pieces with salt and pepper and place in the hot pan. After a few minutes, when the sound of the sizzle gets louder, turn heat down to medium and flip duck pieces. Continue to cook over medium heat while preparing the vegetables.
• Dice onion and garlic; remove stems, seeds, and inner membranes from peppers and dice. Add to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook 5 minutes. Add three pods of star anise, coriander, sherry vinegar, honey, rosemary, and thyme. Slice pasilla pepper and add to the pan. Continue cooking until vinegar has almost evaporated. Add orange juice, bring to a simmer, and reduce until liquid is almost dry, 5-10 minutes. Add 2 more cups of orange juice and continue to reduce, about 10 more minutes. When the glaze has reduced to 1-1½ cups, pass through a strainer and use the back of a spoon to push out all of the liquid from the solids; remove and discard the duck pieces. Set the glaze aside.Blend the remaining solids as a condiment to serve with with the duck.
• Roast and baste duck: After an hour of cooking, remove the duck from the oven, drain the fat (reserving for later use if you wish), and place in a roasting pan. Cut away the kitchen twine and discard. Spoon half of the glaze evenly over the bird and return to oven, 5-10 minutes. Baste with remaining glaze and roast until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F, 5 more minutes. Baste with hot pan juices.
• Carve the duck: Using a sharp chef's knife, begin by cutting off the legs, then remove both breasts whole. Slice the breast meat against the grain on a cutting board, then arrange the duck on a serving platter. Finish with a drizzle of the glaze and serve with remaining glaze and blended glaze solids.

DUCK BREAST WITH POMEGRANATE APPLE GLAZE

Steps:

• For the duck breast: Heat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat and add the oil.
• Cut a crosshatch pattern into the skin of the duck breast, being careful to not cut through to the flesh. Season the skin side with the curry powder and the flesh side with some salt. Place in the pan, skin-side down. Cook, to render of some of the fat and crisp up the skin, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip, reduce the heat to medium, and cook on the flesh side for about 4 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from the pan and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes.
• For the pomegranate apple glaze: Make the sauce in the same pan used for the duck. (Wipe out the pan if you have burned bits on the bottom, and add some butter.) Place the pan over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon butter. Add the apple and onion and saute until onion is just translucent. Deglaze the pan with the pomegranate juice, then allow the juice to simmer and reduce by half. Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Taste and season with sugar if the sauce tastes too tart.
• For the julienned vegetables: Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add some oil. Add the julienned vegetables and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Slice duck breast and serve with sauce on top and vegetables on the side.

ORANGE GLAZED DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
• Pat duck breasts dry. Lightly prick duck skin surface several times with a fork to help fat cook out. In a small bowl, combine salt with the other seasonings and season the duck. Insert a pop-up thermometer at an angle, in the thickest part of the breast. Place duck in preheated oven and turn down heat to 375 degrees F. Roast for about 25 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together glaze ingredients. About 10 to 15 minutes before duck is done, pour glaze over duck and finish cooking.
• Let duck rest, tented with foil for 5 to 10 minutes before carving.

SUGAR-GLAZED DUCK AND EXOTIC FRUIT

Steps:

• To prepare the duck, place the breasts in a shallow dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Sprinkle with 4 teaspoons of sugar. Pour 1/4 cup of soy sauce over the duck. Marinate for 30 minutes, turning the breasts once.
• Preheat the broiler. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil. Arrange the pineapple in a single layer on 1 sheet and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Arrange the mango on the other sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the pineapple under the broiler until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Turn the pineapple over and broil 1 more minute.
• Meanwhile, place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Remove the duck from the marinade and coat well on both sides with the sugar.
• When the pineapple is done, remove it from the oven and place the mango under the broiler until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn off the broiler and set the baking sheets with pineapple and mango in the oven to keep warm.
• Melt the butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the duck breasts, lower the heat and cook until the sugar glaze turns a deep brown and the duck is cooked to medium rare, about 2 to 3 minutes per side, being very careful not to let the sugar burn.
• Remove the duck from the skillet and keep warm. Add 1/4 cup of soy sauce, the orange juice, vinegar and chicken broth to the skillet and simmer over medium heat for about 2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon.
• Slice the duck on the diagonal into thin slices. Remove the fruit from the oven. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fruit and divide the pineapple among 4 plates. Cross the mango slices over the pineapple. Fan the duck slices beside the fruit and spoon the sauce over the duck. Serve immediately.

DUCK WITH PASSION FRUIT & ORANGE SAUCE

Steps:

• Use a sharp knife to score the fatty skin on the duck breasts in a diamond pattern - this helps the fat to drain off. Set aside. Halve the passion fruit, scoop out the pulp into a small bowl and reserve.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat and cook the duck breasts, skin-side-down, for 5-6 mins until the skin is golden. Turn them over and cook for 6-7 mins more until tender. Take care - the fat can spit.
• Set aside the duck on two warm plates. Drain off all but 1 tbsp of duck fat and cook the garlic until it starts to turn golden - no more or it will burn and taste bitter. Stir in the passion fruit pulp, orange juice, sugar and soy sauce. Bring to the boil and let it bubble away until reduced by two-thirds, about 7-10 mins. Season, then pour in any of the juices from the duck.
• Pass the sauce through a sieve, then pick out a few of the little black pips and add them to the sauce for decoration and crunch. Spoon a little sauce around each duck breast and serve with the rocket salad and rice.

HONEY GLAZED DUCK IN GRAPEFRUIT AND GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• Prick skin on each duck breast with a fork.
• Blend the honey and soy sauce to make a glaze and brusy over the fillets.
• Set them skin side up on a rack in a roasting tin.
• Chill until ready to cook.
• To make the sauce,slice away the outer peel and white pith from the grapefruit.
• With a sharp knife, cut into the fruits between the membrane to lift out the segments.
• Reserve the fruit and any juice in a bowl.
• Put the sugar into a dry pan.
• Set over a moderate heat and stir until the sugar melts and turns to caramel.
• Draw off the heat and add the fruit juice (Cover your hand as the mixture will boil up furiously with the addition of cold liquid) Replace the pan on the heat, if they are any lumps of caramel, stir over a low heat until they dissolve.
• Add the honey, soy sauce, lemon juice and ginger.
• Stir until the mixture simmers.
• Blend the cornstarch with 2 TBS cold water.
• Stir into the pan and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens and clears.
• Remove from heat.
• heat oven to 400*F.
• Set the duck fillets in the oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes until the skins are golden and the flesh is still a little pink.
• Reheat the sauce,add the grapefruit pieces and any juices in the bowl.
• Slice each fillet lengthways into three, arrange on a heated platter and spoon over the grapefruit and ginger sauce.