Duck breast with ‘fesenjun’ sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. To make the sauce, roast the walnuts on a baking tray for 5–10 minutes until a deep golden brown. Tip the nuts into a tea towel and rub well to remove as much skin as possible, then set aside until cool. Pulse the cooled nuts in a food processor until coarsely ground – you want to maintain some texture and a few chunky bits, so be careful not to overdo it.
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a low heat. Add the onion and fry gently until soft and translucent. Stir in the spices and tomato paste and fry for another couple of minutes. Add the walnuts to the pan with the pomegranate molasses and juice, the sugar, bay leaf and stock. Bring to a boil, then add the salt, lower the heat and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring regularly, until rich, thick and a little oily
3. Meanwhile, score the duck skin in a crisscross pattern with a sharp knife and season generously with salt and pepper. In a small saucepan, warm the honey over a gentle heat with the water and the pomegranate molasses, then stir in the pepper and cardamom seeds to make a glaze
4. Heat the oil in a heavy-based roasting pan over a medium–high heat until hot. Add the duck breasts, skin-side down, then lower the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the skin turns golden brown and the fat starts to render. Turn the breasts over and cook for a further 4 minutes.
5. Tip the rendered fat from the pan and brush the skin with the glaze. Turn the breasts, skinside down again, and cook over a low–medium heat for a final 4 minutes; at this stage it’s really important not to have the heat too high or the glaze will burn.
6. Remove from the heat and rest in a warm place for several minutes – when carved the duck breasts should be medium–rare.
7. When ready to serve, add the lemon juice to the sauce, then taste and adjust the seasoning to achieve a good sweet–sour–earthy balance. Spoon a generous amount of sauce onto each plate. Slice each duck breast into chunks and stack on top. Scatter on the pomegranate seeds and serve straight away