Warm Duck & Orange Salad

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Warm Duck & Orange Salad

I created this recipe one day when I wanted to make duck à l’orange, but it was so hot that it morphed into a warm salad instead. Duck breasts are surprisingly easy to cook, or pick some up from a Chinese barbecue shop. Duck fat-roasted potatoes are optional, weather permitting! Make ginger juice by pressing finely grated ginger in a sieve. Save the coarse larger leaves from the bunch of curly endive (frisée) to make scarole di natale or frittata. As for a wine match, the savoury notes of La Petite Mort Rosé, from Queensland’s Granite Belt, work perfectly with the sweet-sour complexity of the orange sauce and the richness of this warm duck salad.

Serves 4

Ingredients
  • 4 x 200g duck breast fillets, skin on (7oz)
  • Salt flakes, to taste
  • 3 large handfuls of small curly endive or frisée leaves
  • 1 baby fennel, finely shaved, fronds chopped
  • ½ small red onion, finely sliced
  • 2 oranges, segmented (see video below)
  • Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • Crusty bread, for serving

Orange Sauce

  • 1 cup strained freshly-squeezed orange juice (250ml)
  • 1 tablespoon honey (25g)
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
  • 1 teaspoon ginger juice (5ml)
  • 1 teaspoon Sherry vinegar (5ml)
Method
  1. Remove duck from fridge 30-60 minutes before cooking.
  2. Pat duck skin dry with paper towel then use a very sharp knife to cut fine diagonal score marks through the skin in a criss-cross pattern, without cutting into the meat.
  3. Salt skin generously.
  4. Place in a small frying pan, skin side-down and set aside for 30–60 minutes to come to room temperature.
  5. Meanwhile, make Orange Sauce: combine orange juice and honey in a small saucepan and boil for a few minutes until reduced to ½ cup. Stir in orange rind, ginger juice and vinegar and boil for a few more minutes, until reduced to about ⅓ cup. Set aside.
  6. Place pan containing duck over medium-high heat and cook for about 5 minutes, pouring off the fat as it melts, until skin is dark golden (reserve the fat for cooking potatoes if you like).
  7. Turn duck over, reduce heat to medium, salt skin generously and cook for a further 6–8 minutes (depending on thickness), until internal temperature registers 55-60°C (130–140°F) on a probe thermometer for medium rare.
  8. Remove duck to a plate, skin side up, and set aside in a warm place for a few minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, combine endive, fennel bulb and fronds, onion and orange segments with salt and a drizzle of oil and arrange on plates.
  10. Slice duck breasts and arrange on top of salad.
  11. Drizzle with some Orange Sauce.
  12. Serve with crusty bread and remaining sauce on the side.
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