This is a variant of a recipe from what I think is the greatest restaurant in the world, Tetsuya's in Sydney. At Tetsuya's, you'd get a very small portion as part of a 10 or 12 course tasting menu. Here I've blown it up into a main entree for two people. I've also tweaked it to meet typical American groceries.
Glaze
- 200 ml reduced sodium soy sauce
- 100 ml mirin
- 4 tablespoons honey
Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and reduce slightly over medium heat. Cool.
Duck
- 2 Muscovy duck breast sides
- salt
- pepper
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Score the skin. Season both sides of the duck breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a large heavy enameled cast iron Le Creuset skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down. Cook until the skin side is golden brown. Turn and cook flesh side down for 1 minute. Transfer duck breasts to a rack set over a baking pan. Brush both sides with glaze. Reduce oven temperature setting to 350 degrees. Roast duck breasts in oven 10-12 minutes or until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 130 degrees. Brush breasts with additional glaze 2 times while they're cooking. Remove baking pan from oven, transfer breasts to a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm.
Potatoes
- 2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
- 4 tablespoons duck fat
- salt
- pepper
In a large pot, heat 6 cups salted water to the boil. Add potato quarters. Cook to the al dente stage, about 17 minutes. Remove potatoes from the water and pat dry with paper towels. Heat duck fat over high heat in a large skillet until almost smoking. Add potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned on all sides (about 6-8 minutes total).
Greens
Chop 1 bunch green chard into bite-sized pieces and rinse thoroughly. In the skillet in which you cooked the duck breasts, you should have a couple of tablespoons of rendered duck fat. If not, supplement with your packaged duck fat. Heat until the fat is almost smoking. Add chopped chard. Cook until the greens are wilted, add 2 tablespoons of the glaze from above, cook until liquid is almost evaporated.
Plating
Return glaze to a small sauce pan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.
To serve, put a mound of greens on each plate. Top with 4 potato slices. Slice duck breasts on the bias and place on top of the potatoes. Nap with a bit of the remaining glaze.
A light to medium bodied red wine would work well. A young New World Pinot Noir would be nice. I opted, however, for a well-aged Merlot.
