the perfect duck breast
For nye dinner we went date night-in chic with duck breast!
Break down below…
The night before I scored the fat, carefully not going through the meat.
Heavily seasoned with salt & pepper and let it sit uncovered overnight to dry out the skin, so I would get a super crispy skin!
Pre-heated my oven to 400 degrees.
Placed the duck breast skin side down in a cold cast iron pan then slowly increased the heat to about medium to let all that duck fat tender and let the skin get crispyyyyyyy (it took about 6ish minutes). You are basically cooking the duck, skin side down for 90% of the time.
Flipped it and let it cook on the other side for about 1-3 minutes.
Transferred to my oven for about 8 minutes until the internal temp of the duck was 145 degrees for a perfect medium!
Let the duck breasts rest for 5 minutes before slicing!
Balsamic Cherry Reduction
1 cup thawed frozen cherries
1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
about 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Directions
In the same cast iron pan that you use to cook the duck breasts, empty out about half of the duck fat and reserve for some crispy potatoes…yum!
On medium heat, sauté the chopped shallot for about two minutes until soft.
Add the honey and let it come to a bubble then stir to combine with the shallots.
Add the balsamic vinegar & cherries.
Let is simmer for about 5-7 minutes until the balsamic is reduced and a thick consistency!