Instructions: MAGRETS de CANARD aux BOUCHIERS de GENEVEVE (duck in peppercorn sauce)

Soak peppercorns in vinegar for 30 minutes; mix nustard with cream - proportions about 1 Tbsp. mustard per 1/2 cup cream (a bit less mustard if youre using pink peppercorns, as their flavour is rather more delicate).

Heat a saute pan large enough to hold the duck breasts in one layer, over med-high heat. Put in the duck, skin side down. Cook for about 10 minutes on heat as high as possible without burning.

Pour off excess fat (save this! its a crucial ingredient for frying potatoes and many other things), turn duck to flesh side for about 10 minutes more. Duck should be springy to the touch, pink but neither raw nor overdone.

Remove duck to warm oven to wait while you make the sauce. Again pour off any excess fat. Add the vinegar and peppercorns to deglaze the pan. Cook briefly to reduce. Add the cream and mustard, whisk and reduce briefly.

Correct seasonings.

Slice the duck across the grain; return it and the juices that have accumulated in the plate to the sauce. Heat briefly and serve immediately - perhaps with plain pasta (something to put the sauce on) a salad, and a potent red.

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