pan roasted duck in a honey and thyme sauce.

i made this as my main in a recent three course meal - pan roasted duck in a honey, sherry and thyme sauce with thyme parmentier potatoes and grilled asparagus. this was my first time experimenting with what i hoped to be a bistro style dish as well as my first time pan roasting duck. seeking advice from trusty google, i came across this fine cooking magazine recipe with a tasty sauce consisting of sherry, thyme and honey. i slightly adapted it for two - let me know what you think! :)

shopping list 
serves two
♥ two boneless skin on duck breasts
♥ three tbsp dry sherry
♥ 100ml vegetable stock
♥ two tsp runny honey
♥ two tbsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped
♥ 200g asparagus
♥ two baking potatoes 
♥ a frying or grill pan that will fit in your oven

begin by chopping up the potatoes into cubes, adding a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper and half the thyme. bake in the oven for 45 minutes of 200 degrees whilst you prepare the rest.

add together the sherry, honey, thyme and stock and bring to the boil for five minutes, stirring until thickened. i did this first and let the sauce sit aside until it was ready - it was fine and didn't form a skin. the recipe says to do this last and serve immediately so i guess it depends on your confidence with timing and making sauces :)

now the duck. begin by scoring the duck in a criss cross fashion and season with salt and pepper on both sides.

heat a grill pan to a medium-high heat and place the duck skin side down in the centre to let it sear. do not add any olive oil or butter as it will create its own juices to cook in. keep spooning this over the duck now and again. after 5 minutes of this, turn the heat down a little and continue to cook skin side down for a further 5 minutes.

turn back over and roast in the oven until the duck is cooked to your liking; 3-4 minutes for medium rare and 5-6 for medium well. this would be a good time to grill your asparagus which i simply drizzled in olive oil and added a little salt and pepper.

when you're ready to bring it all together - i feel like all are fine to keep warm whilst you rest the duck for around 10 mins - then warm the sauce back up and drizzle over the duck.

voila!

do let me know if you try out the recipe :) for pudding, we had a lemon posset crumble whilst the starter was mussels (a la rick stein) in the mussel pot my mum bought me as a present from france.

have you tried out cooking a three course meal lately? what was on the menu?