Wood Fired Duck Breast with Braised Spiced Vegetables
We love duck but we don’t eat it very often – cooking this recipe has convinced us we should eat it some more! Do try it out and let us know how you get on. We think it’s really delicious. The recipe is below and the video of David cooking it is on our Youtube Channel here. Any questions, just let us know!
Ingredients – to serve 4
2 large duck breasts
2 peppers, 1 red and 1 yellow
2 onions, 1 red and 1 regular
1/2 medium butternut squash
Juice and zest of 1 orange
Pinch of dried chipotle chilli flakes
1 stick cinnamon
3 star anise
2tbsp chopped fresh chives
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp sunflower oil
Salt & pepper
Handful of cherry wood sawdust
Oven State, Door, Equipment
You’ll find a heat deflector useful
A frying pan and a large wide pan with a lid
Method
1.With a sharp knife, score the skin on the duck breasts into diamonds making sure you don’t go through to the meat; sprinkle on a little salt to the skin side. 
2.Deseed the peppers and cut into 1cm strips. Peel & slice the onions. Peel, deseed and cube the butternut squash.
3. Put the pan for the vegetables in the oven to heat up.
4. Mix the vegetables together with the olive oil and the spices and season well. Put them in the hot pan with the orange juice. Put the lid on the pan and put it back in the oven for the veggies to braise and take on some of the spice flavours.
5. Put the oil in the frying pan and add the duck breasts skin side down. Put this pan in the oven, near but not next to the fire and let it come up to temperature. This slower cooking will render the fat out of the duck breasts, start to colour the skin and make it go crispy. At the same time put the cherry dust along the base of the heat deflector so the heat of the fire starts it smoking and it will flavour the duck.
6. Check the veggies with a sharp knife to see if they are tender. When they are, take the pan out of the oven and leave it to one side to keep warm.
7. Take any fat that has come out of the duck breasts out of the pan and keep it to roast some potatoes (delicious!). Put the pan back in the oven and keep cooking the duck.
8. Half way through the cooking time, move the embers from behind the heat deflector, if you’re using it, to the centre of the oven. Sit the frying pan right on the embers so it gets lots of heat and the meat really starts to sizzle. Right at the end of cooking, turn the duck breasts over so they are skin side up and grill the meat until it’s a good golden brown and the skin has crisped up.
9. Take the duck breasts out of the pan and leave them on a warm plate to rest for a good 5-10 minutes. This will stop the juices coming out of the cooked meat – keep the plate just at the door of the oven to keep the meat warm.
10. Stir the chives into the cooked vegetables and divide between 4 plates with a little orange zest over the top. Slice the duck breasts thinly and divide between the 4 plates. Add some green salad and eat at once.
We hope you enjoy it – do let us know how you get on.
Happy cooking
David and Hollyx
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