To begin my Mission 2, I went to my local DeCicco’s Food Market which has great selection of fresh food, spices, bakery, and home-made meals. For anyone who is looking for the next level supermarket but doesn’t want to get too bogged down by the healthy centric Whole Foods I definitely recommend them.
Now that I have chosen duck,  I used A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook to find what else I need to acquire. “Duck with Lemons,” is the specific recipe for a 4 pound whole duck, so I had to whittle down the ingredients to about a third of the recommended. Since my topic is game meats I decided a medieval point of view would be complementary in the preparation of the dish. So, my natural ingredients are:

Duck (Breast 1.3lb)
Olive Oil
Lemons (2)
Salt (mediterranean sea salt)
Ground Chili Powder
Ground White Pepper
Honey (I chose raw honey to stick close with the medieval theme)
Seasonal Veggies (carrots and leeks)

First order of business is preparation of ingredients. I juiced the lemons. I cleaned and cut the carrots and leeks. Leeks need special care for cleaning and cutting so I referred to this youtube video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8glwRaS8OM)

Next I coated the duck breast in olive oil and generously sprinkled the sea salt. I also stuffed a couple of cut lemon skins into the center no need for too much as lemon comes out strong in cooking by themselves.

The preparation of the basting sauce is where it got fun. I put all the lemon juice and
1 Tablespoon of oil,
1/2 teaspoon of ground salt,
1.5 Tablespoons of honey,
1 teaspoon of the white pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder

into a very small saucepan simmer until it begins to reduce. I added a sprinkle more chili and a dram of honey more to make it less tart. Once again lemon juice is powerful so dont be afraid to improvise to your taste preference.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and don’t use all of the sauce for the first basting. You’ll want to save about a third of what you made to coat the duck about two more times before it is done cooking. I also loaded in the veggies before basting so they could soak up some extra flavor.

With a couple of breaks for more basting let it roast at 375 for about 40 to 45 minutes. The telltale sign of it being done was when I could smell the vegetables cooked.  No need to turn over the breast during the process, as you’ll want to get a good crispy skin.

This can feed two people or one hungry food blogger….

Duck breast is very interesting to me. It is almost like a red meat poultry. Its super tender and under the skin there is a soft layer of fat that is exquisite. The rest of the breast is very lean. The carrots take on a lot of the citrus flavor, and that adds a surprising complexity that normally is not found in seasonal veggies in my opinion. This simple recipe came out great. I really sat down and savored all the deep flavors.

Try this at home and let me know how it goes. If you have had duck before, comment away. Bugs Bunny jokes are encouraged of course. Thanks for reading.