Blueberry sauced pan-seared duck breast served with bok choy, wild mushrooms, pancetta, and shallots as a side dish. served with a dish of rosemary and thyme-seasoned roasted potatoes.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons dried thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 potatoes, cubed
- 2 pints fresh or frozen blueberries
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup apple juice
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- 3 slices pancetta or bacon, cut into thin strips
- 6 shallots, thinly sliced
- ½ cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 2 pounds bok choy, sliced
- 4 (8 ounce) boneless duck breast halves
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl mix together the salt, ground black pepper, thyme, and rosemary; set aside. This will be your spice blend for seasoning the roasted potatoes and the duck breasts.
- Place cubed potatoes into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of your spice blend over the top of the potatoes. Toss the potatoes in the pan until they are evenly coated with oil and seasonings. Spread into a single layer across the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
- While the potatoes are roasting, stir together the blueberries, water, apple juice, sugar, and jalapeno in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low, and simmer until the mixture has reduced to the consistency of syrup, about 10 minutes.
- Cook the pancetta in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove the pancetta to drain on a paper towel, leaving the drippings in the skillet. Add the shallots and the mushrooms to the hot skillet; stir and cook them until soft and just beginning to brown. Remove the shallots and mushrooms and set aside. Increase heat to medium-high and place the bok choy in the hot skillet. Stir and cook the bok choy until the leaves are wilted and the white stalk pieces are tender, about 5 minutes. Return the shallots, mushrooms, and pancetta to the skillet, turn off the heat and set aside.
- Rinse the duck breast halves and pat dry. Rub the remaining spice blend onto both sides of the duck breasts. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat, when the pan is hot put in the vegetable oil and butter. Immediately place the duck breasts in the pan, skin and fat side down. Do not move the duck breasts until the skin is deep brown, about 5 minutes. Turn the breasts and cook until the internal temperature of the thickest part is 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for well done. Remove the duck from the pan and place on a plate, covered with foil to rest for 5 minutes. While the duck is resting, place the skillet with the bok choy mixture onto a burner over medium heat to warm through.
- Slice each duck breast diagonally into 1/2 inch strips. Divide the bok choy mixture among four plates and drizzle each serving with 1/2 tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar. Arrange the sliced duck breasts on top of the bok choy mixture; ladle on blueberry sauce. Serve with oven-roasted potatoes on the side.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 846 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 112 g |
| Cholesterol | 121 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 13 g |
| Protein | 33 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 1589 mg |
| Sugars | 53 g |
| Fat | 33 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’m grateful this recipe turned out Excellent!! Absolutely delicious. I’m glad because I thought this recipe was lots of work. But I will make this again. I made no changes in the recipe.
The duck was fabulous! The potatoes sublime! However, I would not use the bok choy with this dish. That is why I gave this recipe 4 instead of 5 stars. Maybe some green beans or Brussels sprouts. I also made a couple of changes. I added 1 clove smashed garlic and a quarter teaspoon cayenne. That gave it a nice kick my family likes. But other than that, the recipe is just yummy! In fact, we planned on leftovers. That didn’t work out!
Made it according to the recipe and really enjoyed it. Sauce was so good!
This was really good! It gave an opportunity for my husband and I cook together. I did prep and he took care of the duck. Definitely will make again.
This is very good, I did alter the blueberry sauce by cutting the amount in half, cutting out the water, and only adding 3 TBS of sugar.
Loved it! Thank you
It is a bit charlenging, however very good love the blueberries sauce, the shallots,mushrooms and boychoy wow so good
Like other reviewers, I cooked the blueberry sauce a long time (over an hour) before it reached a good consistency. The potatoes were excellent & paired well with the wonderfully tasting bok choy. I shall make the veggies again adding a bit more pancetta to start cooking the shallots & mushrooms. The duck did not need to cook as long as directed & we found it rather bland. I scored the fat layer so it would render a bit quicker. Perhaps some extra time with the spice layer or marinading like another reviewer mentioned would help.
This was very good. I couldn’t get bok Choy so I subbed 2 bundles or asparagus and feel it worked well. The blueberry syrup could have been halved as we had quite a bit leftover.
No deviation from recipe. Wonderful meal, will do this again.
We LOVED this dish!! I made it to recipe for two. I found for timing purposes that all your prep be finished before hand. Delicious recipe, the only thing I would say is to maybe half the blueberry recipe, we have a lot left over. Also if you like a bit of spice I would add a little more of the jalapeno pepper, the flavor was a bit lost with the blueberries. All and all great dish!!
This is a wonderful recipe – my husband and I absolutely loved it. I did make quite a few modifications to fit what I had in the fridge, and what our preferences are. I made the sauce first, halving the recipe (but keeping the whole jalapeño). I kept potato recipe as is, but instead of the bok choy, I roasted brussel sprouts at the same temperature; turning both every ten minutes. While that was cooking, I crisped the bacon and caramelized the onions (leaving out mushrooms). Using the same skillet, I cooked the duck, which I reduced the cook time for med-rare. While the duck was resting, I warmed up the jam, and threw the onions, bacon, and potatoes in the skillet to give them a quick brown and crispness (using half the duck fat). It was delicious! Enjoy!
It was just all right. I have never see a breast with bones. I don’t think duck needs oil and butter.
Sauce Review I had a whole duck and I used this recipe to make the sauce. The sauce was amazing with the duck!!! I wish I had friends nearby to have shared this with them . Making the sauce was easy. I cut back on the amount of blueberries and reduced the sugar amount (used Brown sugar too). It took longer than 10 min to reduce for me, but I’m an amateur. Keep an eye on it though, I heated mine a little too long and it was more like a jelly instead of a sauce but it was still awesome. Worth the time!
We had this for Christmas dinner and it was amazing. Left out jalapeno per request of one person and didn’t miss – there were so many other interesting flavors. I personally found the rub a bit salty and would decrease the salt by half next time. We cooked it to medium rare – perfection! Also, not enough of the veggies ! They were so good I was wanting more. Our duck breasts I ordered from a reputable on line site and they came fresh and securely wrapped and insulated on the 23rd. Between the duck ( meaty and tender), this recipe, and good wine our meal would put many restaurants to shame! Lots of pots to clean but worth it! Also, careful turning the duck – hot grease splatters !
I would definitely make this again. I substituted applesauce for apple juice and green chili salsa for the the jalapeños since I didn’t have those ingredients and was too lazy to go to store, and the sauce was still tasty.
Great recipe! I was a little worried to try this recipe, as not too many people reviewed it – and I am not a very experienced cook. But I ended up trying it and I loved it. I skipped pancetta/bacon, as I did not have any (and I am trying to reduce greasiness), but it was still very good (and I am sure it would be even more delicious with these ingredients).
My first time cooking duck and it turned out great. The sauce took a long time to cook down and then I used little blender to help thicken it and break up the blue berries. I saved the extra sauce for other meat dishes. So good!!! All of it great!!!!
I loved this recipe. I did make some changes, however, because my boyfriend and his family aren’t much for leafy greens. Instead of bok choy, I cooked asparagus, so the green color could still be on the plate and have a nice vegetable, but not the leafy texture. I also did veto the mushrooms because I’m not a fan, but still think they would have been excellent, even with the asparagus. As for the jalapeno, I was not sure if I should include the seeds or not. I didn’t because I was afraid it would be too hot and I think it turned out lovely. I also kept the blueberry sauce on low for the entire time I was cooking for the thick consistency. The potatoes are great, but I recommend replacing two tablespoons of the olive oil with butter and cooking them at 350 instead of 375. They will burn less and taste better. Overall this a great recipe that has lots of rooms to play with. I have made it two time now and it just keeps turning out better the more I try it. My biggest tip is to be very careful to not overcook the duck if you did not buy it from the store. Wild game can get very tough when overcooked. I belong to a hunting family, so if you do not, it’s not something everyone knows. But again, great recipe. If you think it sounds weird, like my boyfriend did at first, don’t fret. This is now his favorite way to eat duck and requests it every time he shoots one. Hope this helped!
The blueberry sauce is a perfect compliment to the duck!
My husband harvested the ducks and we used this recipe. It turned out amazing! A new favorite.