My valentine likes raspberries so every year I try to come up with ways to use them for Valentine's day. Some old standards, sometimes new ways. Here's what we had for dinner last night:
Butter poached duck breast on puff pastry, raspberry and frambois reduction
Mixed greens and edamame salad with, of course, raspberry vinaigrette
Pasta with sausage, tomatoes and capers (no raspberries here)
Trio of desserts: Raspberry chocolate mousse, homemade chocolate truffles, and orange confit with whipping cream.
Wine: my last bottle of Vin du Bugey Cerdon.
For the duck: Take 1 sheet of puff pastry and divide into 16 squares. Bake at 400 for about 12 minutes. Press down a little and set aside.
Saute 1/2 onion and 1 clove garlic in butter. Add a bunch of fresh thyme and cook for a minute or two. Add a cup of wine and cook down by about 1/2. Add a cup of heavy cream and cook down by 1/2. Add a stick of cold butter, a chunk at a time, whisking continuously. Strip the fat and skin off the duck breasts (I bought a pack of 2 each with 2 pieces). You can render the fat and use the crisps separately if you like. I just poached the breasts 4 minutes a side covered in the sauce on low heat.
Take the breasts out of the sauce. I discarded the sauce but next time I might strain it and use it with the reduction for the color contrast.
To make the raspberry sauce, I took a cup of frozen raspberries and mixed it with couple of sprigs of thyme, 1/2 cup white wine, and 1/4 cup framboise (love that bonny doone stuff). Cook on low til reduced by 1/3 or so. Strain and add 2 tablespoons butter.
Assemble: piece of duck on a piece of pastry, little sauce and this was very good. The pink duck flesh, white outside from the butter poaching and the bright red sauce made a pretty presentation. Not to mention the melt in the mouth texture and terrific complimentary flavors. 2 pieces seems to make a nice first course. I'm thinking next time I might strain the white butter poaching sauce and figure out a way to contrast both the raspberry and the butter sauces on the same plate.
By the way, the orange confit deserves a post of it's own. Gotta go to work now. More later.