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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

50ml 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.

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