Canard aux 4 epices et coriandre

Duck and my giant mound of Carrots

It's been beautiful here the past few days, so I wanted to spend as little time indoors as possible. It was also in the 80's this weekend, though, so I needed something a little spicy for dinner. On Friday I had no classes, so I had the time to cook and decided I wouldn't mind something more interesting that the turkey breasts I've been pan-cooking for myself. And I had a container of Creme Fraiche sitting in my fridge begging to be used up before it expired. So I searched through some blogs and found this duck recipe on Mijo's Je Mijote, a down-to-earth French cooking blog with some really enticing recipes. What really caught my eye about this recipe was that it needs to marinate for several hours, so I put it in the fridge while I went and read outside, then came home after sunset and cooked it up. I was as loyal to Mijo's recipe as I know how, though I threw in a couple of dried cayenne peppers for extra punch. The play of spicy cayenne and sweet 4 epices blend (it has nutmeg, ginger, cloves and white pepper) was perfect. As you can see, I served it with a giant mound of boiled carrots that worked very well in the excess sauce. Although I forgot to buy bread, I would strongly recommend a nice crusty baguette.

Canard aux 4 epices, coriandre et cayenne
Very gently re-worked from Mijo's recipe.
Serves 2 meat-eaters as the main course.

700 grams Duck breast (fillet de canard), cut into small strips
10 grains of Coriander, smashed (I used my mortar and pestle)
2 dried Cayenne peppers, smashed
1 tablespoon 4 epices (or equal parts Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves and White pepper, all ground)
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper
1 Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
Olive Oil
25 cl Rose wine (I used the one still left from WBW)
2 spoonfuls Creme Fraiche

Marinate the Duck with the Corander, Cayenne peppers, 4 epices, Soy Sauce, Salt and Pepper. Place it all in a bowl in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Finely chop the Onion and Bell Pepper, then cook them with the Olive Oil in a pan over medium heat, until Onion is golden.

Add the marinated Duck and cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Pour in the Wine and let it cook 5 minutes. If the Duck is not yet cooked (this will depend on how big your pieces are), continue cooking until it is.

Take pan off stove and stir in Creme Fraiche, mixing everything together.