Duck with an Orange and Juniper Sauce

Duck and orange - a classic combination...So, why mess about with it?

Well, I don't know about you, but, personally I find that an orange sauce by itself can be a bit too sweet and the juniper just cuts through the sweetness without overpowering the duck. I'd love to show you a picture but for some reason I never took one...Sorry.


First up - the duck. I roasted off a couple of duck breasts. Just for the record I only had one hot with the sauce, the other was allowed to cool and made a wonderful sandwich the next day...

Anyway, take the breasts, score the skin a few times and then place skin side down in a medium-hot frying pan. Allow them to cook for 5 minutes so the skin is nicely coloured and then turn them over just long enough to seal the other side of the breasts. Take them out of the pan and place on a roasting tray and put in the oven 180C for 18 minutes for well done. I know some people say you can have duck rare but I prefer mine well done and these came out with just a hint of pink and very juicy still. Allow 10 minutes to rest before serving.


Secondly - the sauce. This will do enough for 2.  Take a pan and melt a decent sized knob of butter and then mix in some sugar. Add to this a generous slug of Triple-Sec, the juice of a large orange, half a dozen crushed juniper berries and 1 egg yolk (as you may have guessed - if I'm not baking I don't tend to measure much). Mix together well and keep mixing whilst the sauce reduces. When it has reached the right consistency (think runny honey) it's ready to use (just remember to pass it through a sieve in order to separate out the berries along with any bits of orange, pips etc...).

Enjoy!

Sweet Orange Polenta Cake...

Orange Polenta Cake - just after turning it out...

I’ve been meaning to try and make one of these for a while and the first attempt a couple of weeks ago was a limited success as it didn’t turn out of the tin. Still, the bits tasted nice so I’ve had another go…

Ingedients:

250 grams soft, unsalted butter

300 grams caster sugar

3 large eggs (beaten)

100 grams polenta

250 grams ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

2 oranges

icing sugar

Method:

In a bowl mix the polenta, ground almonds and baking powder.

Now get another bowl and cream the caster butter and sugar together before adding the eggs a bit at a time making sure it’s all well mixed.

Now slowly add the almond / polenta mix - add a bit at a time making sure it is well mixed as you go along.

Finally add the zest of the orange and half the juice. Mix well and put into a well greased cake tin. 180C for ~ 50 minutes.

Take out of the oven, prick the top well and add the remaining orange juice. Finally take the juice of another orange, heat in a pan and add icing sugar until no more will dissolve. Pour this over the top of the cake and allow to cool.

Once cool remove from tin.

p.s. Some of you may find this too sweet with all the icing. You could easily halve the orange and icing sugar mix (or forego the icing altogether) to have it less sweet.

p.p.s. Polenta also means it is anoth entry for this month's alphabakes hosted by Caroline of Caroline makes and Ros from The more than occasional baker.