Mango Duck Breasts

I recently had the most divine mango duck at a local Kappa restaurant. Alas, it was the type of dish that costed too much for much too few. About $24 for about 6 tiny slivers of duck breast to be exact. For a girl with an appetite like me, who has to share her dish with Buzza (you've seen the size of that thing!), quantity can be just as important as quality.

This is my first attempt to cook duck breast and I made many mistakes by not reading through instructions on how to prep duck, but the end result was extremely delectable. I bought a pack of two air chilled duck breast (four halves) at Wholefoods for $19.99, which is pricey and definitely a splurge, but this dish finally sate the grumblings of the buzzas.

I would say that you could serve this as four entrees, although it only took two of us to finish it.

Ingredients

2 duck breasts (four halves)

sprinkle of salt

a few shakes of freshly ground black pepper

Mango Sauce

1 large mango or 2 Manila mangos, peeled and sliced

a dash of soy sauce

1/2 cup of water or low sodium chicken stock

1. Split the duck breast into halves and trim the excess fat and skin from the meat. It makes for a prettier duck and will result is a bit less fat and skin, which is healthier and less messy. I skipped this part and just ended up a lot of yummy duck fat. (*@*)
2. Score the skin in a diamond pattern, cutting through the skin and fat completely, but not breaking through the skin.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add two tablespoons of oil to a large skillet, heat to medium high.
5. Put the duck skin side down and cook until fat completely renders. About 9 minutes. Be patient because the pay off is extremely crispy skin that would put the Colonel's extra crispy recipe to shame. You will also end up with A LOT of duck fat. See all that fat below? It's delicious.
6. Flip the breasts over and cook for about 4 minutes on the meat side for medium rare.
7. Remove the duck to a plate and keep warm.
8. Strain the fat into a clean bowl, let cool and save it for later. You can basically add delicious duck taste to any dish by swapping out oil for a tablespoon of duck fat. I like to sautee veggies in it, or start a pasta sauce with it. I wouldn't be against adding a tablespoon of fat into my fried rice either. YUM!
9. Add chicken stock, splash of soy sauce and half of sliced mangos into the same pan the duck was cooked in. Cooked until soft, about 5 - 10 minutes.
10. Strain the cooked mango, or puree until liquidy.
11. Add salt/pepper to taste.
12. Thinly slice the breast on a bias. Serve with fresh sliced and pureed mango sauce.

Note: Both Buzza and I agreed that the mango puree didn't taste good on its own, but paired very well with the cooked breasts.

Don't be fooled by this picture. We ended up with over 20 slices.