The Spirit World

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of participating in a wine-pairing dinner. We were each assigned a wine in advance and then tasked with coming up withe a food pairing. My assignment was Pinot Noir.

Pinot Noir styles run the gamut from lighter bodied, fruit-filled wines to stronger bodied wines with lots of presence. There is often an underlying cherry flavor in the wine and so I decided to create something that brought out that cherry element.

Once I had a germ of an idea - cherries and duck - a web search turned up this recipe which was where I started from. I modified it quite a bit for more emphasis on the cherry flavors. What is great about this recipe is that all the individual elements can be made up ahead of time and then assembled just before serving.

As the original recipe talks about this would be a great item for a picnic as well as Happy Hour at Home! It pairs best with a Pinot with a presence. The specific wine at the dinner was the Deerfield Ranch Jemrose Vineyard 2002 Pinot Noir. Another good option would be Domaine Drouhin’s Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.

Smoked Duck with Cherry Chutney on Crostini

• 2 Maple Leaf Farms duck halves, cooked
• 1/2 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup dried cherries, finely chopped - use tart cherries, like a pie cherry, you don’t want them too sweet or they will clash with the wine.
• 4 tbls. olive oil
• 2 tbls. Dijon mustard
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• Salt, if needed
• Splash of orange juice

• One long baguette

Remove the skin from the duck and pull the meat from the bones using your fingers. You want long, thin shreds of meat. Then pile the meat with the shreds all in one direction and chop into thirds - you don’t want the pieces too long or they will be hard to arrange on the crostini. You’ll probably need to do this in several batches.

Toss the duck meat, red onion, garlic and dried cherries until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

In a small bowl mix the mustard, olive oil, orange juice and balsamic. I’m not sure how much balsamic I used - I just kept adding it until I had a thick dressing and the taste was mostly balsamic with a mustard element. You may need to adjust the total amount of dressing based on how much meat you end up with. When you toss the dressing with the meat mixture you want it to be very moist but not dripping wet.

To make the crostini, slice the baguette into 3/8″ slices. Brush one side with olive oil and broil until lightly golden.

Cherry Chutney

• 1/2 cup whole canned cranberries
• 1 cup dried tart cherries, chopped into medium size pieces
• 1/4 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp Kirsch (Cherry Brandy)
• Splash of orange juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Gently mix all ingredients. You want the mixture to be loose but not runny. Adjust the ingredients as needed to get the texture correct.

To Serve
Mound a generous portion of the duck on the broiled side of the crostini. Top with a dollop of chutney.

This recipe makes 30 - 35 pieces.