Seared Duck Breast with Duck Confit and Wild Rice Noodles

Chef Terry Gereta,
Fusion Grill

This duck confit takes three days to prepare and requires duck fat, which you can purchase from a butcher. To render fat: heat in a pan with a little water until it becomes a clear liquid. Wine pairing: Quails’ Gate Estate Winery Limited Release Pinot Noir

Ingredients
Duck confit
4 duck legs or thighs
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp cracked black pepper
2 sprigs rosemary
3 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 L rendered duck fat

Dressing
1 1/2 cups unsalted duck or chicken stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp chopped ginger

Duck salad
4 duck breasts, scored
16 oz cooked wild rice noodles
4 cups cleaned fresh spinach

Garnish
2 Tbsp white sesame seeds

Method
Duck confit

1. Day 1: Rub the duck with the salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Day 2: Preheat oven to 325°F.
3. Place the duck in a deep pan. Cover completely with rendered duck fat and cover with foil or a tight fitting lid. Bake for 2 hours.
4. Remove the legs from the fat. Strain the fat into a glass bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. When the cooking juice and the fat separate, ladle the fat over the legs and refrigerate overnight.
5. Day 3: Preheat the oven to 450°F.
6. Remove the legs from the fat and scrape off excess fat, being careful not to rip the skin.
7. In a frying pan lined with parchment paper, place the legs skin side down. Place pan in oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the skin is brown.
8. Drain off excess fat and set meat aside to serve.

Dressing

1. In a saucepan, on low heat, combine stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and ginger until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Duck salad

1. In a non-stick frying pan, on medium heat, place duck breasts skin-side down. Cook for about 10 minutes, pouring off excess fat. When skin is crispy, turn the breast and sear for one minute.
2. Place breasts on cutting board skin-side down. Slice.
3. Drain fat from pan and heat noodles, spinach and dressing until the spinach is wilted.

To serve

1. Using tongs, remove noodles and spinach from pan and place in the centre of each plate.
2. Place sliced duck breast on top of the spinach. Pour dressing over top and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Yield 4 servings