Moroccan Wheat Beer-Brined Duck Breast

Ingredients

1 or 2 duck breasts scored
2 cups of organic field greens
1/2 cup moroccan spice rub
1 orange
1/2 cup EVOO
2 pcs julienned candied ginger
sea salt
cracked pepper
Moroccan spice rub
4 Tbsp ground nutmeg
4 Tbsp ground cumin
4 Tbsp ground coriander
2 Tbsp allspice
2 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp of cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp ground star anise

Basic Brine
1 cup Kosher salt

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1 Tbsp whole pink peppercorns

2 bay leaves

6 cups of water

4 cups of ice

Directions
The spice rub can be made ahead and save excess for future uses. Basic brine can be made day ahead and placed in the refrigerator for later use. In a medium stock pot bring water, salt, sugar, peppercorns and bay leaves to a boil. Turn off add ice and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Dry off excess moisture on duck breasts, score the fat on the duck breast. To score a duck breast cut into the fat of the duck in a diagonal straight line cut, turn breast 90° and cut again thus creating a diamond shape no bigger than 1/8".

Use spice rub liberally coating duck breast completely, cover and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours. Remove cover from duck and place in a pot and cover with brine,to this basic brine add one full bottle of wheat beer, if you have to place a small plate on top to make sure it remains submerged do so. Allow to brine for 8 hours or better yet overnight!!!

To remove duck from brine, rinse duck in the brine of any excess rub and place on a plate covered with paper towel to dry for 10 to 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F While duck is resting remove the top and bottom parts of your orange and begin to segment the orange into pieces being careful to remove all membrane.

To marinate orange, place in a bowl, drizzle with EVOO and a bit of salt and pepper. For the candied ginger, the amount you actually need for this recipe is so minute that I would suggest you purchase some rather than make it. Julienne 1 or 2 pieces of the candied ginger and set aside.

Now that duck is rested and dried off from excess brine, heat a skillet over med-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, place the duck breast fat side down first and allow to sear and render (allowing fat to melt) careful not to burn or over cook the meat.

Once the fat is crispy, turn breast over and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, this should yield a perfectly medium-rare breast, if you want to cook it more , go ahead,but I do not recommend it.

Remove duck from oven and let rest for a minute before slicing. Place the duck over organic field greens, place the marinated orange supremes over duck and sprinkle 5 to 6 pieces of the julienned candied ginger.

The first time I made spent grain granola was in County Cork, Ireland, three months into a cooking program on a 100-acre working farm. A friend of mine was a brewer from New Zealand, and we spent most of American Thanksgiving homebrewing a dry-hopped pale ale with elderflower in an Irish cottage surrounded by cows. This was my third time homebrewing: the beer wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. What was a standout was the toasty, chewy granola we made from the spent grain, baked with warming spices, dried fruit and dark maple syrup. We ate the granola with yogurt from the Jersey cows nearby, yogurt so fatty and tart the cream stuck to the lid in a cap of pale yellow. That granola was an extension of the first core tenet I learned in cooking and in farming: waste not.

Ingredients

Directions

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