Duck with Orange Gastrique

I passed by an unfamiliar butchery on a work errand downtown this week and it was such a great find! It's quite rare to find a butchery in Singapore that sells slabs of duck breast (whole duck is much more common) that I just had to pick up two pieces. Even though it meant that I had to carry the fresh meat to a work studio after and borrowed a little space in their fridge, with raised eyebrows from my colleagues no less! Heheh...

After my first attempt at roasting a whole duck , I think I deserve something easier :) Gastrique is not really anything fancy, it just means reduction of vinegar and sugar. And what could possibly go better with duck than orange (think Julia Child)! So easy is in and Julia Child is out of the question, instead I found this duck and orange recipe by Martha Stewart with just 4 ingredients yet produces maximum flavour. And you can't deny the chic factor in this dish right ;)

Ingredients
  • 2 duck breasts
  • 1 orange, zest the skin and reserve the juice
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup red wine vinegar

Directions
  1. Score the duck skin diagonally in crisscrossed lines. Careful to only slice through the skin and fats but not the flesh
  2. Season the meat with salt and pepper and place the meat skin-side down on a non-stick pan with medium heat to wring out the fats. Well, Martha Stewart calls in render the fats
  3. When a pool of fats form around the meat, flip it over and cook the other side for another minute
  4. Drain the fats and continue cooking the meat until skin is crisp and browned. Each side takes about a good 10 minutes or more (depending on your liking)
Gastrique
  1. Zest orange skin and add it to a small pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. This is to remove any bitterness from the orange
  2. Drain the water and set the orange zest aside to cool
  3. Heat sugar in a small pot over medium heat without stirring for 5 minutes
  4. Swirl the pot slightly when the sugar is starting to melt. This way the sugar can caramelise more evenly
  5. Once sugar is completely melted in dark amber hue, add vinegar and stir with a wooden spoon for 5 more minutes
  6. Pour in orange juice and zest to simmer for a good 5 minutes until reduced to thick syrup
To assemble, slice the duck meat and drizzle a little of the orange sauce over it. It's a sweet sauce (even with vinegar) so you might want to set aside the sauce so that you and your guests can spoon in more or less to their liking :)

I totally feel that the purple potato-side is the perfect choice (instead of a good ol' mash), I'm making this again this weekend and will post it up soon!
Tags: Recipe