Duck Breast with Blueberry Sauce

I love duck. If we go out for a nice dinner and duck is on the menu, I will order it. For our only dine-in meal in Paris, of course, I ordered the duck. It cost me 18 Euros and I have to say it was not the best I have ever had.

A few years ago, I took a French cooking class at the Dirty Apron and duck was one of the menu items. I had not made it since because it is hard to find in Vancouver and it’s expensive… if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some.

But duck is in abundance here in France! Of course, I had to. For 12 Euros, I was able to make duck for the whole family.

Duck Breast with Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients

4 5-6oz duck breasts
Salt & pepper
1T cold butter
1 large shallot minced
2T burgundy or red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup blueberries
1 sprig fresh thyme
1-2t sugar
1T cold butter

Instructions

1. Score the duck skin by diagonal crisscrosses. Salt and pepper the duck.
2. Heat a heavy frying pan on medium/high heat. Melt 1T butter in the pan and place duck, skin side down, in the pan. Sear until skin is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn the duck over and cook for another 4 minutes for medium rare. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Discard the drippings from the pan, leaving about 2T. Turn the heat down to medium. Add shallot and cook for 30 seconds. Add wine to deglaze the pan for 30 seconds. Add blueberries, sugar (amount depending on sweetness of blueberries), chicken broth and thyme, stirring often until reduced to a glaze, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the butter.
4. Slice the duck thinly at an angle. Fan slices out on a plate, spoon the sauce over top and serve.

Hope you’ll give this a try. Please let me know how it goes in the comments below. Bon appétit!