Feasting on Mammoth: Duck Breast with Vegetables and Goat Cheese

By Stephen Unterberg

Recently, I’ve spent less time playing around with different flavor combinations and time-consuming recipes, and started focusing more on cooking a wide range of animal products I’m unfamiliar with in the kitchen.

Being introduced to the world of grass-fed and pastured animals has sparked a new interest of mine in the farming community and has forced me to seek out new farms in my area. My most recent cooking adventures have  been geared towards appreciating the different flavors of  pasture and grass-fed varieties versus conventional meats. I’ve also been experimenting with new animals. In order to fully appreciate these subtle differences, I’ve relied much less on complex sauces or spices – which can mask flavor -  and relied more on proper cooking technique.

The recipe below is an example of my new approach. I was strolling through Central Market and noticed individually packaged duck breast for the first time . Ok, so I will admit that these ducks are not pastured (I checked the company’s website), but they are raised very humanly and fed a decent diet (can’t be perfect all the time). The company is called Maple Leaf Farms. I am currently on the lookout for a pastured duck vendor in the area to continue fulfilling my duck cravings (which after this meal, I began having). All in all, these are the things that help keep paleo interesting, at least for me. As Jon discussed in a previous post, the point of this diet and the recipes we post aren’t attempts to create dishes that satisfy our previous addictions – paleo-this, or paleo-that, the joy comes from exploring the supermarket and farmers markets to find local, fresh ingredients and use simple techniques to create exciting and  complex dishes.

Seared Duck Breast w/ Veg and Goat Cheese

Before I go into the recipe, just a quick note on ducks – there is a large layer of fat located around the duck, and while it’s one of the more delicious fats you can enjoy, in order to crisp the skin and render the fat for other cooking purposes, you need to score the fat first (crisscrossing knife cuts while making sure not to cut through the flesh).

Ingredients:

1. Duck Breast
2. Freshly ground pepper
3. Salt

Vegetable w/ Goat cheese

1. Any vegetables of your choice (I used mustard greens, onions, mushrooms, and yellow squash
2. T fresh goat cheese (preferably raw)
3. ½ lemon

For the duck, liberally season all sides with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature while you heat a cast-iron skillet to medium-high heat. Place the duck skin side down and let sear for at least 5 minutes. Move duck to one side of the pan, and use the rendered duck fat to cook your veggies. Place veggies on the other side of cast-iron and combine with the fat. Note: I didn’t even put salt or pepper on the vegetables, because the duck fat is already salted and has a ton of flavor which I wanted to be sure to appreciate. After the duck skin looks sufficiently golden, flip the duck over so its flesh can sear. Immediately place a meat thermometer through the fat layer into the breast and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. At around an internal temperature of 120 degrees, open the oven and sprinkle the fresh goat cheese on top of the vegetables. For the perfect doneness, I would recommend removing the pan from the oven at about 130 degrees and immediately placing the duck on a cutting board to rest (the temperature should rise another few degrees which will put the duck at a perfect medium-rare). Squeeze the lemon over the vegetables and duck. After 5 minutes, neatly slice the breast on a bias and serve alongside the veg and goat cheese.

Now that I’ve made this once as simply as possible, I probably will try and incorporate a sauce along with the dish. Maybe a blueberry or blackberry balsamic reduction for some sweet and sour flavors. Anyone have a suggestion?

Last note –save your fats. I have a few packages of pastured bacon that renders out a ton of fat. So I started keeping the fat in a small Tupperware container, stored in the refrigerator. Now if I ever want a slight bacon flavor to any of my dishes, I don’t need to cook a piece of bacon in the pan first. Just a thought! In fact, I used a bit of that bacon fat to start the cooking process with the duck breast (forgot to mention that earlier, oh well). Enjoy!