Duck Poutinish

I hear poutine is pretty popular nowadays so here you are: my interpretation.

If there's one thing I love more than bacon fat, it's duck fat. Knowing this, my mother allowed me to use the smoked duck breast she'd been saving for an emergency. In order to maximize the duck flavour, I used the meat, the fat, and even the juice left in the wrapping it came in. First, I fried tender Yukon golds in the rendered fat. Next, I deglazed the pan with a hefty dose of wine and cream. I finished it with thyme and fresh cherries because they seemed a cheery seasonal accompaniment. For more specific instructions, see below.

Duck Poutine with Cherry Sauce
serves 2 little ladies, 1 hungry human

300 g smoked duck breast (with fat!)
400 g yukon gold potatoes (about 4 small)
salt
1/4 cup red wine
pinch thyme
1/4 cup cream
10-15 cherries, halved and pitted

1 Separate the duck meat from the fat, slice the duck meat into very thin slices and set it side. Keep any juices from the wrapping!
2 Dice the fat into tiny pieces and cook over medium-low heat in a steel or cast iron pan until the fat is rendered and skin is crispy. Remove the pan from the heat, pick out the skin and set it aside for garnishing.
3 While the fat renders, cook the whole potatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 8 minutes or until you can stick a knife in with just a bit of resistance. Once ready, drain them, slice into 1 cm coins and set aside.
4 Once your potatoes and fat are both ready, put the duck fat back over medium heat and preheat the oven to 300 F. Drop water in the pan to test the heat, if it sizzles, you're ready.
5 Add as many potato slices as will fit in the pan and let them sit for about 2 minutes before nudging them with a spatula and shaking the pan to make sure the fat gets under each piece. Cook another 3 minutes or so until the bottom side is nicely golden, then flip and cook 3-5 more minutes until both sides are golden and crispy. Remove finished potatoes to a paper lined pan, salt generously and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the potatoes and finish the sauce.
6 Once all the potatoes are done, lower the heat under the duck fat to medium low and add the duck juice, red wine and thyme, mix it up until the sauce is smooth.
7 Add the cream and cherries to the sauce, cooking 2 minutes until the cherries soften. Turn off the heat, stir in the sliced duck and keep the sauce in the pan just to warm through while you divide the potatoes among the plates.
9 Top the plated potatoes with sauce, add a sprinkle of crispy duck skin to each serving, and dig in.

I served this with green beans almondine, which my mother made. This side doesn't even require a recipe: toast slivered almonds in a lump of butter, cook green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes (no longer!) and then mix the two together.

This may not be poutine in a technical sense, but it involves fried potatoes topped with a gravy like substance and was inspired by poutine... I actually preferred it. So if you manage to get your hands on some fatty, smoky duck breast, this is actually a fairly simple meal that will not fail to impress!