Duck Breasts in Caramel Wine Sauce and Grilled Summer Fruits or the Quintessence of French Cooking

Et oui.....when we, foreigners, think about French cooking, one of the first things that comes to our mind is the famous "magret de canard" (duck breast). And this dish had been conspicuously absent from my blog, that humbly pays tribute to "la Cuisine Française"....and since duck meat is usually married to sweet fruits, nothing better than the summer and its array of nectar-like fruits, to show the step-by-step of this great main course, that seems difficult to make but it is not, and that will crown your dining table with a touch of class!

But there is a warning!!!! If you are the type of person that cannot think of eating meat medium-rare, then this is not the thing for you !!! Well-done duck meat means something impossible to chew... it becomes hard! When we slice it, it has to be slightly reddish (or very)... so it is up to you....What is worse, if you present your duck well done, a connaisseur (expert) will immediatedly think: "This person has no idea of French cooking..." So, don't say I didn't warn you... =D

The backstage of this post is that I made it for two people, so at dinnertime, I served this for my husband and me (I had prepared something else for the kids) Have you seen when you eat something in front of a hungry dog, that it stares at you, the food on the fork, and the swinging motion of your hand from dish to mouth? Well, at home it was the same but with my two daughters!!! So I had to make the terrible question: Do you want to eat this? And I did get the dreaded answer....."Yes", so we ended up sharing this...result? my husband complaining..."Why is it that when you make something this good, there is always so little of it?" The sauce is incredible!!, and my girls nodded, gulping down their pieces !!!. I explained it was meant for the blog, not for a real dinner of four...and I promised to repeat the recipe in the future....
I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did !

PS: maybe you have wondered why I never mention my son in my posts concerning food? The answer is that he is a 100% Argentinian for whom life is a huge steak, or veal cutlet milanese, or pasta, or pizza.... He does eat what I cook, but grudgingly....! And when I talk about the importance of eating fish...? Oh là là !! Do you get the picture? ;D

Now for the recipe....

To make this Duck Fillet in Caramel Wine sauce and Grilled Summer Fruits, you will need: ( serves 2 )
 * duck fillet, 1 or 2 (depending on size )
 * summer fruits: peaches, apricots, mango, figs (here I used 2 peaches, 1 flat peach, 1 mango)
  
  For the caramel wine sauce:
 * sugar, 80gr
 * dry red wine (I used a Malbec), 150ml
 * meat stock, 100ml
 * butter, 10gr


Start preparing the sauce: put the sugar in a thick pan. Heat the sugar till you get a brown caramel color; deglaze with the wine (warmed) (be careful here, the caramel will foam up); combine well. Then add in the meat stock. Reduce a little. Before serving, add the butter to the warm sauce and whisk well.
For the magret: put the magret on a cutting board, skin up. Make a crosshatch pattern with

a knife. Heat a skillet or frying pan to a medium/high, and then put the magret, skin down. You don't need any oil, since the skin has plenty of fat!! As soon as you place the magret on the hot skillet, the fat will begin to melt. Spoon the excess fat out progressively. Cook for 12/15'.

Turn it around. Cook for 3/4' more. Season to taste (salt & pepper)

Cut the peaches in halves, the mango in thick sticks. Sprinke the fleshy part of the fruits with sugar. Heat a grill pan. Place the fruit on it, till it becomes softer and grilled (the sugar will caramelize a little)
Cut the magret in thin slices. Place them on a dish. Drizzle with the sauce. Serve with the grilled fruit.