​Often overlooked in favor of more traditional meats like beef, chicken, or pork, the thick crispy skin of duck breasts and the tender, medium-rare flesh offer a belly-warming addition to the winter table. The fat in duck breasts keeps the meat moist and is best paired with slightly acidic and sweet sauces. For this recipe, the natural sweetness and tang of Pink Lady apples, orange zest, and balsamic combine to play against the duck’s fat and create a rich mouth feel.
            Cooking duck breast is not as complicated as many people think—this recipe breaks down the steps so that you can make this restaurant-level dish with minimum fuss and delicious results.
            While duck breast skin has cholesterol, the significant protein content and high levels of selenium and zinc make occasionally consuming duck breast a healthy alternative to the beef, chicken, and pork meat trinity (“Duck Meat and Cholesterol”).
 
Meat & Marinade:
3 long strips of orange zest
5 sprigs of thyme
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil for the marinade, plus 1 tablespoon for cooking the breasts
1 tablespoon orange juice
1.16 duck breasts, deboned, skin on
 
Sauce:
1 Pink Lady apple, small diced
2 medium-sized shallots, thinly sliced to form little rings
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped sage
crack of pepper
 
Marinate the meat:
1. 12-18 hours before cooking, place the duck breasts and the marinade in a plastic bag.
2. Seal the bag and put it in the refrigerator.
 
Make the sauce:
1. Heat up a sauté pan to medium-high heat.
2. Put 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the pan, swirl it around, and add the diced apple.
3. Every minute of so stir or flip the diced apple to ensure that it evenly browns.
4. After 4-5 minutes, the apple dices should be caramelized. 
5. Pull them from the pan and place them on a plate to cool. Sprinkle a little salt on the apple.
6. Heat up a small sauté pan to medium-low heat.
7. Place a teaspoon of olive oil in the pan and swirl it around.
8. Add the sliced shallots to the pan.
9. Occasionally stir the shallots as they brown.
10. Once they turned golden brown, add the chopped sage.
11. Let the sage bloom in the shallots and oil for about 1-2 minutes.
12. Turn the heat off, add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of salt.
13. The teaspoon of vinegar will cook off in the pan.
14. Place the apple and shallots in a nonreactive bowl.
15. Add in the other teaspoon of olive oil and vinegar, and stir the mixture. Try to break apart the rings of shallots into quarters as you go: they should give under weight of your stainless steel spoon. Season the mixture to taste. You might need to add a little more salt and a crack of pepper.
 
Cook the duck breasts:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Pull the breasts from the marinade and wipe off any peel, pepper flakes, or thyme twigs that cling to the meat.
3. Place the breasts skin side up on paper towels. Wipe off any excess moisture on the skin.
4. Preheat a heavy-bottom fry pan on medium-high.
5. Score the skin of the breasts with a sharp knife in order to create a crosshatch pattern.
6. Season the breasts with salt and pepper.
7. Once the pan is hot, put the oil in the pan, swirl it around, and place the duck in the pan. Be sure to move the breasts around until they do not stick (don’t put too many breasts in the pan at once—if you have a medium-sized pan, cook the breasts in batches of two).
8. Turn the heat to medium-low. Cook the breasts for 8 minutes on the skin. Frequently turn the breast skin around in the pan to ensure even cooking.
9. Flip the breasts over and cook them on the flesh for another minute.
10. Turn the duck back over so that the skin side faces down and place it in the oven to cook for another 7-9 minutes. Aim for medium-rare. The exact oven cooking time will vary depending on the size of the breasts.
11. Pull the breasts from the pan and place them on a plate. Loosely tent them with aluminum foil as they rest for 5 minutes.
12. After the breasts have rested, place them on a cutting board and thinly slice the meat across the grain.
13. Place the sliced breast on a plate or platter and spoon the sauce over the top of the meat.
 
“Duck Meat and Cholesterol.” Healthy Eating | SF Gate, San Francisco   Chronicle, healthyeating.sfgate.com/duck-meat-cholesterol-2410.html.

*An earlier version of this recipe appeared in Natural Solutions' Fall 2016 issue

Serves 4 

In this recipe, soft squash’s tender sweetness and diced Pink Lady’s firm bite of acid play against pastured pork stuffing’s spicy smoke and tang. By creating a mix of sweet, acidic, firm, and soft, any filled vegetable recipe can sing. Since stuffable vegetables usually contain high-levels of natural sugar and have mild flavor, you should pair them with intensely flavored fillings that contain bright, aromatic ingredients with a range of textures and tastes.
       The amaranth adds another texture element and acts to absorb the unctuous juice that releases from squash and ground pork as they cook. While white quinoa, millet or brown rice can be substituted for the amaranth in this recipe, the texture of the filling will be different. The small seeds of the amaranth deftly bind with the pork and apple and readily take in the chipotle’s spice and lemon zest’s fragrance. 
       If you long for a summer comfort dish, try this filling in roasted zucchini or a hollowed red bell pepper. You will not need to roast the bell pepper before hand: just fill it and bake for about 12-14 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then serve. For the zucchini, you will want to use a large, mature zucchini. After cutting the zucchini in half, trimming the ends, and removing the seeds and center flesh, lightly salt and roast it for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then add the filling and cook it for another 10 minutes.
 
2 acorn squash, washed, cut in half, insides and seeds removed
½ cup cooked amaranth*
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced yellow onion
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (use the dry powder, if possible)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
½ pound of ground pasture-raised pork
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest     
½ cup diced Pink Lady apple (or a similar variety)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper   
1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
 
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Rub the insides of the washed, halved, and cleaned squash with olive oil. Sprinkle a little salt inside, and turn the squash over so that the insides are facing down on a heavy-bottom baking dish.
3. Cook the squash for between 30-35 minutes, or until the backsides are slightly soft. When the squash are just cooked through, pull them from the oven and set them aside to cool (still face down).
4. While the squash are cooking, prepare the amaranth*:
                   1. Put ¼ cup amaranth, ¾ cup water, and a generous pinch of salt in a small pan.
                   2. Bring the liquid up to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low so that the liquid simmers.
                   3. Cook the amaranth uncovered for about 20 minutes, and remove it from the heat.
                   4. Set the amaranth aside with the lid removed.
5. Place the olive oil in a large sauté pan, turn the heat on medium-low, and add the onions, garlic, and a teaspoon of salt. Cook the onions until they are translucent.
6. Add the pork, red pepper flakes, chipotle, and black pepper. Continue to cook the mixture on medium-low heat.
7. When the pork is just about cooked through, add the ½ cup cooked amaranth and lemon zest, and stir until all of the ingredients are mixed.
8. In about a minute, turn the heat off, set the pan aside, add the diced apple and sage, and stir. 
9. Check the pork-amaranth filling for seasoning. You want the filling to be intense and robustly seasoned so that it can stand up to the sweetness of the squash.
10. With a spoon, put the filling in each squash. Aim for a round top that rises just over the edge of the squash.
11. Place the pan in the oven, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the filling is a golden brown.
12. Serve the stuffed squash with a sprinkle of parsley over the top.