WHAT’S COOKING: Pan-fried duck breasts with blueberry-cherry sauce and a touch of ginger beer

I rarely eat duck, not because I dislike it (I love it) but because I’m the only one in my immediate vicinity who eats it. So when The Foodie’s Wife was laid low, I took the gap and hotfooted it to Woolies to buy myself a pair of duck beasts. I should add that I did also cook for her – just not duck.Or beetroot. The Foodie’s Wife hates beetroot. So I bought some of that too.Two breasts? It was a pack of two, and there was only one of me, so what can a guy do but have two duck breasts for dinner? To offset the extravagance of this, I decided not to have a starch with the meal, choosing the said beetroot and baby root vegetables (orange, yellow and purple carrots). There is minimal starch in these, so I liked to think that this choice lightened the meal.I wanted fruit to pair with the duck. I chose fresh blueberries. I also wanted fruit juice in the sauce. I chose a carton labelled “cherry berry” or some such. That would be perfect.Then, on my way to the till, I spied small bottles of sugar-free ginger beer in a fridge and grabbed one, because I was thirsty. Halfway home, I was about to finish it when I stopped myself. There was about 50ml of it left – I decided that would go into the sauce too, and screwed the cap back on. A touch of ginger.This is how meals are made and recipes are built – pay attention and good ideas will come to you.Reprint! Tony Jackman’s Retro Karoo Food (Penguin Random House) is off to the printers for its second reprint since being published in March 2026. To purchase a copy signed by the author, send an email to him at tony@dailymaverick.co.zaThe sauce needed balance, and the juice and ginger beer (even though it was sugar-free, it was still sweet) represented a lot of sweetness. So I would need to use some chicken stock to offset that.A herb was needed too, and the best herb for duck, for me, is thyme. So a few sprigs of it would go into the sauce.One more thing: try to be inventive with what you do with the duck fat that is rendered while cooking the breasts. I simmered the baby root vegetables in it, after having blanched and refreshed them.The residue in the pan after frying the duck breasts (after removing the rendered fat) becomes the base element of the fruity sauce.I was very happy with the outcome. A rare treat.Tony’s solo duck breast dinnerThe duck breasts and root vegetables, plated up. (I added the other breast after taking the picture.) (Photo: Tony Jackman)(Serves, erm…)Ingredients2 x duck breasts, about 225g each, at room temperature200g fresh blueberries200g cherry-berry juice, or other berry juice of your choice1 chicken stock sachet (I used Ina Paarman’s)50ml ginger beer (drink the rest)3 fresh thyme sprigsSalt to tasteBlack pepper to tasteBaby root vegetables (beetroot and carrots)Thyme sprigs for garnishMethodTrim the baby beetroots and slice them in half, but leave the tiny carrots whole. Blanch the root vegetables in boiling water for about 1 minute (but no more than 2), then refresh in cold, running water and drain in a colander while you start on the duck breasts.Pat the duck breasts dry and score the skin 4 or 5 times in straight lines, without piercing the flesh. Season with salt and black pepper.Put them in a cold pan, with no oil at all, skin side down, and turn on the heat to low. Starting in a cold pan and introducing modest heat encourages the fat to ooze out, rather than a hotter pan which risks sealing the fat inside.Render the fat slowly, pouring it off into a second frying pan. Lift the breasts up now and then and when you can see that the skin is golden and crisp, turn them over.Turn the breasts over and cook the flesh side for 3 to 5 minutes, adding thyme sprigs to the pan. Three to four minutes was enough for mine, which were perfectly medium rare.Rest them while you see to the sauce.Pour off any remaining duck fat.To the pan on which you have cooked the duck breasts, add the fruit juice and ginger beer. Squeeze in the chicken stock and stir. Season with salt and black pepper and add the blueberries and 3 or 4 thyme sprigs.Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, and cook gently until it has become a pourable sauce. Meanwhile, in the other pan (the one into which you poured off the rendered fat), pour off and discard some of the fat and leave enough to simmer the beetroot and carrots in, gently. Season them simply with salt and pepper, and you can add thyme to the pan too if you like.Slice the breasts and place jauntily on your plate, with the vegetables alongside. Spoon plenty of sauce and blueberries over, and garnish with thyme sprigs. DMFollow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.