More Duck Breast

Fall vegetables too--orange cauliflower and b sprouts. Not much to say about all of this, except that a good duck breast is like a great steak, with the bonus of leaving behind a carcass perfect for stock, fat and skin for cracklings (best salad garnish ever) and rendered fat, and legs for confit or whatever. I don't know why the poultry is reminiscent of red meat, but I'm pleased about it. Here the meat got seasoned with salt, pepper, a little bit of allspice and seared--a while on the scored fatty side, and not long at all on flesh side--in a blazing hot pan.

The veg was really enjoyable too. Brussels sprouts and cauliflower from a vendor on the south (read: JV) side of the Shaker Farmers Market. Amazing stuff. Here it was coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper and cooked in a super hot oven. I thought about adding bacon, but why? Instead I just basted the veg halfway though cooking with some of the fat that rendered from breast.

The sauce is cooked down cherry wine, chix/veal demi, and some mustard whisked in at the end. Nice to have a dairy free sauce now and again. Cherry and duck. Classic for a reason.

The duck came from Plum Creek, my standard source for poultry. And while I think their chicken is really good, their duck is over the top. It seems like most things at farmers markets are better than what's available from places that trade in volume, but with some things the difference is really evident. Eggs are one of those things. Plum Creek's duck is another. Seriously, it's like crack.