Love Life, Hate Kittens

Did you know that duck is as easy to cook as steak? I never cooked duck before in my life (although I love  it) and it turned out to be the easiest alternative to a quick steak. I never cook chicken because a) it’s bland b) it’s boring. Who eats chicken besides nursing home folks? (No one.)

So he had four duck breasts left over from his cooking club and I decided to play Top Chef last night and whip up a casual Tuesday meal.

Menu: Pan seared duck breast, truffled potatos and asparagus lightly sauted in duck fat.

Truffled Potatos (20 minutes / 5 portions)

6-7 baby gold potatoes

Truffle cream

Rosemary Garlic Seasoning

Salt/Pepper

Whipping cream (half a small carton)

Butter

5 Ramekin dishes

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Slice the potatoes into thin portions and layer a single layer on each ramekin dish. Season as you’d prefer. Spread a thin layer of truffle butter on top of your potatos. Repeat potatos + seasoning + truffle layer. Fill the dishes halfway with whipping cream. Top each dish with a bit of butter and additional salt and pepper as needed.

Bake for 20 minutes or brown and toasty. :D

Seared duck (20 minutes / 2 portions)

Personal note: I had planned to make an orange sauce that went with it but it was way too sweet and wouldn’t boil down. Fortunately the duck itself was well season and could do without a sauce.

2 1/2 lb duck breasts

Thyme, Rosemary, herbs, etc

Salt and Pepper

Let duck breasts come to room temperature. Season both sides well with herbs and salt and pepper. Prepare a heavy skillet to medium high. It’s like cooking a steak. The pan needs to be super hot to get that good sear. Make sure your windows and doors are open at this point cuz duck has a lot of fat and fat burns.

In the mean time, using a sharp chef’s knife, etch the duck’s skin but don’t pierce the meat. When your pan is hot enough, place your duck skin side down and sear for 8 minutes or until golden. Use your judgement.

Like steak, you only want to turn ONCE. When you deem your duck cooked on the skin side, flip and turn the heat down just a bit to medium and cook for 10 minutes for a medium rare.

IMPORTANT: I learned this recently with steak (and watching Top Chef). You have to let your meat rest. Let the duck rest for 6 minutes so that the juices remain intact.

Asparagus (10 minutes / 2 portions)

Half a pack of Trader Joe’s precut asparagus

Salt/Pepper

A tbs of duck grease

Boil the asparagus for 7 minutes. Transfer to small skillet and cook with duck fat and seasoning. Do not overcook like I did last night :(

If you time everything correctly, everything should be done in under 30 minutes. Not bad for a nice weekday dinner :) Clean up is super easy too.

Enjoy!