Ingredients
Black Pepper-Sweet Mustard Sauce:
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
- Salt
- 4 (7-ounce) muscovy duck breast
Soft Mascarpone Polenta:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large leeks, washed, white and light green part, finely sliced
- 8 spears asparagus, blanched, shocked and sliced on bias into 1/2-inch pieces
- 8 cups water
- Salt
- 2 cups polenta
- 1/4 cup mascarpone
- 1/4 cup grated Manchego cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the Black Pepper-Sweet Mustard Sauce: Combine the mustards, honey, black pepper, thyme in a medium bowl and season with salt. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Heat a large ovenproof saute pan over high heat until smoking. Season each breast with salt and pepper to taste. Score the skin with a knife and sear the breast, skin-side down, until golden brown and fat has rendered, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove most of the fat, turn the breasts over and place them in the oven and cook for 10 to 12 minutes for medium rare doneness, remove duck and brush liberally with the mustard glaze. Let duck rest for 10 minutes, slice each breast on the bias.
For the Soft Mascarpone Polenta: Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook until very soft, add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Place water in a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta, cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes with a wooden spoon.
Remove polenta from heat, whisk in mascarpone, Manchego and leek/asparagus mixture, season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
Review This Recipe
You must be logged in to review this recipe.
or Sign Up to Review
Newest Ratings and Reviews
Read all 3 reviews
By J'Rik
Vallejo, CA
on April 08, 2012
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
Iron Chef. Shame on you. If this recipe had been presented to the judges, you would not have been victorious. The mustard sauce completely oblitered any of the wonderful flavor of the duck. The recipe for the polenta is totally lobsided. For the vegetables that are listed, only 1 cup of dry polenta should have been prepared. The amount of polenta in the original recipe would serve 8 people at 1 cup of cooked polenta each which should have been plenty. For future folks trying this, cut the polenta portion of the recipe in half. When you are ready to apply the mustard sauce to the duck, just brush it lightly; one swipe should do.
By byohazard2k2_67...
Lorton, VA
on February 16, 2008
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
I prepared this for my family today and it went over huge. The duck portion of the recipe is pretty standard for duck breast, although the mustard sauce was very good. The combination of the whole grain mustard, the dijon mustard and the thyme made it stand out from just a honey mustard sauce. I will definitely use that for other applications. What really impressed me about the recipe was the polenta. I avoided the problems of the other reviewer since I used chicken broth rather than water, which I always do for polenta. The only thing that might have thrown me off was the serving size. The amount of polenta that this recipe made was enough for 6 adults. The only reason I bring this up is because I almost doubled the recipe since I thought it would only be enough for 4. I thought better of it and I'm glad I did. Small gripe for what otherwise was an easy and relatively quick meal.
By ang1414_2437320
Fairborn, OH
on April 04, 2005
Flag
Flag This Review?
Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.
or Cancel
Be careful! The recipe for the polenta is WRONG. It says to add 2 TABLESPOONS of salt, and it must actually be 2 TEASPOONS. I thought 2 T seemed like a lot, but I trusted the recipe, and now I have a huge pot of polenta that I can't eat. I am very disappointed, because the flavor otherwise is very good!
Read all 3 reviews