Crispy Duck Sandwiches

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Duck is a popular dish for serving when you’re entertaining! Such as Christmas days! Yes, I know that isn’t common to cook or eat duck, but I’m sure that my recipe will change your mind! If you want a fancy snack or appetizer, this will impress you and your guests! This easy yet impressive recipe makes a stylish snack for a special occasion!

The whole duck or breasts or even legs can be cooked using different methods and will give very different results. For my Crispy Duck Sandwiches, I choosed duck breast, because it’s super simple, easy and fast to cook it!

When you want to cook the essential waterfowl is BETTER to make a marinade! Marinades not only make the meat more tender, they also bring great extra flavour to it. Therefore, it’s important to choose the right marinade to complement the type of meat you’re cooking. We need the right oil, the best of spices and herbs and a good wine!

Herbs and spices can be added to any marinade to give a real flavour boost. Fresh, woody herbs with a strong flavour, such as rosemary and thyme are classic accompaniments to duck, and pair nicely with other traditional aromatics like garlic. Also, I choose always extra virgin olive oil for my marinades. In addition, wines and spirits can be used in marinades for duck, and will impart a different level of flavour to the finished dish. As duck meat tends to be quite strong-flavoured already, opt for smooth drinks such as red wine!

Additional, not only does sugar balance acidity or sourness in a marinade with sweetness, but it also creates a delicious caramelised exterior when the duck is fried, grilled or even barbecued. For example, honey or even maple syrup work well with duck and have the added advantage of being easy to whisk into marinades.

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine
• 2 cloves of garlic
• rosemary
• thyme
• red and black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt

For the sandwiches:

• 1 baquette
• 1 duck breast (skinless)
• 50 gr. blue cheese or camembert cheese
• 2 leaves of radicchio
• 2 leaves of lettuce
• 6 slices of cucumber

Instructions:

1. First of all, we start with the marinade. Mix all the ingredients and place the duck’s breast in the marinade. Leave for at least 2 hrs, or for up to 24 hrs in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. Put the breast into a baking pan with the marinade and roast for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender! If you have a meat thermometer, it should read: 54 °C for rare, 61°C for medium and 65 °C for medium/well done.
4. Let the duck breast rest and cool for 15 – 20 mins.
5. When the meat is cold, you can pluck it with your hands or with 2 forks.
6. Then, heat a frying pan (without oil) and place the pulled duck all over the surface of the pan. Letting the fat melt out and the pulled duck crisp up on both sides. Keep frying until the skin is crisp and brown and you’ve melted out as much of the visible white fat as possible. This can take up to 5 mins.
7. Your crispy duck is ready! NOW, you can build your sandwiches!
8. Cut the baquette in half, spread the blue cheese or the camembert, add the lettuce, radicchio, cucumber, you can add some pieces of cheese as well, add the crispy duck and enjoy!!!

Tips:

1. Score the skin in a criss-cross pattern or in parallel lines (restaurants often use close parallel lines as they look neater); the idea is to expose as much of the fat to the hot pan as possible.
2. For a less fatty outcome, you can remove the skin and fat before cooking.
3. Duck breast is often served ‘pink’ or ‘rare’ but it’s better to cook duck, like chicken, until it is no longer pink, for safety.
4. Leftover duck fat can be poured into a ceramic or glass container and chilled. Lift the fat off along with the jellied juices and use it within a week to roast whatever you want.
5. To keep the fat for longer, lift off the juices, reheat it to a liquid and strain it through muslin before freezing it in cubes.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

• Duck meat provides high-quality protein with a variety of non-essential and essential amino acids.
• Duck is a good source of selenium, an important antioxidant that can help prevent cell damage and fight inflammation, both of which support the body’s immune system.
• Eating duck (and other forms of poultry) in place of steak and other meats high in saturated fat also has the potential for some positive health outcomes related to the risk of cardiovascular disease. Plus, duck provides about as much iron as red meat, significantly more than you get from chicken.
• Duck contains a variety of B vitamins but is particularly high in niacin & B-12. 
• It’s better to choose wholegrain bread to increase the fiber content of the meal.
• Τhis snack is a great idea for a complete meal! Also, it’s a good solution to take it as a snack at work!

Maria Mentzelou is Dietitian / Nutritionist with M.Sc. Applied Nutrition and Dietetics with specialization in Clinical Nutrition (Harokopio University) and Specialization in Life Coaching and NLP (University Aegean). Find out more about her or contact her at maria.mentzelou@hotmail.com, Tel. 6984515475 and in its pages on Facebook and Instagram.

Don’t forget to tag us #foodenyo on instagram, if you remake this one! We’d love to see your recreations!

Enjoy,

Foodenyo