Instructions: Season duck breasts with salt and pepper. Combine next five ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and add seasoned duck breasts. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Remove duck breasts. Reserve marinade. Heat oil in a large skillet and lightly brown duck breasts on both sides, but not past rare. Remove duck breasts from pan and set aside.

To reserved marinade, add apple, mushrooms and brandy. Stir to mix well. Add to pan and cook over medium-high heat until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup.

Return duck breasts to pan and cook to medium-rare. Remove duck, slice and arrange on plates. Whisk butter into pan until melted and then spoon contents of pan over sliced duck.

This recipe yields 2 servings.

Comments: By request from Sacramentos own Dave Meegan, Americas premier game hog. Dave and I enjoyed this spur-of-the moment duck dish along with a great bottle of Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. My memory is a little fuzzy, as was my tongue the next morning, but I think it went something like the above.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.