Duck with Cold Sesame Noodles

Duck with Cold Sesame Noodles

I was running on the tread mill at the gym and watching Foodnetwork when I caught the very end of one of Tyler Florence’s Ultimate shows.  Since I was only watching without sound, I had no idea what he actually made, or how difficult it was to prepare, I just knew it looked…scrumptious!

I sent Cook a text to DVR it for me, but alas I got home and no show.  A few days later they were re-running the exact same episode and this time I found out that Tyler was making Duck Breast with Cold Sesame Noodles.  Well, Cook wasn’t so sure about duck breast (he had never had duck before), but he is always up for trying something new. The perfect time came along to try our hand at duck… quack quack!

So, while family was visiting for the holidays, we decided to try these out and w-o-w!  They were fantastic.  The duck was straightforward and yet so good–not greasy at all in case you’re wondering.  To Cook’s surprise it was a completely different flavor than chicken, more like a steak. Who knew? I think this will be one of our favorite entertaining dishes going forward.

What you need…

2 duck breasts ~skin on (about 1 -1/4 pounds total)

Salt

Pepper

Sesame Oil

What to do… (yep, that’s all the ingredients you’ll need for the duck)

Put the duck breasts on a cutting board with the skin up.  Score all over the the fat in a criss-cross pattern.  Go one direction first, and then cut the opposite direction to create small tiny squares on the fat.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.  Add the breasts to a pan* over medium heat, skin side down, and cook slowly for about 12-15 minutes until the fat is rendered and the skin is brown and crispy.  Occationally spoon the fat out into the bowl.  Turn the breasts and cook 1 to 2 more minutes for medium-rare. **  Transfer duck to cutting board to rest.

To serve, cut the duck crosswise, on an angle into 8 slices each.  Mound the sesame noodles *** between bowls and lay the duck up against the noodles.

This dish has great presentation and great taste.  If you haven’t ever tried duck, do. I don’t think you will be disappointed!

* We used a grill pan and that worked wonderfully to keep the fat drained off the meat.  It seared really nicely and I would definitely try to use a grill pan again.

**I think we cooked it for 5-6 more minutes before we took it off and it looked medium rare.  Keep an eye on the edge of the duck and you will see the meat cooking up into the center part of the duck. How long you cook it depends on the way your duck is cut and also your apetite for medium rare meat.

*** Sesame noodle recipe follows in separate blog entry. Don’t miss it!