Sweet and sour delight: Catalan duck with pears

Kieran Creevy
January 31, 2023

Credits cover image: Lisa Paarvio

The taste buds explode at the campfire: The typical Catalan duck "Ànec amb peres" captivates with a sweet fruity note. This is because the pears are allowed to bathe in a decoction of wine, vermouth and spices. The exquisite recipe can be easily prepared outdoors and tastes great even without meat. Our camping recipe is presented by outdoor chef Kieran Creevy.

From now on, the passionate outdoor chef Kieran Creevy presents his favorite recipes on ISPO.com. Sometimes suitable for sports, sometimes as the perfect preparation for your outdoor adventure: With his recipes, you can take your cooking in nature to a new level. The dishes are simple, healthy, and incredibly delicious.

Great tips and info about outdoor chef Kieran Creevy can be found here

The pears may bathe in wine and vermouth
Image credit: Lisa Paarvio / Lisa Paarvio

Ingredients for 6 people

6 carrots
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons pine nuts
12 small potatoes
2 large or 3 medium duck breasts (with skin)
sea salt
2 tsp black pepper
6 banana shallots
1 large fennel bulb
sprigs of fresh thyme
2 teaspoons paprika powder, sweet
Water

Poached pears

½ bottle of red wine
2 glasses of vermouth
100 g caster sugar
zest of 1 lime
1 bitter orange
1 teaspoon green cardamom powder
6 ripe Conference pears

Great duo: thick sliced duck breast and poached pear
Image credit: Lisa Paarvio / Lisa Paarvio

Preparation

Preparation at home

Roast the carrots at home with a little honey, let cool. Store overnight in the refrigerator and transport in a reusable container.
Roast the pine nuts and store in a small container.

At camp.

Bring salted water to a boil in a saucepan.
Cut the baby potatoes in half and boil until just cooked through. Drain and set aside.

Poached pears

In another saucepan, bring the wine, vermouth, sugar, citrus and spices to a simmer.
Peel the pears and cut away the bottoms so they can stand upright.
Poach pears until they are soft.

While pears are cooking.

Score the skin of the duck breast crosswise, season with salt and pepper.
Sear in a skillet over medium/high heat, skin side down.
Turn duck to meat side for further searing, then return to skin side.
Pour off excess fat into a container to use later.
When duck is cooked medium, remove from heat, cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
While the duck is resting, heat a little duck fat in the pan and saute the shallots and fennel until soft.
Add the pre-cooked carrots to the pan, then the potatoes, and coat with the duck fat.
Cut the duck breast into thick slices, sprinkle with wild thyme and paprika, arrange the potatoes, carrots, fennel, shallots and pears. Finally, drizzle the pears and duck with a little sauce.