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May 2009
Duck Breast with
Cherries
Magret de Canard aux Cerises
photo by France Ruffenach
Thanks to the popularity of foie gras, we have magret—the robust
breast meat of a fattened duck (the legs go for Confit). Magret
has become an up-market steak, particularly in southwestern
France, and in the pan behaves very much the same way. When
pleasantly pink, the meat is rich and juicy, but be warned that
overcooked magret tastes, and cuts, like shoe leather. I like it
best with a sauce of seasonal fruit, starting with springtime
cherries, moving through apricots, tart berries such as
blackcurrants, to apples, figs, and winter dried fruits. All of
them can be substituted for cherries in this recipe. An
appropriate wine would be a fruity Merlot or Gamay. In general, a
magret serves one person, but a very large one can sometimes be
enough for two.
Serves 2 to 3
Cherry Sauce
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8 ounces/225 grams
cherries, pitted
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1 cup/250
milliliters/8 fluid ounces fruity red wine
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2 tablespoons red
currant or raspberry jelly
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1/3 cup/75
milliliters/2 1/2 fluid ounces red wine vinegar
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2 garlic cloves,
finely chopped
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2 tablespoons tomato
paste
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3 tablespoons/45
grams/1 1/2 ounces cold butter, cut in cubes
Put the cherries in a small saucepan with the wine and red currant
jelly and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are
just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Set the pan aside. Trim excess fat
from the magrets, then crosshatch the skin, cutting down almost to
the meat so fat can escape; sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
Heat a heavy-based, dry frying pan over medium heat, add the
magrets skin side down, and fry until the skin is very brown and
crisp, 5 to 7 minutes or longer if necessary, to extract as much
fat as possible. Turn and brown the other side, 2 to 3 minutes.
Test a magret by poking the center with the point of a knife to
see the color of the meat; if it is too rare for your taste,
continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes, but remember it will be very
tough if overcooked. When done, set the magrets aside on a
chopping board, skin side up. Cover them loosely with aluminum
foil to keep warm.
Discard excess fat
from the pan, add the vinegar, and boil until reduced to about a
tablespoon, stirring to dissolve pan juices. Whisk in the garlic
and tomato paste. Drain in the wine, keeping back the cherries.
Boil until the wine is slightly syrupy and reduced by more than
half, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cherries and heat them gently.
Take the pan from the heat and stir in the cold butter, piece by
piece. Taste, adjust seasoning of the sauce, and set it aside.
Carve the magrets on the diagonal in thin slices. (You can discard
the crisp skin if you must, but what a pity!) Pile a mound of
arugula leaves at the side of two serving plates. Arrange the duck
slices overlapping on the plates, add the cherries, and spoon the
sauce on top. Serve at once.
Excerpted from THE COUNTRY COOKING OF FRANCE
by Anne Willan, Chronicle Books, 2007.
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