Duck breast tacos with nectarine pico de gallo

By: Paul Wilson
From: Taqueria
Serves: 6
Photographer: Chris Middleton

‘Pico de gallo’, meaning ‘rooster’s beak’, is certainly one of the most popular salsas in Mexico. Made up of red onion, tomatoes, serrano chilli, coriander and lime juice, it’s a celebration of all the flavours we love, and refreshes with every bite. I came across a few riffs on this great salsa on my travels – some with orange, some with jicama, some with tomatillo – what I learnt was that the most important element is the uniform size of the salsa and the balance of acid to natural sweetness.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2 x 125g	duck breasts
50g	latin spice rub
1 tablespoon	olive oil
1 teaspoon	cumin seeds
50ml	sherry vinegar
50ml	agave syrup
12	Tortilla dough, homemade masa flour tortillas
or 12	store-bought tortillas

Nectarine pico de gallo

Quantity	Ingredient
1/2	red onion, finely diced
2	limes, juiced
1	jalapeno, finely chopped
1/2 bunch	basil, finely chopped
1/2 bunch	coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 bunch	chives, finely chopped
2	nectarines, finely chopped
pinch	salt

Method

Score the skin of each duck breast diagonally six times with a sharp knife and coat evenly in the spice rub.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the cumin seeds and duck breasts, skin side down, and cook gently for 5 minutes, or until the duck skin begins to colour. Turn the duck breasts over, add the sherry vinegar and agave syrup and cook for a further 2 minutes, basting occasionally with the oils in the pan. Remove the duck from the pan and transfer to a chopping board. Cover with foil and leave to rest for at least 4 minutes.
Heat a medium non-stick frying pan over high heat. Lightly spray with oil and briefly fry the tortillas to warm them. Stack the tortillas, wrap them in a warm damp tea towel or taco holder and set aside to keep warm.
To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together well.
Cut the rested duck into thick diagonal slices. To serve, arrange the warm tortillas onto serving plates and top with the duck and lashings of the nectarine pico de gallo.