Friday, August 9, 2013

Duck Breast with Fresh Peaches

Today is a very special post, and not just because the duck was fantastic.  Today is Nana's 82nd birthday !  And while she will kill me later for posting such, I think most of us - Doristas or not- will find it inspiring that she is in the kitchen not only testing new recipes, but blogging about them !  Happy Birthday Nana !

Per Tricia~
Compared to the recent swordfish, the price of duck didn't look all that
 expensive. But I tend to only buy it when we have a FFWD recipe and 
this week I decided  that has been a mistake. 

My guys LOVE duck and this recipe was no exception. 
It looks like steak- not poultry !
All taste testers were anxiously on hand and very appreciative of the results.
 When asked what might have been tweaked- all responded "not a thing". 
My poor camera- but I had to get a shot of this gorgeous browning !
In fact, as much as they adored the prior teriyaki duck from another
 Friday, they said they even preferred this one better. 
Win, win, win.  Thanks Dorie.
Per Nana~
Unfortunately, this week's recipe did not turn out well at all.  
It was definitely a cook's error all around. I think I browned the meat too
 much, and yet- even though I cooked it a bit longer than called for, it was
 still too rare for us. I sliced half the breast and zapped it in the microwave. 
Ugh ! 
The peaches I used were white peaches without flavor. The ruby port had to 
be strained because it had ???? in it (probably some cork, I hope)  
There are times when you should quit while you are ahead. This was such a 
disappointment to me because the first time we made one of Dorie's duck 
recipes, Hubby and I raved so much that we used it again when we spent
 the Christmas holiday in Vermont with Tricia's family. 

Note from Tricia- Nana gave her leftovers to my sons who adore duck, 
rare meat in general and RAVED about it. It was eaten when it hit the
 kitchen and never made it into the fridge :)


Happy French Friday~

14 comments:

  1. Nana, if it is any consolation, my peaches were also lame ducks, although the heat helped bring out some flavor. I hope you have a very very happy birthday!

    Great job with yours Tricia! I especially like your cute serving tray with the little birds. I bet your taste testers will be happy to know you plan to buy duck more often!

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  2. Happy Birthday Nana!!!!!!!!
    I hope and pray that I will be cooking and experimenting and open to trying new things at 82! You're an inspiration :)
    Beautiful dishes!

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  3. Nana - happiest of birthdays to you and my hat is off that you are cooking and blogging with the best of them :) If it's any consolation to you, I set off the smoke alarm in my rental house in the Languedoc making this and it was still undercooked. You are an inspiration to us all!

    Tricia - looks like you really nailed it this week!

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  4. Now I am the one, Nana, to tell YOU not to be so hard on yourself. You wanted "perfect", didn't you? I agree with you about white peaches - no flavor. I buy them, always think they are special, and I never have been wowed. I had to strain my Port also - the cork broke off when I opened it. I hope, on another day that you will try this recipe again. It's really delicious. (I really think you were redeemed by the Boys). And, Happy Birthday, dear Lady. You are amazing - after all, you went to Paris and I didn't. From what you write about your memories and past experiences make me know that you've enjoyed Life to the fullest. May the year ahead be happy and healthy and filled with FFWD Posts. Tricia, nice job with the duck. I think it's wonderful when your family is so happy with your FFWD results. As always, they love this blogging business as much as you and Nana do.

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  5. Happy BDAY Nana! Sorry that it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to be. Hope you'll have better luck next time.
    And Tricia, gorgeous browning on that skin ;)

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  6. Happy Birthday NANA! Oh how I would have loved to cook along and blog with my Nana... And I'm sorry this wasn't the great celebration you deserved. I think Nana was a bit too hard on herself...so much so that Tricia had to chime in and set the record straight. We do that to ourselves but why? I'm really quite mad for the platter presentation at top too. So lovely!

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  7. Happy birthday Nana! Sorry your duck didn't work out - but you gave it a go. Tricia, glad you enjoyed it, and it looks fab - I really liked it too, despite some initial misgivings.

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  8. Happy Birthday, Nana!! You are truly an inspiration! I have friends younger than me who don’t know how to retrieve e-mail!
    Now for the duck…Tricia your duck looks amazing! I can see why your family so enjoyed this one. It was also a big hit in my house. Nana, I think Trevor is right…way too hard on yourself. Yours looks delicious to me! Glad the boys enjoyed it!
    Have a nice weekend, ladies!

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  9. Tricia - lucky you to have Dartagnan breasts, I adore their products!

    Nana - Happy Birthday! sorry your duck didn't meet your expectations, it does look delicious and the white peaches have a such a nice color to them!

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  10. Nana - happy birthday! I am very glad you are blogging right along with us :-) And it sounds like you were way too hard on yourself - especially since the boys gobbled it up.
    Tricia - this must have been the week for tasteless peaches. A lot of alcohol and cooking time did help. Getting ready to send both girls away to school in another week or so - summer went too fast, didn't it?

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  11. Happy Birthday Nana! You are one inspiring woman. I'm only sorry that this week's duck was a disappointment. Not the best celebratory meal. Tricia, I'm glad that this one met the high expectations of you and your family. It was a hit at my house too. If you make the trip to bring your son back to school, get in touch if you have time. Otherwise, I look forward to meeting you in Seattle! If you haven't tried the cannoli from Modern Pastry (across the street from Mike's), you should. I think they are the best. Of course, all Bostonians have a bias towards one or the other.

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  12. Nana: Happy Birthday and all the very best from all of us!!! I now realize that we share almost the same birthday - mine is on the 8th - this is fun!!! You are indeed an ispiration to all of us and I love coming here every week and admire all your dishes!
    Tricia: this looks like such an elegant meal, I love that serving platter, it is beautiful - I love duck and the combination of sweet and savory in this recipe is very appealing - since we were "out of the country" for a bit (also a bit of a birthday celebration), I did not get to make this dish, but there is "make-up" week this Friday, I am sure that I will get a chance to make this lovely recipe. I also wanted to thank you for your wonderful comment last week and let you know that I did take the time with my husband and admired ALL your pictures that you took in France - I was sooo impressed - we do not get to travel to France very much (kids and all) but I really would love to visit again soon!
    Thanks again for all your thoughful and lovely comments and have a wonderful Sunday!

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  13. Happy belated birthday Nana. Sorry that your birthday FFwD wasn't a hit, but I guess we all have misses on occasion. I am running late, late, late and am now browsing through the duck recipes because I am about to head into my kitchen to finally make the dish myself. Wish me luck!

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