Duck breast with tarocco risotto

Tarocco oranges are the famous blood oranges from Sicily. Their soft flesh is almost seedless, juicy, and sweet and the colour varies from orange with some light pink to deep ruby red. Their sea on is fairly short; from winter to spring. 

In a French guidebook about Sicily, I happened to notice a local dish: risotto with tarocco and saffron. Because some sweet fruit goes very well with duck breast I got the inspiration for the following recipe. The combination was so delicious that this recipe is to be repeated whenever tarocco oranges are in season.

2 servings

1 duck breast, magret de canard

120 ml risotto rice

1 tarocco blood orange

Olive oil

1-2 shallots

1 clove garlic

150 ml white wine

1 dose saffron, in filaments

About 500 ml chicken stock

2 handfuls of grated Parmesan

Peel and chop the tarocco blood orange into fairly small chunks. Set aside, these will be added to the risotto when it is cooked at about the same time as the Parmesan. 

Cook the risotto the classic way. Add the saffron to the risotto early when you start adding wine and stock to the risotto. Saffron filaments need time to develop their distinctive flavour in warm liquid and to give a nice colour to the dish. Cooking risotto takes about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the criss-crossed duck breast over medium heat 10 and 8 minutes per side starting with the skin side. Place the duck on carving board and slice.

Divide the duck and risotto on the plates. Serve with some greens, for example fried courgette slices or steamed broccoli.