Roast Duck Breast with Spicy Peppers

Roasted and sliced duck breast on spicy peppers bed with turmeric boiled potatoes

This is a very simple dish and incredibly tasty as it sees the peppers stir fried in the roasting juices of the duck breast before they are served with turmeric and tarragon buttered potatoes. It can very easily be made in larger quantities, without requiring the use of extra pots and pans.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ready in: 35 minutes
Serves: 1 person

Ingredients

Bell pepper halves and chilli pepper

7 or 8 baby potatoes, as desired
Salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 medium duck breast fillet (skin on)
Black pepper
1/2 each of red, green and yellow bell peppers
1 large red chilli pepper
1/2 small white onion
Butter
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

Directions 

Turmeric and salt seasoned potatoes

Start by putting your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Wash but don't peel the potatoes and cut each one in half. Add to a pot with the ground turmeric and some salt. Pour in enough cold water to ensure the potatoes are comfortably covered and put the pot on a high heat until the water starts to boil. Reduce the heat to achieve a gentle to moderate simmer for twenty minutes.

Browning skin side of duck breast

Lay the duck breast flesh side down on a chopping board and use a very sharp knife to score through the skin but not in to the flesh in a criss-cross fashion. Season on both sides with salt and pepper. Take an ovenproof frying pan or skillet (do make sure this is the case as it is absolutely vital) and lay the duck breast fillet in to the cold pan, skin side down. Put the pan on to a low heat until you can see the fat starting to escape the duck. Only at this point should you increase the heat to high and fry the duck in this way for two further minutes. Turn the duck over and fry for two minutes on the flesh side, simply to seal.

Duck breast ready for the oven

When the duck breast is sealed, place the pan in to your hot oven for ten minutes.

Butter and tarragon are added to turmeric potatoes

Drain the potatoes through a colander at your sink and return them to the empty pot. Allow them to steam off and dry out for a couple of minutes before adding a little bit of butter and the dried tarragon. Swirl the pot slowly and gently to evenly coat all the potatoes.

Roasted duck breast is allowed to rest

Remember to wear an ovenproof glove as you take the pan from the oven and lift the duck breast with a spatula to a small plate to rest. Sit the pan back on the hob and turn on the heat.

Peppers and onion are stir fried in duck fat

Seed and slice the bell pepper halves to around a quarter inch thickness. Cut the top off the chilli and discard before slicing it in to thin discs. Lay the peeled onion half flat on a chopping board and slice across the way that each slice can then be separated in to strands. Add the lot to the frying pan with the duck fat, season with some salt and black pepper, turn up the heat and stir fry for two minutes - remembering that the pan handle will still be hot!

Arrange the potatoes on either side of a square serving plate before carefully slicing the duck breast across the way in to 5 or 6 pieces and laying them on top of the peppers.

Stir fried peppers and turmeric potatoes are arranged on serving plate