Duck Breast with Escarole and Toast
(427 cal. per serving, 14% from fat)
Ingredients:
2 boned Pekin duck breasts (about 2 lb. total)
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 heads escarole (about 1 1/2 lb. total)
8 diagonally cut French bread slices (each about 1/2 in. thick); 10oz. total)
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
About 4 teaspoons prepared wasabi (green horseradish)
About 1/4 cup pickled ginger
Preparation and Cook Time: About 45 minutes
Notes: The breast of Pekin Duck, a bird typically sold whole (and used in the Chinese dish Peking duck), is available by special order at poultry and meat markets and some supermarkets; order one or two days ahead. Boned Pekin breast cost about $12 a pound. Another knd, Muscovy duck, is more readily found but stronger-tasting and more expensive. Treated with a salt-sugar cure, both kinds of duck breasts become more succulent, and the Muscovy gets milder in flavor. If using boned Muscovy breasts (which are usually packed as individual halves), you need 4 halves, 2 to 2 1/2 pounds total.
Serves:4
1. Pull skin from duck, cutting where needed to release. Discard skin or reserve for another use. Cut breasts into halves.
2. Mix salt and sugar and rub all over the duck breasts. Put meat in a bowl and let stand 15 to 20 minute; discard liquid that forms. Rinse duck well and pat dry.
3. Rinse and drain escarole. Trim out and discard core; coarsely chop leaves.
4. Meanwhile, lay bread in a single layer in a 10- to 15-inch pan. Bake in a 300° oven until pale gold and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Keep warm.
5. Put 2 teaspoons oil n a 10- to 12-inch oven proof frying pan over high heat. When hot, add breasts and brown on each side, about 6 minutes total. Put duck in 300° oven. Bake until just pink in the center (cut to test) and a thermometer inserted in center of thickest part reads 130° to 140°, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm. Let stand at least 10 minutes for juices to settle.
6. When breasts have rested at least 5 minutes, put 1 teaspoon oil and the chicken broth in a 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat. Add escarole and stir until barely wilted, about 2 minutes.
7. Using a slotted spoon, transfer escarole to warmed dinner plates.
8. Slice duck breasts across the grain and lay equal portions on escarole. Accompany with toast, wasabi, and pickled ginger.
Per serving: 427 cal., 14% (60 cal.) from fat; 42g protein; 6.7g fat (1g sat.); 48g carbo (5.1g fiber); 898mg sodium; 179mg chol.
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What does curing do?
Meat, fish, or poultry rubbed with salt or immersed n a brine of water and salt, changes physically because of natural chemical processes. Although salt firms the meat by drawing out liquid, curiously, it also helps keep the flesh juicy when it's cooked. But salt alone can make the meat hard. For smoother texture, you need sugar in the mix. It keeps the membranes tender and flexible, and balances the saltiness if the mixture is well proportioned (typically 2 parts salt to 1 part sugar, or equal amounts of each).
You also need sugar f you want seasonings to penetrate the meat. Salt can't transport flavors through protein membranes, but sugar can because it dissolves more completely and allows the flavors to seep in.
Smoking contributes a mellow flavor to cured foods; curing n turn masks acrid components of the smoke.
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