Duck Breasts in Cherry Sauce
We love duck, mostly because when there is a chicken or turkey around we both go for the dark meat. Duck is mostly “dark” meat and some people find it fatty. We find it juicy and think the duck takes on so many varieties of sauces. We’ve tried Julia Child’s version (see early blog post; it was a challenge), cooking an entire duck in orange sauce. This recipe, is a simpler version, using only pre-cut duck breasts.
The beauty of this is the cherries and the port reduction. It’s finished with a bit of butter, making it an elegant weekend meal, but not entirely too difficult. As with so many of our recipes, we found this somewhere and have modified it to our own over the years.
Frozen cherries work just fine for this recipe. Thaw them in a strainer before using. They are so sweet, alongside the saltiness of the duck. Dice them into smaller pieces before cooking.
Next Chop the Shallots
Dice as finely as possible, as you will not strain them from the sauce.
To make this even simpler, sous vide the duck breasts. If you have not tried a sous vide, I highly recommend it! We use the Anova that we’ve purchased at Williams-Sonoma. It continues to get great reviews and is very easy to use. It can be found: HERE.
Our recipe for the sous vide duck is found: HERE.
After removing from the packets, simply sear a couple of minutes on each side to brown the fully cooked duck breasts. (If you don’t sous vide the duck, you simply can pan sear it browning on each side. Then it can pop in the oven for 20 minutes or so, to finish.)
After just a couple of minutes on each side, the duck breasts are beautiful and fully cooked. Set aside while making the sauce. Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel before starting the sauce.
Melt another tablespoon of butter and then add the shallots then the cherries. It will start to smell sooooo good!
Creating the Sauce
While the shallots and cherries are bubbling in the butter, add the garlic.
Then it’s time to add the honey (this is homegrown honey from our good friends bee farm!)
Next, add the port. We like a ruby port in this recipe. (Cabernet would work as well, just not as intense of a flavor). Let it reduce a bit. Then add the juices, saved from the cooked duck sous vide packets. Once that all has reduced for several minutes, the final step is to whisk in the butter. This ties together the flavors and adds a creamy richness.
Slice the Duck Breasts
We cooked to a full medium, a light pink throughout. If you desire a more medium well, adjust the temperature on the sous vide.
The combination of the salt and crispy sear on the duck with the sweet rich of the sauce, is now ready to assemble.
And, it’s ready to serve. While this does take time in the sous vide, the active time in this dish is pretty minimal. We served it simply, for two on this night. It could easily be doubled, served on a larger platter with sprigs of rosemary on the side. Great for a weekend night treat!
Duck Breasts in Cherry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 duck breasts, cooked in a sous vide. Recipe: HERE
- 1 cup of frozen cherries, thawed and diced into quarters
- 1/2 cup of chicken broth
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Port
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 2 cloves Garlic, finely minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons Butter; divided
Instructions
- If using the sous vide method on the duck, first drain juices from packets into a bowl. Set aside to use with the sauce.
- Bring a skillet to medium heat. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in the pan
- Once melted, add the sous vide duck breasts. Sear 3 minutes skin side down. Turn and then seer 2 minutes skin side up. ( The duck should be fully cooked, this is just to give a nice crispiness to the skin.) Once browned on both sides, remove and keep warm on a plate.
- In the warmed skillet add the shallots and cook 30 seconds until soften.(you may need to add a bit more butter) Add cherries incorporating into the shallots. Next, add the garlic and then the honey. Whisk all together minding the heat of the pan. Add the port and stock to the cherry mixture and whisk. Reduce for about 2-3 minutes. Add the juice from the duck packets fully incorporating with a whisk. Bring to a simmer.
- Let reduce while simmering for 10 minutes.
- After reducing, add the last tablespoon cold butter, whisk in to incorporate. Correct to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Place the duck breasts on a plate, spoon some of the sauce over the top. Serve the remaining sauce on the side if desired. Enjoy!
