Will's Eats: Duck Breasts with Honey Coriander Sauce

This one's good. The honey-coriander sauce can be used on a variety of dishes: pork, chicken, lobster, salmon, lamb, root veggies for example) so it's nice to have in your repertoire.
Simple; make the sauce and fry the breasts - drizzle sauce over meat - done.

Duck Breasts with Honey Coriander Sauce

Serves: 2 (with one duck breast, cook 2 breasts to serve 4 - leave the sauce the same)

Ingredients

1 duck breast, 300 gr [10 oz]
salt
pepper, black, freshly ground

¼ C oil, olive
2 T coriander seeds (yes, use seeds)
½ C honey, light
¼ C soy sauce
¾ C chicken stock (duck stock if you've got it - yah, sure)

Procedure

Trim duck breast, score the fat side in a grid pattern

season with salt & pepper, set aside

Heat oil in a tiny frying pan
Toss in the corriander seeds for about 30 seconds

Until they're aromatic and have darkened - but not burnt

Strain the seeds and smush up in a mortar
Honey and soy into a little pot

Heat to boiling

Add hot stock and crushed coriander
Boil semi vigorously for 10 minutes - reducing by at least a third, maybe by half
Strain this sauce into yet another saucepan, set aside
In an ungreased frying pan fry the duck, fat side down first - low/medium heat

for 10 minutes

Drain away the duck fat and turn over the breast

fry for another 6 minutes
or until done to your liking

Cut the duck breast on the diagonal, thinly and meanwhile
reheat the honey-coriander sauce
fan out the sliced dusk in a couple of plates
and drizzle sauce, through a strainer, around the duck

Done

Notes

Trimming a duck breast involves cutting, vertically, the overhanging fat from around the edges
You can render this fat and use it in the oil for frying the coriander
If you don't have a mortar just smash up the coriander any old which way; maybe a rolling pin. The idea is to crack the seeds open so they'll release their flavor
Reduce the sauce really well - until it coats the back of a spoon. More reduction is probably better
You can make the sauce days in advance
If the duck won't stay flat while cooking, and it probably won't, press down on it with a big flat spatula
Duck meat is always pink in the middle - except for those maniacs that insist on having everything well done
Save the duck fat; great for frying veggies in, or an egg - adds loads of flavor

Again, this recipe is from the great cookbook - Le Cordon Bleu: Quick & Light which is one of the most used for my day to day spontaneous what shall we have today cooking.

The pic's from yesterday because it's part 2 of the same dinner. So I'll add a close up.