Duck breast with kithul and grapes
Serves 2
Time: 30 minutes preparation + cooking
• salt flakes and black pepper for seasoning
• 2 duck breasts, at room temperature
• 2 small handfuls of radicchio leaves
• 200g grapes, kept in small bunches
• 40ml kithul (see note, left)
• 80ml chicken stock
• lemon juice
1. Season your duck breasts heavily and then place them, skin-side down, in a cold heavy-based frypan, large enough to be roomy and happy to go in the oven. Place this frypan over a medium to high heat. Sit it there until you hear the duck skin start to sizzle and see some of the fat rendering (about one minute). Turn the heat to low and slowly cook the duck for another nine to 10 minutes, pouring any excess fat into a bowl along the way (save this to use later). By this stage the duck skin should be a lovely deep brown.
2. Flip the duck and cook for another two to three minutes before removing it from the frypan to sit somewhere warm to rest.
3. Keep the frypan on the stove, turn the heat up, add back enough of the fat so the base of the pan is covered and then add in your radicchio leaves and gently season. Cook the leaves until they wilt (about two minutes) and then remove them from the frypan and place them alongside the duck.
4. Again, using the same pan still over a high heat, add in a bit more duck fat and then the grapes and drizzle kithul over them. Let all this sit on the heat for a minute before placing the frypan into a preheated fan-forced oven at 200°C for five minutes.
5. Remove the pan from the oven, place it back over a high heat, add in the chicken stock and let the mix come to a boil. Turn it to low and simmer for three minutes to thicken. At this stage you will have a nice sauce. Taste for seasoning and give it a squeeze of lemon to cut the sweetness.
6. While it’s simmering, divide your radicchio between two plates. Slice your breast pieces into half-centimetre slices and arrange one breast on each plate, trying to keep the shape of the breast.
7. Turn to your saucy number and divide the grapes along and atop the duck breasts before spooning over the sauce.
8. Eat immediately with a fresh green salad.