Duck in Red Wine Cherry Sauce

Watching Julie and Julia inspired my choice of dishes for this month. I adapted a "Two Fat Ladies" recipe for duck, reducing the amount of fat they used, and adding this month's ingredient, dried cherries. This is a delectable dish, recommended for a holiday dinner. The best part is that you can make it the night before, and just heat it when ready to serve- the flavors intensify when you reheat the duck. This makes it the perfect dish for a fancy holiday dinner when you'd rather spend time with your guests than at the stove.

Ingredients:

3.5-4 lb duck, rinsed and patted dry, then cut into serving pieces

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

~2 tbsp olive oil

~ a handful of shallots: 1/2 cup chopped plus 8 medium shallots quartered

4 ounces of bacon (about 4-5 slices), cut into narrow strips

1.5 cups dry red wine, like merlot

14 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

6 oz. dried cherries, divided

2.5 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl or pie pan, combine flour and a good amount of salt and pepper. Dredge the duck pieces in the flour mixture. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Sauté the duck pieces until gold brown. Remove the duck pieces and place in a large dutch oven or casserole. Drain the fat from the skillet into a separate container.

(Note: I let the duck fat cool and the dark flour solids settle to the bottom, then poured the good duck fat into a separate container. Then I put the duck fat in the refrigerator, saving it for another delicious use later on.)

Swipe out the pan with a paper towel. Return the pan to medium heat and sauté the bacon and 1/2 cup of chopped shallots. Add the wine, bay leaf, peppercorns and 1/4 cup of the dried cherries. Simmer until the wine is reduced by half. Add the stock and again reduce by half. Strain the sauce and pour over the duck in the dutch oven, discarding the solids. Add the remaining dried cherries to the dutch oven, cover, and place in the oven. After about 20 minutes have passed, melt the butter in a small skillet, and add the quartered shallots. Add the sugar, and sauté the shallots until they are brown (about 10 minutes). Add the shallots to the duck, and stir it all up. Continue cooking another 20-30 minutes, or until the duck is cooked.

I served this with rice, broccoli, squash soup, and the rest of the Merlot. The duck was very tender, and just the perfect level of richness. The sauce was savory with just a hint o sweetness from the shallots and cherries, which become tender through the simmering. This is SOOO yummy.