Duck Breasts Marinated in Garlic and Herbs with Wine and Green Olives
This recipe is inspired the Oven Roasted Duck Breast with Caramelised Swede from Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy. I’ve left out the caramelised swede even though it’s gorgeous. But I’ve kept the method for cooking the duck breasts and for the red wine jus as it’s simple and the results are great.
This recipe is quite different from the original. I marinate the breasts with garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper overnight. The original recipe makes a red wine jus. Which I copied but added in carrots, onion, celery and green olives.
You can buy duck breasts that have been marinated in garlic and herbs. These work great too. So if you’re using them you can obviously skip the marinating step.
I love sweet savoury recipes for duck breast recipes. But it’s nice to have one that is fully savoury like this is. Well, apart from the sweetness of a full bodied red wine. By the way, if you’re looking for a strong taste of garlic, you might want to add more garlic when cooking the duck. The garlic here adds to the flavour but it’s definitely in the background and not out in front.
Green olives with the stone in work best in the recipe. But I’ve made it with olives that are stoned and it still works fine. But it’s best with firm, smooth green olives with the stones still inside.
Try it. Hope you like this as much as I do.
Ingredients
- 2 duck breasts
- sprigs of rosemary
- sprigs of thyme
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 2 onions, peeled & chopped
- 2 carrots, topped, tailed & sliced on the bias
- 2 celery sticks, topped, tailed & sliced on the bias
- full bodied red wine
- ~75ml chicken stock
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- The night before you intend to cook the duck, sprinkle the breasts all over with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the duck breasts in a ziplock bag with a couple of sprigs of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme and two large peeled, bruised and halved cloves of garlic. Make sure the garlic and herbs are sandwiched between the breasts and in contact around them. Zip up the bag and place in fridge for at least 12 hours - and no more than 24 hours.
- A half hour before you’re ready to cook the duck, take the zip-lock bag from the fridge and leave on the counter to let the meat come to room temperature. Next, score the skin and fat of the duck breasts, being careful not to cut into the flesh. This is to help the fat run off the duck as you cook it.
- Place the duck breasts, skin side down, in a cold frying pan, and turn the heat up to a gentle-medium setting. Let it cook slowly. This will let the skin get crispy, without burning. And more fat runs off this way too. It will take about 10 - 15 minutes. Press down on the breasts every so often so they brown evenly over the skin.
- Have a roasting pan ready, the base greased with a tiny amount of oil, and couple of sprigs of rosemary and thyme. With the skin side of the duck nicely seared, turn the breasts over, and quickly sear the flesh side just 30 seconds. Turn the heat off. Then place the breasts on top of the herbs in the roasting pan - skin-side up. Roast in a 200° C oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
- Drain most of the duck fat from the frying pan, but leave about a tablespoon of the fat in the pan.
- Peel the last remaining garlic clove and slice.
- 5 minutes before the duck has finished roasting, heat the frying pan, add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes until they have softened a little. Add in the carrots and celery and fry for another couple of minutes.
- Take the duck breasts out of the oven and leave on warmed plates while you make the veg and olive filled red wine jus.
- Remove the herbs from the roasting and pour most of the fat off, leaving again about a tablespoon in the pan. Add a good glug of red wine into the roasting pan, mix around well, and pour the contents into the frying pan.
- Stir in the chicken stock. Let it come to the boil. Add in the green olives and sliced garlic. Let the liquid bubble away, reduce and thicken some. The veg will obviously soften as you do this - which is why I like to slice the carrots and celery in the long diagonal way so they keep just a little bite.
- Once the jus has thickened a little remove the frying pan from the heat. Taste and season with salt and some freshly ground black pepper, if desired.
- Spoon the jus over the duck breasts, divide the olives and veg between the two plates. Serve with some green veg and some mashed potato or pureed parsnips.
