Duck with fruit: Elevating your summer dinner guests' experience

When you invite guests for an elegant lunch or dinner in the summer, you wonder what to prepare to make it delicious, refined, and at the same time, so you don't have to spend half the day in a hot kitchen. That's when the idea of duck with fruit is worth its weight in gold.

Duck is a type of poultry we rarely reach for. Chicken and turkey are definitely more popular, and for sure, the price has an impact. Duck is not cheap, but for special occasions, it is worth preparing, especially since duck fillets with fruit pair excellently and taste like a restaurant dish.

Duck, recognized as the most noble type of poultry, delights with a flavour that definitely distinguishes it from chicken or turkey. You can prepare the duck as a whole. In that case, young specimens weighing 1.5-2 kg are recommended. Unfortunately, the roasting process is then quite long, heating up the apartment, and the duck is quite difficult to divide elegantly. Therefore, a better choice is duck fillets.

Although combining meat with fruits is not very popular in traditional Canadian cuisine, it has definitely stuck with duck. Traditionally, these were apples or oranges. However, in the season of fresh fruits, it's worth refreshing this list. To the delicate duck breast fillet, a cherry sauce, grilled peaches, rhubarb, and of course raspberries match perfectly. It's all a matter of how open we and our guests are to flavours. You can always safely go for apples or citrus fruits.

You can prepare duck fillet with fruits in two ways. The traditional way is simply to bake the meat with pieces of apples or oranges. Another way? You bake the duck and then serve it with a fruit sauce, such as cherry or raspberry. Every time, the basis is well-baked meat. Therefore, take the fillets out an hour before cooking to reach room temperature. Clean, wash, and score the skin. Place them in a pan skin-side down to render the fat. Then turn them to the other side. Fillets prepared in this way can be baked in the oven.

Ingredients:

• 4 duck breasts,
• 50 mL of orange juice,
• 4 tablespoons of oil,
• salt, pepper, honey, favourite herbs to taste,
• 3 apples or oranges.

Preparation method:

1. Rinse the duck fillets, pat dry with a paper towel, and score the layer of skin in a crosshatch pattern with a knife.
2. In a bowl, mix oil, honey, orange juice, and spices and herbs. Place the fillets in the marinade and leave them for an hour.
3. On a dry pan, fry the duck on both sides, about 5 minutes on each.
4. Transfer the duck fillets to an ovenproof dish, pour in the remaining marinade, and bake in an oven preheated to 175°C for about 20 minutes, then add fruit pieces.
5. Bake for another 25 minutes (or less, depending on how well done you like it).

You can also bake the duck without fruits and prepare a raspberry sauce.

Ingredients:

• 200 g of raspberries,
• less than a cup of red wine,
• a tablespoon of honey,
• salt, pepper, ginger, cinnamon to taste.

Preparation method:

1. Boil the wine with spices.
2. Add raspberries and cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Finally, add honey. Cook for a while longer on low heat to evaporate excess liquid.
4. Serve the baked duck fillets drizzled with the sauce.