Recipe > Mains
Caramelized Duck Breast with Honey, Lime and Ginger Sauce
This dish is wild, the word yummy just doesn't do justice. The duck is served slightly pink, the honey, lime and ginger sauce combines with the fat from the duck to form intense sweet and savoury flavours. Serve with roast vegetables.
I tend to buy male duck breasts as these are larger than the female, making a more generous portion.
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| Tired of zesting? Place baking parchment over grater then grate as normal. (Press hard to get it going!) |
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| When you remove the baking parchment the zest will have stuck to the parchment and not the grater, which reduces wastage and time scraping your grater clean. |
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| Be careful not to cut completely through the breast |
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| If the flesh is still raw return to oven for another couple of minutes |
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Serves 4 |
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Ingredients
4 duck breasts.
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tblsp olive oil
250ml white wine (Use a slightly sweet white, if
unavailable add 1 ½ Tblsp caster sugar.)
180g honey
2 limes, juice and zest of.
1 ½ tblsp chopped ginger
1/4 bunch watercress to garnish
(optional)
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Mise-en-Place:
Set Oven to Gas mark 8/ 240°C/ 475°F
Zest and juice the Limes, chop or grate the ginger. Prepare duck breasts; score a crisscross of lines across the fat, then rub the salt (1/4 teaspoon each breast) into the fat.
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Method:
Add the oil to a frying pan and bring to heat
Add the duck breasts, fat side down, to the pan and sear off the skin.
Remove breasts and juices from pan, place in roasting tray.
With a pastry brush wipe a little honey over the fat (this will caramelize in the oven.)
Place roasting tray and contents into oven for 20 minutes.
While duck is cooking prepare the sauce:
Put the honey, wine, ginger and lime in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove sauce from heat and keep warm.
Back to the duck! Remove from oven, lift out breasts and on chopping board ,fat side up, gently slice a series of parallel horizontal cuts into each duck breast. (Be careful not to accidentally cut all the way through the breast.) Why cut?
The duck flesh (inside the cuts) should be gently pink, however if the flesh still appears raw return to the oven for another couple of minutes.
When you're happy with the duck remove from oven.
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Adjust:
Check the flavouring of the sauce.
If too astringent add more honey.
If too bland add more lime
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Presentation:
If serving with with roasted vegetables arrange in a heap in the centre of the plate. Aim for as much centre height as possible.
Place duck on top of the vegetables, again aiming for as much height as possible.
Pour over the sauce.
If you are garnishing watercress place between veg and duck so that is sprouts from the side or place a large sprig on top of the duck.
Another optional garnish is a generous slice of seared lime.
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Hygiene point:
Remember to clean your chopping board and knife after preparing the raw duck. Never use the same utensils on raw and cooked products!
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The breast is cut for several reasons:
a) To see how pink the flesh is and show how much more cooking is needed.
b) To allow heat from the oven easy access to the duck flesh, so reducing oven time.
c) The serrated flesh expands making the breast appear as a much larger portion.
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