Duck w/ Orange Tea Sauce

Duck Breast with Orange, Honey and Tea Sauce
Bon Appetit (April 2000)

2 boneless duck breast halves (about 1 lb)

1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
3/4 cup orange juice
2 1/4 tsp Earl Grey tea leaves
1/2 TBSP honey
2 TBSP butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 300°F. Crosshatch skin of duck breasts. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Heat heavy large skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down, to skillet. Cook until skin is well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn duck breasts over; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Set rack in roasting pan. Transfer duck breasts to rack (reserve drippings in skillet). Roast duck to desired doneness, about 20 minutes for medium-rare.

Meanwhile, heat drippings in skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Tilt skillet; push shallots to higher end of skillet, allowing drippings to flow to lower end. Spoon off drippings and discard. Add broth, orange juice and tea leaves to skillet. Boil until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup. Pour mixture through strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer. Return liquid to same skillet. Add honey; bring to simmer. Whisk in butter. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Notes: I had some trouble getting the sauce as thick as I thought it should be and ended up whisking in a bit of extra butter. Partially this may have been due to adapting the recipe to the smaller portions I have listed above (the original recipe calls for Muscovy which tend to be bigger and more expensive than what I have access to - which means I also reduced the oven heat). However, once things came together, this proved a most marvelous culinary treat.