WHB #119: The almost perfect Barbarie Duck Breast with Rosemary and Red-Wine Sauce

I have a mass of flourishing rosemary bushes around the house, most home-grown. It’s very easy to grow your own rosemary bush. Just snip about a 7 cm cutting from the soft, new growth of an established plant. Remove the leaves from the bottom and place into a container filled with sandy soil. Place the container in a warm spot with indirect sunlight. Mist the cuttings daily and make sure the soil does not dry out. In about a month the cuttings have roots.

For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Ulrike from Küchenlatein, I tested a another recipe from Das perfekte Dinner a German cooking show. In this show 5 participants are inviting each other to a „perfect“ dinner. After the dinner the guests rate the host up to 10 points.

There are different methods to prepare duck breast. I always fry it in a pan quickly and let it finish in the oven.

Now you have the possibility to finish it by 80 C for 45- 60 minutes or 100 C for 30 minutes or 120 C for 20 minutes or 180 C for 15 minutes. Normally I do it with 80 C, this time I wanted to try the 20 minutes version. Unfortunately after 20 minutes the side dishes weren’t ready and I forgot to turn off the oven. So the duck was for 25 minutes in the oven. That was too long, it was well done instead of „à point“. It’s important to observe the cooking time!

Barbarie Duck Breast with Rosemary and Red-Wine Sauce
serves 2

1 Barbarie duck breast
salt and pepper
1-2 sprigs of rosemary
1 garlic clove crushed

Glaze
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soy sauce

Red-wine Sauce
2 dl red wine
1-2 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1- 2 tbsp honey
salt and pepper

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven and an ovensafe plate to 120 C.

Score duck skin in a crosshatch pattern with a small sharp knife, making sure you don’t cut into the flesh. Season duck all over with salt and pepper
Heat a heavy frying pan and when it is really hot add the duck breast skin-side down. Turn the heat down and fry for 6 minutes or until the skin is very crisp and brown and the fat has started to melt out from under the skin. Turn the breast over and fry another 6 minutes. Place duck breast on a sprig of rosemary and a crushed garlic clove. Spread honey/soy mixture over the breast. Transfer plate to oven for 20 minutes.

While the duck is in the oven prepare the red-wine sauce: Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from pan, leaving any brown bits, add rosemary, garlic, honey and red-wine, stirring and scraping up any brown bits. Boil the sauce until it is reduced by about the half. Season with salt and pepper.

Cut the duck into slices, spoon the sauce over the duck.

More recipes and entries in English.