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Duck Breast a L’Orange with Oven Roasted Potatoes | WednesdayNightCafe.com

Duck Breast a L’Orange with Oven Roasted Potatoes

Duck a L’Orange or canard a l’orange is a classic French dish of roast duck served with an orange sauce. This variation, using a pan-seared Moulard duck breast, takes less than an hour to cook. The sweet orange sauce, flavored with orange liqueur and maple syrup, complements the fatty crispy duck. While you’re making the duck and the sauce on the stovetop, roast some potatoes in the oven for an easy hands-off side.
Course Dinner, Main Dish
Cuisine French
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 2
Calories 1255 kcal
Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

Oven Roasted Potatoes

  • 1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Duck Breast a L'Orange

  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
  • 2 tablespoons orange liqueur
  • 2 (14 ounce) Moulard duck breasts (also called magret)
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 orange, cut into sections
  • orange zest and/or fresh thyme for garnish

Instructions

Oven Roasted Potatoes

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray. Toss potatoes with salt and pepper and olive oil. Spread out onto the pan in a single layer.
  3. Bake for a total of 45 minutes*, or until potatoes are tender. *At the 15-minute and 30-minute mark, remove pan from oven and stir the potatoes before putting back in oven.
  4. While potatoes are baking, make duck.

Duck Breast a L'Orange

  1. Make sauce. In a small saucepan, combine orange juice, broth, maple syrup, and liqueur. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until sauce is reduced to roughly 1/3 cup, about 20 minutes. (While sauce is cooking, continue to next steps to make the duck.) Set aside until ready to serve.
  2. Prepare duck: Pat duck dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Run a knife diagonally over the skin to score it in a crisscross pattern, being careful not to cut all the way through the skin. This will help the fat render (meaning change from solid form to liquid form) as it cooks.
  3. Cook duck: Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add duck, skin side down. Cook 8 minutes without moving. Pick up the skillet with one hand and use tongs or the back of a spoon with your other hand to hold the duck against the skillet. Carefully pour the melted duck fat out of the pan into a bowl. Put the skillet back on the stove. Turn heat down to medium-low. Continue cooking duck until the skin has rendered most of its fat and is crispy, another 5 to 10 minutes. Every few minutes, as liquid fat collects in the pan, pour it out into the bowl. When skin is crispy, flip the duck breasts over and cook for another 3 to 8 minutes, depending how you like it cooked. Remove duck to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
  4. If the sauce has cooled down, reheat over low heat while duck rests. To serve: Slice duck breasts against the grain. Plate duck and potatoes. Arrange orange sections around duck. Spoon sauce over duck and oranges. Garnish with orange zest and fresh thyme.