Smoked Duck and Cherry Pressed Sandwich
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 30 mins
Active: 20 mins
Makes: 1 sandwich
By Aida Mollenkamp
Cherries and duck are usually paired together on menus at white-tablecloth restaurants, but here we layer them in a crusty baguette with peppery greens and sweet cheese for a more relaxed, portable version that’s filling enough to be a meal in itself.
Game plan: This is a somewhat messy sandwich to eat, because the cherries tend to fall out. We like the bursts of flavor that come from halving the cherries, but you could chop them finely if you’d like to lower the mess factor.
- 1/3 cup Bing cherries, pitted and halved
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
- 1/3 cup baby arugula leaves, torn into bite-size pieces
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 (6-inch) sweet French roll
- 2 ounces smoked duck breast, thinly sliced
- 1 ounce sweet blue cheese, such as Gorgonzola dolce (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
- Heat a grill pan or a gas or charcoal grill over medium heat (350°F).
- Combine cherries and vinegar in a small bowl and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss to combine, and set mixture aside to macerate for at least 10 minutes. In a separate small bowl, toss arugula leaves with olive oil, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and set aside. Slice the roll in half horizontally and pull out the interior of the bottom half to create a pocket.
- When the cherries have macerated and the grill is heated, prepare your sandwich. Fill the bottom half of the roll by layering arugula, duck breast, and cheese, then top with the cherry mixture, including any juices in the bowl. Close the sandwich with the top piece of bread, press down until it’s flattened, and wrap it in aluminum foil.
- Place sandwich in the heated pan or on the grill, and weight it down with a heavy object (a filled teapot or a frying pan works well). Grill until bread is toasted and cheese is melted, turning over halfway through, about 10 minutes total. Let sandwich rest in foil 3 to 4 minutes before slicing and eating.
Beverage pairing: Benton Lane Pinot Noir, Oregon. Duck and cherries could call for no other grape than Pinot Noir. The Pinot could come from almost anywhere, but the sweet cherry fruit can find its counterpart especially in a new-world version. This wine from Oregon has bright fruit, but also a dusty, leafy edge that nicely picks up the arugula.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
love this will do this in the weekend
Sounds awesome..can't wait to try it!
Oh my gosh! What a fantastic idea!!!
My mouth is absolutely watering.
This - makes me want to eat meat again (and I have not ever said this in a few years)
Small portions of the filling on top of rounds of fresh pumpernickel for hors d'oeuvres. Or a "deconstructed" sandwich on a plate - smaller pieces of the baguette with the duck and other fillings served separately near it. Delicious combination of flavors, no matter how it's served. - Robin
I made this on Sunday, and it was delicious. I did use more than 2 oz. of duck though -- that seemed a bit light.
i dont really like blue cheese - are there any other cheese options that may work well with this sandwich other than blue? thanks!
kimcheesoup, my wife and I have always enjoyed Manchego, a Spanish cheese, with duck in various ways. It seems to pick up the subtle game flavors very well. It might be a good option for a non-blue cheese.
smoked duck and fresh goat cheese combined with a little reduced balsamic...mmm.
We made this tonight and found one problem. Because the sandwich is being pressed and is wrapped in foil, you can't really judge how it's doing and adjust the cooking time. As such, the outside of the sandwich was burned and completely inedible. I'd cook it for half the time in the recipe, and if it's not quite done put it back on the grill pan without the foil for a couple of minutes.
On the other hand, the inside was delicious -- we ate it with a fork. I'd also start the cherries macerating at least 20 minutes ahead of assembly.
Darn,
I'm Jewish and the meat and milk thing some times gets in the way of great idea's. Like this sandwich for instance <sigh> another good recipe not to be had....
there's no GF bread good enough to do justice to this sandwich, so i think i'll have to turn it into a salad. sounds fantastic!
I just made this but I couldn't find duck and I subbed with Smoked turkey and I used pomegranate infused vinegar...It was great! :)