Duck with Pear & Crushed Peppercorn Sauce

I just love duck. Love it. Usually I will prepare it with a more tangy sauce, like Raspberry... but I decided to try pear this time, as I had a few laying around that needed using. It turned out beautifully.. and was incredibly quick and easy.

Duck with Pear & Crushed Peppercorn Sauce

2 duck breasts, with skin
1 pear, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup Calvados, Apple Brandy, or other apple liquor
1/4 cup duck demiglace
2 TBSP whole black peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp corn starch
2 tsp fresh thyme
1 cup apple juice

Score the duck breasts skin. Pat dry and season with salt. Place a pan over high heat until very hot. Reduce heat to medium and place duck breasts, skin side down into pan. Cook for 15 minutes or more depending on how well you like your duck cooked, then flip, cooking for an additional 5 minutes.

Place duck somewhere to keep warm and tent with foil.

Pour off all but 1 TBSP of the rendered duck fat from the pan. Return the pan to heat and sautee the pear until it is nice and golden. Add Calvados to deglaze the pan and scrape up the bits with a wooden spoon. Let reduce to a syrup. Whisk together the corn starch and apple juice and add to the pan. Add thyme, demiglace and peppercorns. Stir until thicken, add salt to taste.

Serve duck with sauce spooned over.

Enjoy!