Citrus Glazed Grilled Duck Breasts

I love duck, as does my hubby and 3 year old. It was such a sunny beautiful day today I for sure wanted to grill dinner on the Bar-B tonight, but we've had chicken, ribs, steaks, dogs and burgers recently so I was hankering something a little different. I've had duck breasts sitting in my freezer for weeks, so I thumbed through some of my cookbooks in search of a grilled duck recipe, and voila, I found one in a book I was least expecting to: one of my Weight Watchers books.



I love the classic French dish Caneton a l'Orange, so I was equally excited to see that this recipe involved a citrus glaze too.

Ingredients:

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 lb duck breast
1 small onion
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley



1) Combine 3/4 cup orange juice, and 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar in a large ziploc bag. Add the duck breast, squeeze the air out of the bag, and seal. Turn the duck to coat all sides. Marinate in the refrigerator for minimum of 2 hours, turning occasionally (I marinated mine for 6 hours).

2) Make the glaze: Chop the onion finely. In a medium non stick saucepan, combine onion, 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, orange zest, chicken broth (I luckily had just finished making homemade soup stock, so I had some fresh stock on hand), and salt and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture has a syrupy consistency and is reduced by approx. half (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.

I didn't like how lumpy the glaze looked so I used my immersion blender and pureed it a little, added some water, and reduced it again.

3) Preheat the BBQ grill to medium. Remove the duck from the marinade and discard the marinade. Place the duck on the grill. Grill, turning once, and basting with the glaze for the 1st 5 minutes of grilling. Continue grilling until cooked through; approx. 20-25 minutes, until it is pink in the center and an instant read meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast registers a temp. of 155F.



4) Place the duck on a cutting board, let stand for 5 minutes, and cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch slices.

5) I served the duck with one of my favorite summer BBQ salads:

Salad:

1-2 romaine lettuce hearts coarsely chopped
2/3 cup mandarin oranges drained
1/2 cup strawberries chopped
3 tbsp red onion chopped
3-4 tbsp sunflower seeds

Dressing:

In a blender on high; blend

1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup canola oil (drizzle in slowly while blender is working so as to emulsify the oil giving dressing a thick, creamy consistency)

like this:

6) Place a mound of salad in the center of the plate and arrange the duck slices around the salad slightly overlapping the slices. Drizzle the leftover glaze over the duck slices, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.




This was delicious (I even got a pat on the tail feather for this dinner!)

Cheers :D