Roasted Duck Breast with Cardinal Puree

Prepare to be blown away by this exquisite Duck en Duo Entrée! A delightful combination of a crispy duck confit samosa and succulent roasted duck breast awaits you, beautifully presented with cardinal puree, edamame, roasted pears, and a rich duck jus. With the option to pair this dish with a variety of seasonal fruits such as peach, cherry, fig, apricot, pear, orange, apple, and quince, the flavors are as diverse as they are delicious. Join me in exploring the art of creating a harmonious balance of flavors and textures in this exceptional dish. Stay tuned for the full video recipe to discover the secrets behind this culinary masterpiece!

Please note that the full access to this content needs a subscription: please sign up.

Duck duo

This recipe is a protected and only available for paid members. To obtain the full step by step recipe and detailed ingredients list, please sign up.

Preview the recipe

Duck Confit

The best and easiest way to shred meat from duck confit is to do it about an hour after being cooked.

How To Prepare Duck Breast

Pat dry duck breast. Trim off some excess fat (save it for the sauce), blood spots and sliver skin (discard). Use a sharp knife so as not to stretch the skin. Be careful not to nick the flesh. This technique maximizes tenderness, intensifies the flavor and makes the skin crispy. Refrigerate meat fat side up and uncovered for 12 to 48 hrs before cooking.

Duck Sauce

Chicken demi-glace can be substituted for a cup/250ml chicken stock (if using stock, do not add water to the sauce). Carefully loosen duck leg skin by running your thumb under; save it for duck skin chips. Remove and shred duck meat and save bones and cartilages for the sauce and shredded meat for the samosas.
Peel and cut carrot into small cubes and chop shallots. In a saucier or saucepan, melt butter and sear duck bones and scraps for 5 mins or so.
Add crushed garlic, zest, spice, bay leaf, carrots and shallots. Cook for a few minutes and add liquids: port, chicken demi-glace and water or stock and duck jus/juice. Add enough liquid to cover the bones. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 90 mins or so. Pass liquid through a sieve and continue to cook the sauce on low, and skim off impurities and foam that accumulates around the edge of the pan. After 20 mins or so, readjust seasoning. Let cool off and refrigerate completely. Remove fat and discard. Store sauce in refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for later use.

Duck Confit Samosas

Duck confit samosas can be prepared in advance and kept frozen for later use. Cut feuille de brick pastry in 2 and fold one side over to form a neat rectangle. Scoop out about 2 ounces/60g of shredded duck confit meat and fold it along the line of the fold. So that it creates a perfect equilateral triangle and glue the lip with egg whites or egg yolks and seal. Repeat until done and keep samosas refrigerated. Cook samosas in duck fat or in clarified butter for about 5 mins on both sides until golden brown and crispy.

Cardinal Puree

Puree cardinal can be made in advance. Reheat before pureeing. Rinse and peel carrots and clean beets. Place beets in the saucepan first and top with carrots and cover with neutral oil. Cook on low heat until tender. After 30 mins or so, check carrots doneness. Remove carrots if already cooked. Peel beets while still warm, and cut into chunks.
Puree hot beets along with the carrots, add cold butter and a splash of cointreau or orange juice. Do no add too much liquid, the cardinal puree should not be runny. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.

Edamame

Cook frozen or fresh edamame in salted water for 5 minutes or so and drain. Reheat and season with olive oil, salt and pepper before serving.

Duck Skin Chips

Sandwich duck skins between 2 parchments and baking trays. Put some weight on top and cook in the oven at 450ºF/230ºC for 25 mins until golden brown and crispy. Do not hesitate to add extra cooking time if needed.

Honey Roasted Pears

Peal, core and cut pears into wedges. In a hot frying pan, give pears a quick caramelization with the oil, honey, sugar, star anise and vanilla. Then deglaze pan with the apple cider vinegar and cook until most of the moisture is gone. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Save the pan for the duck sauce later.. it will add a wonderful sour and of sweet touch.

How To Cook Duck Breast

Duck breast is supposed to be cooked like a steak and medium (rosé). That means the proper internal temperature of a duck breast, after the meat rests, is between 125°F/140°F (51ºC/60ºC). Leave meat out for an hour prior to cook. Season generously with kosher salt or fleur de sel on the fat side and a bit less on the meat side. Cook duck breast on low heat fat side down for 8 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Then remove ⅔ of the rendered fat (save it) and flip the meat and continue to cook for an additional 8 min on low. If duck breast is seared at a higher temperature, the flesh quickly cooks before enough fat has rendered out, leaving you with a thick, flabby layer of fat over tough meat.
Transfer meat to another baking tray to rest for 5 to 10 mins max. Save bits in pan for the final sauce.

Final Sauce

Deglaze the pan with duck sauce in which the duck breast was cooked. Add the rendered juice from the breast and bring to a boil. Now, pour this sauce to the pan in which pears where roasted. Taste and readjust seasoning if needed. The sauce is ready!...
Cut duck breast and season with black ground pepper and fleur de sel.

Plating

Reheat roasted pears and cardinal puree. Pipe out a dollop of cardinal puree on the corner of the hot plate and spread it out using a small offset spatula. Arrange 3 honey roasted pear wedges artfully per plate. Garnish with edamame and add the duck breast (half per serving). Add the pan-seared samosa, add some chopped roasted pears as well, add more cardinal puree if desired, a couple of duck skin chips and the sauce. Enjoy!