The Cottage Smallholder

Duck breasts with a fresh plum sauce recipe

roast duck breast with fresh plum sauce I spotted some large French duck breasts at Fred Fitzpatrick’s butcher’s shop on Saturday. As all his meat is excellent I bought a pack as a treat, feeling a bit guilty about the air miles. I was going to make our lazy duck in apricot sauce recipe but when I saw some large plump fresh plums in Tesco I changed my mind. I had to ignore the air miles yet again and resolved to bottle some of the local wild plums and bullaces in the autumn to use as sauces for duck and pork. They are tart and perfect for this recipe.

I decided to make a sauce without wine, which is my trusty assistant at the experimental stage of a new recipe. I was surprised that the plum sauce was fantastic without it. The duck fat gives it a sheen and softness that perfectly balances the fresh, tangy fruit flavour. The soy sauce is not discernable but is the secret ingredient. It adds depth and pizzazz.

This dish is quick and easy to make and perfect for a supper party or Saturday night treat. By roasting the duck breasts on a nest of plums, they remain succulent. The small ovenproof dish is the other essential element (ours is 17.5cm wide and 5cm deep). A roasting tray would not work because the plums need to sit under the duck and these would splay out and burn. I reckon that roasting a duck in a bag with the plums and other ingredients would also work well. Meanwhile, why not try this dish and wow your beloved.

Duck breasts with a fresh plum sauce recipe (for two with a decent amount of sauce)

Preheat oven to 220c (200c fan). Cook for fifteen minutes and then ruduce to 180c (160c fan) for 30-40 mins

Ingredients:

2 large duck breasts
400g of ripe dark plums
2 tbls of water
2 tsp of soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Select a small ovenproof dish that will hold the sliced plums and the duck breasts snugly.

Remove the stones from the plums and cut them into chunky slices. Lay these in the bottom of your dish.
Add the water and soy sauce.
Place the duck breasts on top of the plums. Skin side up so that it will brown.
Put the dish in the centre of the oven to roast for 15 mins 220c (200c fan) and then for 30-40 mins at 180c (160c fan).
When the breasts are browned and tender set them aside in a warm place and liquidise the sauce with a hand blender.

Runner beans were perfect with the dish. I had made mini roast potatoes but new potatoes would have been much better.

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20 Comments so far

Allen Harris on March 20th, 2008

sounds really nice and simple but do you drain off the fat from the duck or blend it in with the plums. many thanks allen
fn on March 20th, 2008

Hi Allen

We mix up the fat with the plumbs and juice. Delicious. You could remove the fat and it would still be good.
charlotte broadie on March 25th, 2008

i have just finished eating it, and wanted to say thanks. it was lovely! i onyl had 4 plums but it worked just as well. i was looking at lots of recipes and they all needed the duck marinading for hours so i thought id give yours a go as it was quick and i had the ingredients.
will definitely use it again
Thanks
fn on March 27th, 2008

Hi Charlotte

Thanks for dropping by with some positive feedback. This is such an easy recipe and tastes as if you have made an enormous effort.
Anna on November 13th, 2008

Hi

I like the look of your recipe, but I have a whole duck and a lot of plums. Do you think it would work if I stuffed the duck with plums, then use them to make the sauce?
Danny on November 14th, 2008

Hi, Anna, and thank you for your comment.
I’m sure that stuffing the cavity with plums would work quite well. I would guess that they cook easily and should turn into the lovely mushiness you need for a good sauce.
Do please let us know how it turned out.
Colin on November 21st, 2008

Tried this last night and it was divine.
Thank you for your all fabulous ideas.
Can you help me with roasting a whole duck. I am a novice in the kitchen!!
Lauz on February 15th, 2009

I was just after an easy recipe with exactly duck breast and plums – and yours came up first on the search engine! How perfect – simple with no fancy ingredients, which I am not likely to have. Am going to try this in about an hour’s time for post Valentine’s Sunday dinner.
Steve on March 8th, 2009

Just finished eating it and it was delicious and so easy to cook. Think I have built up a considerable amount of brownie points from the wife! Many thanks.
Joe on March 26th, 2009

We have just cooked some duck this way, but using bottled plums, and I have to report that it works very well, albeit with the cooking time reduced a little to allow for the plums not needing to be cooked.
Cat on June 5th, 2009

I love fresh, “home cooked food”, but really dislike cooking (having done a full roast goose dinner for six on one never to be repeated occasion). I had a friend round for dinner, and wanted to do something nice but quick and simple – stumbled across this recipe and one word: perfect. I bought 3 good quality duck breasts from a local butcher, stuck them and the plums in one small dish – from start to table in 45 mins and the washing up took about 2 mins max. Love it. and it’s way impressive for those who gasp, “The Cat? She cooks?!” I love duck with cherries as well so I intend to try out some of the other recipes on this site that don’t require eternity and massive amounts of faffing about. Can’t recommend it enough.
Piper on August 16th, 2009

Will try this evening – as others have said, a lot of the other recipes out there are more complicated, this seems really simple. I’ll report back how it went!

Many thanks.
fn on August 18th, 2009

Hi Colin

Sorry I missed your comment. We have a great recipe for whole duck stuffed with plums here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=1297

Hello Lauz

Hope that it worked out for you.

Hi Steve

It’s easy and delicious – I agree. Tasty cooking needn’t be complicated.

Hi Joe

Thanks, that’s good to know.

Hi Cat

Great news that this worked out well for you!

Hello Piper

I do hope that it worked well for you.
Brian on October 7th, 2009

“Remove the stones from the plums and cut them into chunky slices.”

Well, I blunted three knives, and the hospital says I have to remain for another day just in case, but thanks anyway
tim on November 8th, 2009

are you stupid bryan?? its not hard to remove stones from plums, me and our five yr old done it for our duck and we both have all eleven fingers in tact!!!! tim in dorset
erin on November 20th, 2009

tried this last night, absolutly yummy, yrt so easy, thank you so much
Brian on November 20th, 2009

“are you stupid bryan??”

Are you perhaps lacking a sense of irony, Tym? My post was a tongue-in-cheek comment on the ambiguity of the sentence I quoted, which grammatically means “cut the stones into chunky slices.”
I can understand the 11 fingers you both have, though, in Dorset…
And it’s “Brian”.
The recipe remains excellent.
fn on November 20th, 2009

Hi Erin

Great that you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for dropping by.

Hello Brian,

Thanks for being polite about my recipe at least
Maggie on September 14th, 2010

This sounds like the dish to do for my OH’s family birthday dinner. Did you use boned or bone-in breasts?
Samphire man on October 24th, 2011

hi just to let you know I did this with bottled cherries and wild duck [yes I bottled the cherries ]it was great just gave it a slug of port as well!