Honey-spice roasted duck breasts

No picture, but Lucy Vanel published one recently that looked very similar. She is a great photographer.

So we took the duck all apart and put the breasts in the refrigerator. Now we have to take them out. They need to come to room temperature, but they are easier to work with when they are quite cold.

The ingredients for four people:

2 boned duck breast halves
a mixture of salt, rosemary, garlic and pepper ground together or bought
honey

Oven should be preheated to 200°C or 400°F.

The first thing to do is to use a very sharp knife to score the skin in a checkerboard pattern. This will allow the fat to render out from under the skin as they bake. Fortunately, there is not so much fat under the breast skin, and much of it will melt away in the cooking. These are quite big and each is big enough for two. You can actually pretend this is TV now that your imagination is engaged. Now have a look at those edges. Any overhanging pieces of skin? If so, use that sharp knife to cut them away.

This recipe is so easy that it seems disgraceful to claim it. I’m going to anyway, otherwise the inventor of Hamburger Helper will get all the credit for being a time saver. Turn the breasts skin side down and sprinkle on and rub in some of the spice mixture, not a lot. Turn them back over and do the same to the skin side.

Line a shallow baking dish with aluminum foil. If you don’t you will be sorry. I used a broiling pan, but I was also making double the amount. Lay the breasts on the foil and drizzle honey over the skin, fairly lightly, just moisten it. Pop it into the hot oven. After 10 minutes or so, take it out. You should see red juices welling up through the cuts and a lot of fat melted around on the foil. Drizzle honey over it all again and put it back in the oven. Start watching the progress, because as soon as the skin becomes really golden and crisp, you must take it out of the oven. It takes perhaps 20 minutes total cooking time. The meat should be rare. The skin should look like cracklings. The smell should drive you mad. Let it sit for about five minutes, then using a very sharp knife, carve each breast into slanted slices. A garnish of rosemary branches is a reminder of what’s in there.

I served these with the Ligurian tomato salad I posted in August and the rosemary baked onions from the Slow Travel cookbook, for which there is a link to your right.

If you did not line the pan with foil, drain off the fat into the garbage and start soaking the blackened crusts of honey/fat immediately. It will take hours. Thanks to the reduced fat in duck breasts, however, a quick swish with a damp sponge will do for the oven.