Duck and fore!

Ah...Spring is in the air...and that means two things to John: Gardening and Golf.

So, this weekend we did both.

Today was nine holes of golf and while I won't tell you what I shot (I did bogey a hole!), I will say that we had a great time...something I rarely say when golfing with my hubby. You see, there are some things that are better left undone between life partners...and golf is it for me. Neither of us is any good, so when the advice starts coming I'd rather be cleaning the house. But today there was no advice so maybe this is a new leaf for our marriage.

And while we galavanted in the sunshine, I was thinking about dinner...Mmmmm, duck breasts, grilled with a cherry port glaze and wild rice with grilled artichoke hearts. No wonder I didn't shoot so well!

Details?
Here goes:

-Start 4 c stock to boil for the rice and preheat the grill on high. Wild rice take about a third longer to cook than regular rice, so start that ahead. Oh, and it's a 1 part rice to 4 parts liquid ratio too.
-Drain a tin of artichoke hearts and put them on the grill to warm and get a bit of a char...when done, quarter them and marinate in olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 minced med garlic cloves and a squeeze of lemon.
-In a small sauce pot, simmer 3 quarters c dried cherries in a c of port...What?? Just a dribble of port came out of the bottle! Ah, there's about a c of red wine still in that bottle. OK, it'll work...with a fresh rosemary sprig until reduced by half. (Add stock if you've gone too far, like I did.)
-Score the skin of the duck breasts and season both sides with Chinese 5 spice and aleppo pepper flakes.
-Grill the duck - starting skin side down - until med rare...internal temp on the grill should be 135 and they'll carry over cook.
-Fold the artichokes into the cooked rice and serve the sliced duck w/sauce on top.

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the way the meal turned out...didn't have the POP I thought it would...but the guys couldn't get enough of it. Maybe I birdied that hole afterall!