Pan-fried duck breast in citrus sauce

Until now, I have always cooked duck breast until it was well done all the way through, whether roasted or fried, and tender. That is how I made, for example, duck with apples and dried apricots. A lengthy recipe involving over 2 hours of frying, braising and so on.

This time, inspired by a visit to the charming village of Przywidz (more about that in the recipe for homemade gnocchi) and the goose-filled pierogi served there, I decided to prepare duck breast, but faster than usual. The way they serve duck in good restaurants, either as a main course or sometimes as an ingredient in a salad. I will admit that I was experimenting a little. I had never done it this way before and wondered whether it would be raw, tough or too bloody.

All in all, lots of dark clouds looming before your eyes and putting you off giving it a try. But it worked. The duck, which I served with the gnocchi mentioned earlier and a very unusual citrus sauce, especially by Prymitywna Kuchnia standards, turned out perfectly.

Now, without a trace of modesty, I will say that you can treat this method of frying duck like the standard weight kept in Sèvres: as a benchmark 🙂 Seriously. It comes out perfectly, and I think no duck stands a chance now. Of escaping the frying pan on the grounds that there is no time.

Preparing duck this way takes literally 22 minutes. And 10 minutes of that is waiting for the duck to finish resting in aluminium foil. So there is time to make the sauce. As I said, a distinctly unusual sauce made from orange juice, grapefruit juice, honey and balsamic vinegar. All up to a good standard. Oh, what the hell, a very good one! Highly recommended.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 24 minutes

Serves: 1 breast (so generally one person, but there is enough sauce for far more portions, so simply cook more breasts; the sauce will do for at least several portions)

How many calories: quack quack

Ingredients for a wonderful, pink duck breast:

• 1 duck breast (it must have the skin on)
• 1 red grapefruit
• 1 medium orange
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar 
• 5 teaspoons of honey
• salt
• freshly ground mixed peppercorns

Recipe for perfectly pan-fried duck breast in grapefruit, orange and honey sauce:

1, Frying the duck breast:

a) I washed the duck breast, patted it dry with kitchen paper, scored the skin in a criss-cross pattern and rubbed it lightly with salt.

b) I heated the frying pan quite strongly (on my induction hob, 7 on a scale of 1 – 10, then down to 6) and placed the breast skin-side down (importantly, there was no olive oil or other oil in the pan). I fried it for 6 minutes. The fat rendered beautifully from the skin.

c) After 6 minutes of cooking on one side, I turned the breast over and fried it for 5 minutes. It is very important at this stage to use a spoon to baste the breast almost constantly with the fat rendered from the skin.

d) After 5 minutes, I turned it back onto the skin side and fried it for a minute.

e) I transferred the duck breast to kitchen paper, patted it dry and wrapped it tightly in aluminium foil. I left it for 10 minutes (during that time, I made the sauce, as described below).

f) After 10 minutes, I heated the same pan again and placed the breast skin-side down. I fried it for 2 minutes.

g) I transferred the breast back to kitchen paper, patted it dry and cut it into strips. I served it with the sauce poured over and homemade gnocchi alongside.

2. Making the orange and grapefruit juice sauce with honey and balsamic vinegar

a) I poured the juice squeezed (just by hand) from one medium red grapefruit and one medium orange into a small saucepan.

b) I added 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 5 teaspoons of honey. I stirred.

c) I brought it to the boil over a high heat, then turned the heat down and cooked it for another 5 minutes over a low heat. The sauce is ready.

A dish put together like this — perfectly pan-fried duck breast with an unusual citrus sauce poured over it — says „enjoy!” all by itself!