A Prairie Gift - Seared Duck Breast with Braised Apples and Cabbage (and Late Fall in Saskatchewan)

A beautifully cooked, seared duck breast, whether wild or domestic, is a special treat. Juicy tender meat, still slightly pink inside and with crackling skin, is a delicious match with braised cabbage and apple slices. (Skip to recipe.)

I love the prairies.

The prairies aren't so much about a landscape as they are about a feeling. . . a feeling that comes from the big open sky. When I'm out on the prairies I feel like I can fully breathe. My lungs open up like big bellows to take in as much crisp, wind-cleared air as they can hold.

I feel both as big as the sky and as small as the grass when I stand in the middle of the open prairie. That's where I find myself.

We lived on a farm in the southern Alberta prairies during my most formative years, between ages 10 and 15. It was only 5 years, but they shaped me. I became a young adult under the prairie sky, and now, whenever I go back, I feel I've come home.

This weekend we drove to the Saskatchewan prairies to visit dear friends and I got my prairie fix again. It doesn't matter if it's winter or summer. My soul can sing under the blazing prairie sun or the icy prairie winds.

Our friends Judith and Glenn live in Outlook, Saskatchewan. The have a beautiful home and run a bed and breakfast (you really should stay there if you are ever in the area - Bird Lovers Bed & Breakfast), just above the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. This is the view from their deck:

and their living room window:

Can you imagine waking up to that every day? There are all kinds of birds and wildlife to watch.

And that big prairie sky.

It was also a bitterly cold weekend, so while Glenn took Raymond and the boys (Andreas and Albert) out to do some duck and goose hunting, Judy and I stayed home and caught up on each other's lives and sipped tea and watched the sky through the living room window. Paradise.

After a great visit and a great weekend (with some of Judy's wonderful cooking) we came home with a couple care packages - wild duck breasts for the freezer. Oh my, what a treasure. I took out one package and prepared them with minimal fiddling, so we could taste the rich flavour. Just a good sprinkling of salt and pepper, a quick sear in a puddle of butter and olive oil, and voila - bronzed crackling skin with juicy, pink medium-rare insides. Sliced and served over a tangle of sweet apples and crisp cabbage braised in apple cider, they made a dinner fit for kings. What a gift the prairie (and the hunters) provided us.

* * * * *

 

Kitchen Frau Notes: Duck is best served still pink and juicy on the inside. If it's wild duck, it can have a 'liver' flavour if it's overcooked. It's best to sear it quickly, then let it rest so the juices get reabsorbed, just like other meat. See these instructions (from Hunter, Angler Gardener Cook) on how to prepare and cook wild duck breasts.

Choose a firm, crisp apple for this braise, Fuji apples work well.

I used hard (alcoholic) apple cider for the cabbage, but you can use soft (non-alcoholic) cider or even apple juice.

This dish needs nothing more than a dollop of mashed potatoes on the side - parsnip mashed potatoes go particularly well with it.

And if you don't have the luxury of duck breast in your freezer or fridge, just fry up some tasty sausages and serve them atop the braised apples and cabbages - you'll still dine pretty 'kinglike'.

Seared Duck Breast with Braised Apples and Cabbage

• 4 wild or domestic duck breast halves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 firm apples (like Fuji apples)
• 1½ lbs (680gms) green cabbage (about ½ of a small head)
• 1 cup (240ml) hard apple cider (or soft cider or apple juice)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Prepare the duck breasts first. Rinse them with cold water and pat them dry with paper towel. With a sharp knife, score the skin lightly by making shallow diagonal crosshatch cuts into the skin about a fingerwidth apart. Salt and pepper both sides of the breasts generously. Leave them to rest and air-dry while you cook the cabbage (or prepare them at least 15 minutes ahead and cook them at the same time in a separate skillet, if you are in a rush).

Cut each apple into 16 wedges. In a large 12 inch skillet heat 1 tablespoon each of the butter and oil. Save the rest for the duck breasts. Saute the apple wedges for about 5 minutes over medium heat until about half of them are golden, flipping them over often. They should still be firm. Remove the apple wedges from the pan to a bowl and set aside. Don't rinse the skillet.

Cut the cabbage in half and cut out the core. Cut each quarter into 1 inch (2.5cm) thick slices, keeping the slices together. Slice each big slice crosswise into ¼ inch (.5cm) thin slices.

Place the cabbage into the skillet the apples were cooked in. Add the apple cider, salt and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-high and keep cooking, uncovered, until the cider is almost all evaporated. Stir often and try to keep the bay leaves buried under the cabbage in the apple cider so they soften and release their flavour. This should take about 10 minutes, depending on how hot your stove is. If the liquid isn't evaporated after that time, raise the heat a bit and stir constantly. The cabbage should be crisp tender.

When the liquid is almost gone, add the pepper, brown sugar and vinegar. Return the sauteed apple wedges to the pan and toss everything gently together. Turn the heat down to very low and keep the apple cabbage mixture warm while you sear the duck breasts.

In another skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon each of butter and olive oil over medium heat. Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down. Saute them for about 6 minutes on each side (again, see the great instructions here), then stand them up on their thickest side and saute 1 more minute to brown that bit. It will depend on the size of your duck breasts. The skins will be gloriously crispy and the insides should still be juicy and pink and medium rare.

Remove them to a plate or cutting board, cover loosely with foil or a pot lid and let them rest for 5 minutes. Slice the breasts crosswise, leaving the slices laying together in the order you cut them.

Divide the warm cabbage and apples between 4 plates (removing the bay leaves). Lift the duck slices from the cutting board by sliding a long knife under them to keep them together and arrange one sliced breast atop each mound of braised apples and cabbage, keeping the golden crispy skin side up.

Serve with a scoop of mashed potatoes and a glass of the leftover bubbly apple cider to toast with.

Serves 4.

Guten Appetit!

 

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