Raspberry Duck

This is the delicious raspberry duck that S brought to the Gastronati's French night. The recipe's adapted from Laura Calder's French Food at Home.

Raspberry Duck
Serves 6 as a side

2 boneless duck breasts with skin
6 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup red wine
2 Tbsp raspberry jam
1 to 3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
2 to 3 handfuls of fresh raspberries
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F).

Score the fat side of the duck breasts with a knife. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Render the fat by placing the breasts fat side down in a frying pan on medium heat. Let cook for about seven minutes, draining the fat three times. Flip the breasts over and brown the other side for about three minutes. You just want to sear the outside and get a nice brown colour, not cook them through at this point.

Transfer the breasts to the oven in a casserole dish and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. (This step may not be necessary all the time, but we had fat duck breasts that were too large to cook all the way through in the frying pan.) After you remove them from the oven, let the meat rest for five to 10 minutes before slicing into medallions.

Make the sauce in the same frying pan used to fry the duck breasts while they are cooking in the oven. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and scrape up all the drippings. Boil for about a minute to reduce to one tablespoon of sauce. Whisk in the garlic and tomato paste and then the wine. Boil rapidly to reduce the volume by half (about five minutes). Whisk in the jam, and then remove the sauce from the heat and add the butter, a little at a time, to make it glossy. Season with salt and pepper. (You can strain the sauce at this point to make it smooth, but we didn't bother.)

Plate the medallions (about four per person) on a side dish, spoon over the raspberry sauce and top with fresh raspberries.