a few suggestions sought: duck breast appetizer/snacks

So, I bought some frozed free-range organic duck breasts from a local farmer - unfortunately, skin- and fat-less.

Having a dinner party tomorrow (Sun 9/10) to start (and likely finish) my birthday-a-thon (yikes, 40 already? how in hell did that happen?) wanted to use these as a good snack/starter to the evening.

Was thinking I'd pull out the weber, hardwood charcoal and probably some apple chips for smoking/indirect cooking the breasts earlier in the day to have the breasts ready early. Then, create an easy to put together appetizer/snack for the dinner.

My friend likes to create these terrific salmon-cream cheese-sweet pea/bean wraps (using basic fajita wraps) that he slowly warms on the stove so everything comes together.

Was thinking something similar with this duck... thinly slice, maybe use a different cheese - feta? a blue? and perhaps slightly poached carrots sliced thin? Hmmmmmm....

Thoughts? herbs?

Thanks all!

Mike

So, I bought some frozed free-range organic duck breasts from a local farmer - unfortunately, skin- and fat-less.

Having a dinner party tomorrow (Sun 9/10) to start (and likely finish) my birthday-a-thon (yikes, 40 already? how in hell did that happen?) wanted to use these as a good snack/starter to the evening.

Was thinking I'd pull out the weber, hardwood charcoal and probably some apple chips for smoking/indirect cooking the breasts earlier in the day to have the breasts ready early. Then, create an easy to put together appetizer/snack for the dinner.

My friend likes to create these terrific salmon-cream cheese-sweet pea/bean wraps (using basic fajita wraps) that he slowly warms on the stove so everything comes together.

Was thinking something similar with this duck... thinly slice, maybe use a different cheese - feta? a blue? and perhaps slightly poached carrots sliced thin? Hmmmmmm....

Thoughts? herbs?

Thanks all!

Mike

Smoked duck is certainly a great option - it can also make a nice base for a salad.

Other stuff? Not sure if this works with duck as well as lamb, but consider coating in a mix of honey and preferred spices and grilling/bbq-ing until the honey crisps up. For the lamb I tend to use small bite size pieces, so I guess the same would work with the duck. Either serve as a simple starter with lettuce, or as part of a spread of tapas style dishes.

regards

Ian

Smoked duck occurred to me, too. But please, not with cheese.

Consider serving slices of smoked duck in warmed corn tortillas, with some seasoned black beans or pintos, strips of lightly charred poblano chiles, and finely shredded cabbage (never iceberg lettuce). Serve some guacamole and crema or sour cream on the side, along with a couple of salsas - traditional roasted tomato and chile, and mango-serrano.

[Jenise]

Great suggestion, Bernie. Another possible way to go would be to use premade wraps and bottled hoison sauce to roll up strips of duck breast and long frilly lengths of vertically sliced scallions and a little soft green lettuce leaf.

Well, here's what I came up with . . .

Did the duck on the Weber grill indirectly, and lightly smoked with some apple wood. Then, after pulling from the fire, let rest while we lightly sauteed some leeks. Sliced some ok quality Gruyère cheese. Very lightly buttered one side of fajita-style wraps. Placed slices of the duck, a little bit of the leeks (I wanted them to be sliced lengthwise to match the duck and cheese slices, but they were chopped by some friends while I was working on something else) and a few slices of the cheese. Wrapped the wraps (clever, huh?), and placed them on my non-stick bigass saute pan (with lid), and heated slowly to get the cheese melted.

Turned out pretty tasty, with the duck remaining moist from its initial med-rare grilling. The lightly tangy cheese was a help in binding things, while not detracting from the flavor of the duck.

Probably would have been nicer with a better grade of Gruyère, and maybe a different flavor enhancer than the leeks. If I were doing something similar as a meal rather than snack, I'd probably have a little bit of sour cream on the side.

Oh - dinner - the main course meat was Wagyu-grade flank steak - - very yummy (also cooked on the Weber).

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mike