Duck breast with nutmeg, apple and cherry sauce

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 2 duck breasts
• 150 ml wine (muscat)
• 150 ml cherry juice, from the jar
• 100 ml chicken stock
• 1 m.-sized apple
• 5 tbsp sour cherries, from the jar
• 1 tbsp honey
• Salt
• Pepper, mixed, freshly ground
• Chili, from the mill
• some sugar, if needed

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 35 minutes

fruity-spicy

Preheat the oven to 80°C (top and bottom heat) and place a plate on the middle rack. Carefully cut diamond-shaped slices into the skin-side of the duck breasts, taking care not to cut into the meat underneath. Season all over with pepper, chili, and salt and massage the spices into the skin. Peel, core, and slice the apple. Cover the bottom of a cold pan thinly with cold water, place the duck breasts skin-side down, and heat the pan. While the water evaporates, fry the duck breasts in their own fat. Fry the duck breasts skin-side down until crispy and a nice golden brown. Then turn them over, reduce the heat slightly, and fry the meat-side down for another 3 minutes. Remove the duck breasts from the pan, place them on the plate in the oven preheated to 80°C, and let them rest. Drain the duck fat from the pan. Deglaze the pan with muscat wine and cherry juice, then top up with chicken stock. Carefully skim the pan juices from the bottom of the pan. Add the apple pieces to the sauce. Simmer the sauce to your liking, seasoning it with honey toward the end and, if desired, salt, pepper, chili, and sugar. Thicken it slightly if desired. Finally, add the cherries. If desired, the duck breasts can be grilled briefly before serving. Slice the breasts and serve them over the fruit sauce. Mashed potatoes go very well with the sauce.