Five Spiced Duck Breast With Bok Choy And Gai Larn Recipes

Steps:

• Place the duck breasts skin-side down on a cutting board and trim any excess skin that hangs over the sides of the breasts. Flip the breasts over and score the skin with four parallel, diagonal cuts. Dust the breasts on both sides with the five-spice powder.
• Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-low heat. Place duck breasts in the pan, skin-side down, and cook until the fat has melted and the skin is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Flip the breasts over and continue to cook for about 10 minutes for medium doneness. Remove the duck to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes (this ensures the duck will be plump and juicy). To serve, cut the breasts into 1/4-inch-thick slices and spread out in a shingle pattern on a large platter.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl mix together the salt, ground black pepper, thyme, and rosemary; set aside. This will be your spice blend for seasoning the roasted potatoes and the duck breasts.
• Place cubed potatoes into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of your spice blend over the top of the potatoes. Toss the potatoes in the pan until they are evenly coated with oil and seasonings. Spread into a single layer across the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
• While the potatoes are roasting, stir together the blueberries, water, apple juice, sugar, and jalapeno in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low, and simmer until the mixture has reduced to the consistency of syrup, about 10 minutes.
• Cook the pancetta in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove the pancetta to drain on a paper towel, leaving the drippings in the skillet. Add the shallots and the mushrooms to the hot skillet; stir and cook them until soft and just beginning to brown. Remove the shallots and mushrooms and set aside. Increase heat to medium-high and place the bok choy in the hot skillet. Stir and cook the bok choy until the leaves are wilted and the white stalk pieces are tender, about 5 minutes. Return the shallots, mushrooms, and pancetta to the skillet, turn off the heat and set aside.
• Rinse the duck breast halves and pat dry. Rub the remaining spice blend onto both sides of the duck breasts. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat, when the pan is hot put in the vegetable oil and butter. Immediately place the duck breasts in the pan, skin and fat side down. Do not move the duck breasts until the skin is deep brown, about 5 minutes. Turn the breasts and cook until the internal temperature of the thickest part is 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for well done. Remove the duck from the pan and place on a plate, covered with foil to rest for 5 minutes. While the duck is resting, place the skillet with the bok choy mixture onto a burner over medium heat to warm through.
• Slice each duck breast diagonally into 1/2 inch strips. Divide the bok choy mixture among four plates and drizzle each serving with 1/2 tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar. Arrange the sliced duck breasts on top of the bok choy mixture; ladle on blueberry sauce. Serve with oven-roasted potatoes on the side.

Steps:

• Trim duck breasts as necessary, removing extraneous fat or gristle. Score the skin side of the breast diagonally with a sharp knife.
• Season both sides of the duck breasts with salt, then sprinkle both sides evenly with five-spice powder. Mix together ginger and garlic and use it to slather the breasts. Cover and let marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature. (Alternatively, wrap and refrigerate for several hours, or even overnight; bring back to room temperature before cooking.)
• Place a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, lay duck breast in it skin-side down. Let sizzle gently for 7 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden, adjusting heat as necessary to keep from getting too dark too quickly. Turn breast over and cook 3 to 5 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer should register 125 degrees for medium rare. Remove from pan and let rest for 10 minutes on a warm plate. Drain fat from pan (reserve for another use if you wish).
• Make the sauce: Over medium heat, add shallots to same pan and cook until softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add sherry vinegar, brown sugar and half the blackberries, stirring until sugar is dissolved and berries have released their juice. Add chicken broth, raise heat and simmer rapidly until liquid is reduced by half and a bit syrupy. Strain the contents of the skillet into a small saucepan and keep warm.
• To serve, slice duck breast thinly across the grain on a diagonal and arrange on a platter. Spoon the sauce over the meat and garnish with the rest of the blackberries.

Steps:

• In a large, heavy self-sealing plastic bag, combine the garlic, ginger, five-spice powder, salt, and pepper. Add the duck breasts, seal, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas 6. In a large ovenproof sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Sear the duck breast, skin side down, for 5 minutes; turn and sear for 5 minutes on the other side. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 5 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer the duck breasts to a plate and keep warm.
• To make a balsamic jus, pour off the fat from the pan. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the wine, and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook to reduce the wine by half. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook to reduce for several more minutes.
• Cut the duck breasts into diagonal slices and serve drizzled with the balsamic jus.

Steps:

• Cut diagonal slits in the skin being careful not to go all the way through to the flesh (not too far apart as these will be the size of slices, you will slice the duck when finished.) Rub five spice over breasts.
• Heat a pan and add duck skin side down cook for 8-10 minutes to crisp up skin and render fat. Place breasts on a wire rack in an oven proof dish. Cook in pre-heated oven 180ºC for about 25 minutes, or until cooked as desired.
• Remove duck from oven, allow to rest for about 5 minutes then slice along slits.
• While the duck is cooking cut the ends off of the bok choy and trim gai lan, in a large pan or wok, add soy, garlic, star anise and gai lan stir-fry a few minutes.
• Add water, bok choy, chicken stock and sugar stir-fry a few minutes more and then add onions and cook about a minute more remove vegetables to warm serving plates. Mix a little water with the cornflour and add to sauce, thicken slightly. (sauce will not be too thick it is not meant to be.) If not using a wok you will probably have to cook the vegetables longer as regular pans do not get as hot as woks.
• To Serve: Arrange vegetables on a plate, top with duck breast and drizzle sauce around plate. Decorate with some star anise if desired.

Steps:

• Combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, five spice powder, dry mustard and some salt and pepper in a bowl. Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the duck so it has a 1/4-inch diamond pattern. Rub the spice mixture all over the duck.
• Heat a grill to medium (make sure it's not too hot since the key is to cook duck slowly to render the fat) and wipe down the grates with an oiled towel. Place the duck skin-side down on the grate and cook until the skin is seared and the fat is rendered, 4 to 5 minutes. (If there are occasional flare-ups from the fat, move the duck around on the grill to a new spot away from the flame each time.) Flip the duck over and place on a cooler part of the grill. Cook for an additional 5 minutes for medium-rare. Let rest for 5 to 7 minutes before cutting against the grain into thick slices.