Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Clementines

An exquisite recipe for Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Clementines for your holiday dining pleasure. Candied citrus and a red wine sauce make this a restaurant-worthy dish.

Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Clementines

Every year around Thanksgiving, I scour the markets for kumquats. You know, the cute little orange citrus orbs that Martha Stewart always has garnishing her impressive, bronzed turkey. Apparently, the season peaks in January.

So for other times of the year, you can buy jars of candied kumquats, substitute other citrus like clementines or beg your Dorista friends to mail you some from Southern California. But it just wasn’t going to happen, so I substituted the ubiquitous clementine. Tangerines would work well, too.

Typing the word “clementine” always reminds me of my dad…who crooned “Oh, my darling, Clementine” whenever the mood struck. He had a list of favorite songs, and I suppose that was better than one of his college favorites, “There is gin, gin, gin that makes you want to sin in the quartermaster’s corps,” which we learned as we grew older. But I digress…

Dorie’s Pan Seared Duck Method is Foolproof

This is our third duck recipe from Around My French Table. I had attempted duck before learning Dorie’s method of scoring, searing fat side down for 8 minutes, flipping and cooking for 3 more minutes if you like it rare. And the hubby does.

Bill happens to be the duck expert in our house and he proclaimed this dish to be fabulous. The accompanying sauce was made of red wine, balsamic, some black peppercorns, coriander seeds, shallots, orange juice, and chicken broth. The aroma was heavenly. So if there are duck fans in your family, you may want to add this to your holiday menu. And if you’re lucky, it will be kumquat season when you do!

Dorie’s recipe can be found in her cookbook, Around My French Table, and can be viewed and printed off of Epicurious.

Skinny Tip

I’m offering a series of Skinny Tips. How I keep slim is one of my most frequent inquiries. I’ll feature more tips on some of my upcoming blog posts. Click on the #SkinnyTip tag at the end of this post to see all my previous tips.

Tip #49: With Thanksgiving approaching, I felt it was appropo to get back on track with my skinny tips. If you must have a slice of pumpkin pie (or apple or chocolate or pecan), eat just the filling. Skipping the crust will save lots of calories. The goal over the holidays is to maintain, not lose weight.