I grew up eating Peking Duck at Chinese restaurants with my family but only recently have I tried making duck at home. My mom got me some duck legs at the Asian market and I kept them in the freezer. Tonight, I decided to braise them in a red wine and cranberry mixture. I also added some Cayenne for a lil bit of heat and the meat was falling off tender after 2 hours. SO SO good and definitely worth the time and effort!
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large whole duck legs
Salt and pepper
1/2 c dry red wine
1/2 c onions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 c dried cranberries
1 c chicken broth
Couscous, for serving
Prep:
1. In a Dutch oven, heat oil on medium-high heat. Season duck with salt and pepper. Add to the pan, skin sides down, and brown for 10 minutes. Turn over and brown another 10 minutes. Transferring to a plate.
2. Add wine and deglaze, scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon. Boil wine until reduced to half. Add onion and brown 5 minutes. Add garlic, cayenne, thyme and 1/4 cup cranberries. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Return duck legs, skin sides up, and add broth. Bring mixture to a simmer and turn heat down to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Turn legs over and simmer for 1 more hour or under meat is very tender. Remove legs to serving platter.
4. Turn heat up to high and add remaining 1/4 cup cranberries. Boil until slightly thickened and fruit is softened, about 5 minutes.
We LOVE Tres Agaves and go there at least every other week. We've probably tried just about every item on their menu and our favorite has got to be the Duck Confit Tacos. They come with this addicting sweet and spicy Pineapple-Avocado Salsa with Serrano Chiles and are just SO GOOD! The last time we ate them, Greg suggested that I should try recreating them at home and you know I can't turn down a challenge like that! I did some research on how to make Duck Confit and decided to try this easy method from Simply Recipes. It took a while for the duck to cook but the meat became so tender and the whole apartment smelled amazing! As for the salsa, I followed Melissa D'Arabian's recipe and substituted Serrano Chile for the Jalapeno. For the tacos, I stuffed small tortillas with shredded duck meat, topped with shredded Mexican cheese, and pan-fried them a few minutes to melt the cheese. Then I served the tacos with Pineapple-Avocado Salsa on top. I was VERY proud of myself and Greg claimed that they were even better than Tres Agaves and that's saying a LOT!
Pineapple DUCK Fried Rice! Ever since I made my Pineapple Fried Rice with BBQ Pork and Shrimp, Greg's been asking me to make some more. So when my mom got me a Roasted Duck from the Asian market, I knew EXACTLY what to do with it! The thing about Roasted Duck though is you really don't get much meat out of them. There's a lot of yummy skin and fat but I was only able to get about a cup of actual meat from the entire animal! The meal turned out great though, a lil bit sweet from the pineapples, some heat from the Chili Sauce and lots of yummy Roasted Duck flavor!
Ingredients: (2 servings)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 c cooked rice
1 c roasted duck meat
1 c pineapple chunks
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chili sauce
2 Tbsp pineapple juice
1 Tbsp sesame oil
Prep:
1. Heat the oil in a large pan or Wok. Add the green onions, ginger and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 2 minute.
2. Add the rice, duck and pineapple. Stir until rice is lightly browned, about 5 minutes, breaking up any lumps.
3. Pour in the eggs, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce curry powder, chili sauce and pineapple juice. Stir until egg is set, about 2 minutes. Drizzle sesame oil on top before serving.
My mom bought me some duck legs from the Asian market and I was SO grateful! Greg LOVES duck but I've only been able to find duck breasts and he likes dark meat a lot more so I was really excited to try these! I was watching Simply Ming over the weekend and his Coconut Cranberry Chicken was the inpiration for my dish. I served the legs over some boxed Curry-flavored Couscous and it couldn't be easier. Greg took 1 bite and said it was the BEST duck he'd ever had and that's saying a lot coming from someone who orders duck whenever it's on the menu!
Ingredients: (2 servings)
2 duck legs with thighs attached, skin-on, bone-in
1 small onion, sliced
1 Tbsp minced ginger
2 Tbsp curry powder
1 c unsweetened coconut milk
1 c water
2 Tbsp oil
Prep:
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Sear the duck, skin-side down, until browned, about 10 minutes. Flip and brown the other side for about 5 minutes. Remove duck.
2. Add the onions, ginger and curry powder. Sauté until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add coconut milk, water and duck. Bring to a simmer and cook duckthrough, about 45 minutes.
Greg will NEVER pass up Duck Curry if it's on the menu so I finally decided to try it at home. I went to an Asian Supermarket while visiting my mom today and bought a Roasted Peking Duck. I also picked up some Red Curry Paste and Coconut Milk but then realized that I had a bottle of Red Curry Sauce from Trader Joe's sitting in the cabinet. Since I'd been traveling the last 4 days (and had a TON of Christmas presents to put away!), I decided to take the easy route. That sauce did NOT disappoint! (How does Trader Joe's do it EVERY single time?) And the best part? Dinner was ready in 10 minutes! I just deboned the duck, reheated it with the sauce and served it over some rice that I also picked up from the supermarket. DONE! (Do you like the cute Asian-style bowl that I got from Pier One?)
It's Greg's big 34th tomorrow and we're going to Ovo, the new Cirque du Soleil show that's playing in SF. (SO excited about that!) I decided to make him a special early birthday dinner featuring duck (his favorite)! I had called a bunch of grocery stores and finally found duck breast at Whole Foods so I went on Sunday and picked up a nice big piece. Then I went online and, after much research, found this recipe for Sautéed Duck Breast and thought it was just PERFECT! I had also picked up 2 bottles of the Cakebread Pinot Noir that we loved so much from Thanksgiving so the sauce was a perfect match. I used regular mushrooms instead of the "wild" varieties in the recipe (that's what I had in the fridge) and Turning Leaf Pinot Noir for the wine. (Hey, I wasn't about to cook with a $60 bottle of wine!) I served the duck over some Israeli Couscous and Greg LOVED it! I love making gourmet meals at home and now our entire place smells like duck! Happy Early Birthday Honey!
