This Duck breast with Orange Risotto is one of my favourite recipes… I had never tried to cook duck breast like this until recently and I’m starting to get it just right 🙂
Back home I would have it like this if eating out but, at home, duck was only used to make the most delicious baked rice. But I don’t dare trying to do it myself as it is one of my mum’s specialties 🙂 and I want it to be one of the things I’m looking forward when I visit home.
So one day I saw these really nice looking duck breasts at the supermarket and I though I should at least try 🙂 But I had no clue where to start as I always heard it was hard to get it right. And I was scared to over cook it which apparently is so easy to happen.
I made some research on the internet and came across several cooking methods and everyone had their own tricks. I started with the most simple recipe I found which is this one. There’s been some evolution since then, but you will have to stay tuned to check out my other “duck breast” experiences 🙂
Duck breast with Orange Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 duck breasts with skin on
- Juice of 1 orange
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the risotto:
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- Juice and rind of 1 orange
- 50 ml white wine
- 1 liter of water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven - 180C
Start by preparing the risotto as it takes longer to complete:
- Boil the water with the orange peel and leave it to infuse on a low heat
- In a saucepan, place the butter and saute the onion and garlic. Then add the rice, mix well and let fry for a few minutes.
- Add the wine, reduce the heat and keep stirring until all the wine is absorbed by the rice.
- Start adding the orange "broth", adding more only when the rice has absorbed the broth you added previously.
- Season with salt and pepper
- When the rice is cooked and creamy, add the Parmesan cheese and orange juice. Stir well and let it stand for 1 minute before serving.
For the duck:
- With a sharp knife, score the fat of each duck breast into a cross-hatch pattern. Rub salt and pepper making sure you season all the meat.
- Heat a heavy based ovenproof frying pan (if you do not have an ovenproof pan, just use a normal one and later transfer the meat to a baking tray). Do not add oil to the pan.
- Place the duck breasts skin-side down in the hot pan. Cook until most of the fat has run out into the pan and the skin is golden.
- Turn the duck over and add the orange juice to the pan. Mix to combine the juice with the fat duck and let it cook for 2 minutes (if the duck released too much fat, remove part of it so the sauce is not too greasy)
- Place the pan in the oven to finish to your liking. I prefer mine medium-rare so I left it in the oven for about 10 min.
- Remove the duck from the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes covered with aluminum foil.
- Serve sliced, on top of the risotto, drizzled with the sauce.