Carrot Greens Risotto with Duck Breast & Red Currant Pan Sauce

Creamy, lush, risotto made vibrantly green by carrot greens. Topped with a crispy, pan-seared duck breast, and a simple red currant pan sauce. The perfect dinner for two.

Risotto is one of those dishes that sounds elevated and elegant but only takes a few ingredients, a basic technique, and some time. Arborio rice (an Italian medium-grain rice) is cooked with alliums, wine, and broth for about 45 minutes with constant stirring. The stirring agitates the starches in the rice, causing the risotto to become thick, viscous, and luxurious.

I’ve chosen to add blended carrot greens to this risotto for a lovely herbaceous flavor, beautiful color, and micronutrients. If you do not have access to/do not want to use carrot greens for any reason, any leafy green could be substituted 1:1 here. My top recommendations would be spinach, dino kale, curly kale, or parsley.

This risotto is paired with duck breast. Duck is one of the easiest meats to cook, needing only a frying pan and salt and pepper. Duck, unlike other poultry, does not have to be fully cooked to be enjoyed. Duck can be eaten rare, medium-rare, medium, and well done, like cuts of beef. My preference is medium, which is how I’ve prepared the duck breast in this recipe. Duck has a texture similar to chicken with a gamier, richer taste. When cooked properly, the skin becomes golden and crispy, adding a lovely textural contrast between the duck meat and creamy risotto. If you do not like duck, a grilled or crispy chicken breast would work well here.

To brighten up a dish of extremely rich and indulgent ingredients, I’ve selected a red currant pan sauce. Red currants are small, bright red berries native to Western Europe. They are in the gooseberry family and have a lovely tart flavor profile reminiscent of pomegranates and cranberries. I find red currants to be an absolutely beautiful fruit, whose novelty is not lost on me despite being in Ireland for a full month now. For this recipe, I use red currant preserves, but fresh or frozen red currants could be used instead. This will, however, constitute a longer cooking time.

This dish is simple, lovely, delicious, and impressive, everything you’d want in a dinner for two. I’d suggest a medium-bodied red wine in conjunction.