Duck Breasts with Blueberries and Balsamic
This month we’ve brought you Moorish Tuna Chermoula and White beans from Morocco, 
Chicken Cacciatore with Citrus Farro from Italy, but our trip around the Mediterranean brings us back to Italy because we simply couldn’t resist the simplicity of Claudia Roden’s Duck Breasts with Blueberries and Balsamic.
To be fair to the other countries in the region, you will find variations of duck with fruit of some sort. In our former French home, in the Gascony region where red wine flows and duck readily features on menus as testament to the areas culinary heritage, we would cook local duck breast with pears and chestnuts (Magret de canard aux châtaignes et poires.) While across the nearby Spanish border we enjoyed duck pieces with figs and almonds.
We haven’t ventured too far into game territory yet on our blog, so this recipe presented an opportunity to tie in one of my favorites ingredients – duck – with one of Dr Devries favorites for heart health – blueberries. Duck breast is dark, tasty and gamey and requires little fuss, but something bold to go with it (red wine perhaps!) Removing the fat allows you to enjoy a healthier option while benefiting from an excellent source of vitamins and minerals including iron, selenium and niacin. I used frozen wild blueberries which are small, flavorful and readily available,
To be honest I wasn’t sure how duck would fare in my slow cooker. Contrary to expectations it stayed moist and didn’t shrink. I even left one fillet to cool in the sauce and refrigerated it for a cold salad later in the day and it remained moist.
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Prep Time 5 minutes |
Ingredients
1 tsp light olive oil
4 duck breasts, skin removed
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
2 tbsp balsamic cream, alternatively 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar mixed with 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup wild blueberries
Rub the olive oil onto the bottom of your slow cooker insert. Add the duck breasts and season with the salt, pepper and cinnamon. Drizzle with the balsamic cream or vinegar mixture. Add the blueberries, cover and cook on low for 4 hrs.
Serve hot, sliced over polenta with a green salad. I tossed shredded sprout leaves with orange juice and olive oil.
Zen Moment
” I can’t imagine a better antidote to gastronomic “messing about” than Claudia Roden.
