Roasted Duck Breast with Cardinal Puree · PrimedTable
French🥩 Meat
Roasted Duck Breast with Cardinal Puree
⏱ 250 min
An exquisite Duck en Duo entrée combining crispy duck confit samosa and succulent roasted duck breast, beautifully presented with cardinal puree, edamame, roasted pears, and rich duck jus. This sophisticated dish showcases the perfect marriage of textures and flavors, with crispy and tender elements of duck prepared in different ways, offering a delightful contrast between savory and sweet.
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Adapted from a video by Bruno Albouze
Roasted Duck Breast with Cardinal Puree – Bruno Albouze
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1
Make the cardinal puree by peeling and drying cooked beetroots and carrots (either oil-poached or prepared by other methods), then chop them. Reheat the beetroots and carrots together, blend with a high-powered blender until smooth, and season with salt, pepper, and a splash of Cointreau or orange juice. Cardinal puree can be prepared in advance.
2
Prepare the duck legs by gently loosening the skin, removing the flesh from the bones while saving the bones and cartilage for the sauce. Properly shred the duck meat, which will be used as filling for the samosas (one samosa per duck leg).
3
Clean the duck breast by removing excess fat, silver skin, and blood spots—discard these but keep the fat. Score the duck breast skin with shallow cuts to maximize tenderness, intensify flavor, and ensure crispy skin. Refrigerate with fat side up for 12 to 48 hours before cooking.
4
Make the duck sauce by breaking the duck bones (optional but helps extract collagen). Melt butter in a pan and sear the bones for about 5 minutes until browned, turning occasionally. Add crushed garlic, orange zest, star anise, bay leaf, diced carrots, and shallots; cook for a couple of minutes. Add Ruby Port, chicken stock, water, and any reserved rendered duck juice. Simmer on low heat for about 90 minutes, then strain through a sieve. Return to the stove and continue cooking on low heat, skimming off impurities and foam. Cool and refrigerate so the fat solidifies and is easy to remove.
5
Make duck confit samosas by cutting phyllo dough sheets in half and folding one side over to form a neat rectangle. Add a scoop of shredded duck confit meat and fold along the crease to create a perfect equilateral triangle. Seal the edges with egg white or yolk. Repeat until all are complete and refrigerate the samosas.
6
Roast the duck skins by sandwiching them between two pieces of parchment paper on baking trays with weight on top. Bake in a 450°F (230°C) oven for 25 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
7
Cook the samosas by searing them in duck fat or clarified butter for 5 minutes on each side, then keep them warm in the oven until ready to serve.
8
Caramelize the pears by quickly cooking them in a hot pan with oil, honey, sugar, vanilla, and the pears for a few minutes. Deglaze with apple cider vinegar and cook down until most of the moisture is gone. Keep the pan for finishing the duck sauce.
9
Cook the duck breast by leaving it at room temperature for about an hour and seasoning generously with salt. Sear skin side down on low heat for 8 minutes to allow the fat to render slowly. Remove about two-thirds of the rendered fat and save it, then flip the breast and continue cooking on low heat for another 8 minutes. Cook to medium-rosé with an internal temperature of 125–140°F (51–60°C) after resting.
10
Finish the duck sauce by heating it in the pan used to cook the duck breast, then add the rendered juice from the breast and any remaining pan liquid from the pears.
11
Slice the duck breast in half (one per serving) and season with ground black pepper. Reheat the cardinal puree, pears, and toss the hot edamame in olive oil. Plate elegantly with the samosas, duck sauce, and crispy duck skin.
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