Duck Crepes a l'Orange

Brought to You by the Color Orange



The following is my entry for Is My Blog Burning #14. IMBB is an online event where a bunch of food bloggers prepare (and often invent) a dish with some sort of theme. The theme this time is orange food. (Hey, I'm just the cook.)

Hmmm… Something orange. Anything orange, actually. It's the color that matters and not the ingredient. Hmmm… I could add food color to almost anything to meet the terms of the challenge, but that seems like cheating. The best orange-colored thing I've had lately was Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon and Truffles, but I've already posted that recipe.

Glazed carrots are good but not particularly interesting from a cooking standpoint. I could do a carrot soup though, perhaps one of those bi-colored soups and pair a hot carrot soup with a cold asparagus soup. Hmmm… Hold on to that thought.

Pumpkin? Nah. An orange panetone? An orange souffle?

I've got that duck breast in the freezer and I've been wanting to do duck crepes. Perhaps a variation on duck a l'orange in crepes. That does sound pretty good with an orange cream sauce instead of a traditional l'orange sauce, but the color would be really understated and might not show up in a photo. Something to think further on.

Butternut squash? Maybe. I could stuff it with chorizo or andouille. Not particularly creative, though. Andouille would go well with duck, though. And I could do a crepe recipe for my next client. This crepe idea is sounding good, just not particularly orange-colored. Maybe add an orange-colored side dish. I know. I could do a carrot puree and a pea puree and swirl them together. That would be a good bright orange highlighted with the green. And garnishes could add orange to the crepe presentation.

Shrimp is orange. But I had shrimp twice last week.

What might those crepes be like? And would an orange tablecloth be overdoing the color thing?

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So I decided on the crepes. For the most part they turned out as I expected and they were certainly delicious. However, I tried a new (new for me) technique to cook the duck and it didn't work. It's called deep poaching and I read about it in the latest issue of Kitchen & Cook. With deep poaching, as opposed to ordinary poaching, the food is completely submerged in liquid and cooked at a temperature below even a simmer (160F - 185F). The result should be tender and well-flavored. The theory is valid, but I ended up with a delicious but tough duck breast. Perhaps I let the temperature get too high. At any rate, the only flaw in the dish was one of texture and not flavor.

BTW, for the crepes I used one of Julia Child's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and but substituted 1/4 cup Cointreau for part of the water.

I also decided to do the carrot and pea soup. But instead of soup I made purees and instead of peas I used asparagus.

Duck Crepes a l'Orange

1 ea duck breast -- about 3/4 lb
1 c chicken broth
1/2 c white wine
3 ea oranges
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 ea carrots -- peeled and sliced
1/2 ea stalk celery
1/4 ea sm. onion -- peeled
4 ea crepes
1 c heavy cream
2 tbsps cointreau
1/4 lb andouille -- cut 1/4" thick and quarter each slice
1 ea medium shallot -- peeled and sliced

Zest two oranges and reserve zest. Juice those oranges. Cut peel from third orange and cut out and reserve segments.

Simmer chicken broth, wine, onion, carrot, celery, 1 tbsp orange zest, and thyme for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to lowest setting.

Carefully remove skin from duck breast and reserve. Add breast to broth, cover tightly, and heat for 10 minutes. (Breast should be covered by at least one two inches of liquid. Add water if needed.) Turn off heat and allow to sit, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. Remove from broth (reserving broth), cool, and cut into slices. Put aside.

(NOTE: This step can be skipped if it's too much trouble.) Score fat side of duck skin in a diamond pattern. Place duck skin, fat-side down, in a skillet. Add weight (perhaps a large can wrapped in foil) to keep skin from curling and cook over low heat until fat is rendered. Pour off fat and reserve. Turn skin over, season with salt and pepper, increase heat, and crisp skin. Slice skin into strips and reserve.

Cook andouille in skillet duck skin was cooked in. Drain and reserve. Wipe out skillet.

Heat 2 tbsp reserved duck fat (or butter) in skillet over medium low heat. Add shallot and 1 tbsp orange zest and cook until shallot just begins to brown. Add reserved orange juice and reduce to near syrup consistency. Add 1 cup of cooking broth and shredded carrot and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain sauce, return to heat, and reduce by half. Add cream and Cointreau and reduce to sauce consistency. Add salt and white pepper to taste. The sauce should be slightly sweet and if not add a bit of sugar. Turn off heat and add duck slices and sausage.

Turn on broiler. Devide duck and sausage among four crepes and roll up, placing seam-side down in a casserole dish. Spoon remaining sauce over crepes and broil on middle-top rack until sauce begins to brown. Garnish with orange segments, additional orange zest, and duck skin. (The duck skin may need to be briefly re-crisped.)

NOTE: Everything, with the exception of the sauce, can be prepared a day in advance.

Carrot Puree

1/2 lb carrots -- peeled and cut into 1" lengths
1 inch fresh ginger -- peeled and sliced thin
1 tbsp buttermilk
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cardommom
1 1/2 tsp butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c sliced leeks
salt

Put carrots and ginger in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to boil, add a bit of salt, and cook until tender. Saute leeks until translucent.

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. (You may need to add additional buttermilk to process thoroughly, but avoid making the puree runny.) Taste and adjust seasonings.

Asparagus Puree

1/2 lb asparagus (woody ends removed) -- cut into 1" lengths
1 tbsp fresh mint -- chopped
1 tbsp buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c sliced leeks
salt

Blanch asparagus in boiling water for one minute. Shock in ice water to set color. Finis cooking asparagus in gently boiling water until tender. Saute leeks until translucent.

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. (You may need to add additional buttermilk to process thoroughly, but avoid making the puree runny.) Taste and adjust seasonings.