Duck, Duck—Soup!

Leaving Wyoming but using up the squirreled away treasures first

Duck Soup with Wild Rice and Crispy Duck Lardons.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. We celebrated Easter in Alpine with the family, opting for ham this year to have tasty sandwiches for our travel back East. The ham sandwiches lasted until Missouri, then we were at the mercy of gas stations and travel stops. After that, we munched on “snacky-snacks” (as Iris calls it)—granola bars, crackers, ghost pepper potato chips, and Cracker Jacks. I just cleaned out the cabinets and packed them all up. Oh, and Clementines. Many, many Clementines, trying to beat the sniffles that were building.

Our last Easter dinner on Kelly Lane included Glazed Ham, Potatoes au Gratin, and Asparagus.

But I was dreaming about the soup left behind, a soup concocted with what was squirreled away that I had been saving for a special occasion, our departure.

Two duck breasts were in the freezer. I had picked them up at a US Foods Chef Store in Idaho Falls. I had imagined a candlelight dinner with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir on Valentine’s Day, but my better half really wanted Chicken Fried Steak, which wasn’t a post but perhaps should be. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was an interesting dish if you like an unhealthy meat choice made even less healthy with breading and frying, and then served with a thick white sauce based on the fry oil. If you want the recipe, reply in the comments.

The duck needed to be used, as did a quart of rich chicken stock in the freezer from the Colds Wars. I had about a cup of wild rice from my friend Kim in Minnesota, and I determined that the duck would like to swim with those sexy black grains. When I couldn’t find a recipe online, I built one in my head. I know how to make soup; I’ll figure it out.

Two duck cutlets, seared, were the base for the soup. The skin was removed and cut into small pieces to finish crisping in the oven, and the duck meat was sliced and chopped to add to the soup.

First, I braised the duck breasts in Rose’s Le Creuset Dutch oven, getting a nice brown crust on the fat side. Since most of the fat is right under the skin, it is rendered into the pan, and I flipped the breasts to brown the other side. Then I took the seared breasts out of the pan and let them rest. They weren’t completely cooked, but medium-rare duck breast is the way to go. After resting, the carry-over cooking brought the temp up, and when they were cool, I removed the skin and cut it into tiny pieces to bake in the oven into crispy lardons.

Sauteed veggies and wild rice each cooked separately before coming together at the end.

I also cut up the duck breast and set it aside as I proceeded with the rest of the recipe. The wild rice takes a while to cook, about an hour, so factor that in. In fact, start with that, then by the time you get the duck braised, the veggies cut for the soup, and the lardons crisped in the oven, you are ready to go.

With your mise en place assembled, the recipe comes together very quickly. My only hitch was that once I had things ready to roll, Iris and Kirk arrived and climbed up in their Learning Tower to oversee matters. Iris saw the bowls with the lardons and the chopped duck and ripped into both before I caught her. Who can blame her? Delicious bites.

But I rescued the duck ingredients, and we proceeded to bake a quick Cockeyed Chocolate Cake as a diversion. That always works. It’s Kirk’s specialty, and who can’t use a chocolate cake?

A chocolate cake diverted their attention and saved the duck bites from Iris’s hungry hand.

We had the soup with a frozen pizza as a quick supper, which wasn’t the elegant setting I’d envisioned, but it was delicious, even without a sprinkle of parsley on top. It was rich and unctuous, with the crispy lardons melting into the rich broth. I will make it again. I will have the Pinot Noir decanted and the candles lit—if I can get Kim to send me more manoonin, the sacred wild rice.

It was a fitting end to our Wyoming chapter. Time to turn the page…

Our quick dinner included pizza and the Duck Soup, sans parsley.

Duck and Wild Rice Soup with Crispy Duck Skin Lardons

Serves 6-8

1 cup wild rice (see recipe below)

2 tablespoons grapeseed or sunflower oil

2 duck breast cutlets, seared, cooled, and chopped

Duck skin lardons

One medium onion, diced small

2 leeks, cleaned and chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 quarts of rich chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: chopped parsley

To Cook Wild Rice

1 cup wild rice

4 cups water

Salt to taste

Rinse the wild rice thoroughly under cold running water until the water runs clear. Combine the rinsed rice, the water, and the salt in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow the rice to cook over a low temperature for 45-60 minutes. If the rice is testing done, but all the water hasn’t been absorbed, just drain it off.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven until it is smokin’ hot. Add the duck breasts to the pan, skin side down, and cook until the skin shrinks and browns. Flip the cutlets and cook the other side for about 3 minutes. Remove the cutlets from the pan and allow to cool.

Remove the skin and cut it into tiny pieces (brunoise) and place those pieces in a pan and cook in a hot oven until crispy. Cut the duck cutlet into strips and then chop. Set both aside when finished.

Add the onion, leeks, carrots, and celery to the rendered duck fat in the Dutch oven. Sauté the vegetables until they are soft, and then add the minced garlic. Cook for a few minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour on the chicken stock.

Bring the soup to a boil, add the cooked wild rice and chopped duck, and simmer to blend the flavors. Add the duck skin lardons at serving time and sprinkle with parsley if you have any.

The Last Souper.