Don’t be intimidated by duck breast. All it needs is a good spice rub and a quick sear followed by a little rest from the exertion and you’ve got yourself a restaurant-quality meal for half the price. The orange and star anise sauce is just the icing on the cake. And sure, duck breast will never be as cheap as chicken thighs, but it’ll be a whole lot cheaper than Toqué!
(Note: I love the duck breast at Toqué!, picured here, where every bite of skin tastes like maple and the fat oozes onto your tongue while you chew the tender meat…but cooking it slowly in duck fat and maple syrup is a little more effort than I’m willing to make. This recipe, adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s excellent cookbook Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
Seared Duck Breast with Orange and Star Anise
2 duck breasts, about 200 g / 7 oz each
fennel seeds
red pepper flakes
ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper
salt (a coarse sea salt is perfect)
4 oranges, segmented
juice of 4 more oranges (please don’t use Tropicana except in case of emergency)
white wine (anything from floral to fruity to dry works)
sherry vinegar
two whole star anise or 16 points/pieces)
6 dried chili peppers (or de-seed and de-membrane 6 small Thai chiles)
Scoring the skin is key. Slice through the fat (but not the skin) three or four times in parallel lines on a diagonal. Then slice crosswise 3 or 4 times at a 90˚ angle to the first slices. You’ll end up with diamond-shapes incisions. This helps the fat melt and also helps the spice rub season it thoroughly.
Combine a couple tablespoons of fennel seeds, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a healthy dousing of cumin, some black pepper and a hearty amount of salt in a small bowl and then rub them all over the duck breasts. Place breasts in a large bowl or on a plate, cover with saran or a plate and refrigerate for at least a few hours (overnight is even better and gives Toqué!-worthy flavoured fat results).
You can (and should) segment/supreme the oranges in advance. If you’re not a pro segmenter, give yourself a bit of time – maybe thirty minutes. Cut the bottom and top peel off the orange (think of it as giving the orange a close shave. You don’t want to cut too far into the flesh, but you want to create a base to set the orange on a plate or ridged cutting board that will catch the juices.)
Skip to 0:25 in the following video:
Then cut around the curves of the orange from top to bottom, removing the skin and white pith. If you don’t get all the pith, the segments won’t come out, so be a little wasteful with cutting too far into the orange flesh. Then slice into the oranges with a paring knife on either side of each membrane all the way around. If you sliced off enough pith, the segments should fall out. If generally eat the membrane that’s left over because it’s so juicy…It’s like licking the bowl.
Remove any seeds and set aside the orange flesh in a bowl with any juice that escaped while you were cutting.
Heat a large skillet – cast-iron if you have it – over medium-high heat. No oil needed here. Place the duck skin-side-down and cook 3 minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp. Pour off half the accumulated fat and then turn the duck over and cook 3 minutes more. You can rotate it onto its side to get those parts seared, too. But most important is to make sure all the fat is seared or you’ll have gelatinous, chewy fat that doesn’t melt in your mouth like it should. So spend an extra few minutes with tongs, if you need to, searing all the edges of the fat. Remove the breasts to a plate and keep somewhere warm (you can cover with aluminium if you want, but just setting the plate aside keeps the skin crisp and stops the meat from changing from medium-rare to medium by accident.
Drain all but a teaspoon of the remaining fat from the pan (but keep it! It’s heaven on roasted potatoes, vegetables or other meat or fish. And if you get enough of it after making this recipe a few times, you can try the Toqué! confit duck breast version. The fat keeps in the fridge 6 months).
Add the orange juice, a glass of wine, a splash of sherry vinegar and the star anise to the skillet. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by half. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary. If you left more duck fat in the skillet, it might already be seasoned enough. Return the duck to the skillet and coat them in the sauce. Cover and simmer 7 minutes.
Uncover and add the orange segments with their extra juices and the dried or fresh chiles. Cover and simmer 3 more minutes. Remove the breasts and place on a cutting board. Wait 3 minutes. You can reduce the sauce further or just remove it from the heat. Slice the duck into 3/8″ slices on an angle. Places orange pieces around a few overlapped pieces of the duck and spoon a little of the sauce on top. Serve the rest of the sauce on the side.
It’s a strange combo, but I love broccoli with this dish because the florets soak up so much of the sauce. Rice is the best starch to pair for the same reason – or bread if you’re not gluten-intolerant. Potatoes are a waste since the starch stops your tongue from picking up as much on the sweet star anise and orange flavour.
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