Table for one, please

Ed Anderson © 2011

Having Joe Yonan as my friend is, as Martha Stewart might say, a good thing. He’s fun. Smart. And, as my former editor at the Washington Post, he thinks about food as much as I do, which is pretty much all the time.

He’s also an exceptional cook. And I say that as someone who is blessed to be surrounded by great cooks. When Joe invites me to dinner, which he often did when we were neighbors in Washington, I always said yes.

One time he made bruschetta with smoked oysters, avocado and pistachios. Another time it was pizza with Asian pear kimchi and fried egg. One morning, I invited myself over to brunch and he spent 30 minutes making scrambled eggs over a double boiler to create that gorgeous curd-like texture. Then, because he was trying something new, he let me taste a tapioca pudding with cardamom brulee. (Yep, Joe is the kind of guy who will whip out a blowtorch before noon.)

The only thing he’s ever made that didn’t work out was my birthday cake — and that was my fault. I wanted lemon curd, not whipped cream, as the filling. And because it was far too heavy, the cake sagged and caved in. It was still delicious.

Now Joe has a new cookbook: “Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One,” which is just what it sounds like: an inspiring collection of recipes for nights when takeout or pasta aren’t enough, even though you are home alone.  The book grew out of a cooking-for-one column that Joe writes for the Post, which, actually, I also benefited from. (This is all about me, right?) My favorite were Joe’s killer sandwiches, in particular the one with smoked salmon, avocado and green-mango. The tart mango makes it sophisticated and irresistible.

One of my favorite recipes in the book, and one that really expresses Joe’s love of good Mexican food,  is the duck breast taco with plum salsa. Last spring when Joe was looking for recipe testers, my husband Brent volunteered to test it out. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find plums in May and so he substituted mangoes — without telling Joe — a serious no-no in recipe testing. The bad news: I ratted him out and the recipe had to be tested again. The good news: It’s fabulous witht mangoes, which you can use until plums come into season.

If this recipe doesn’t persuade you to add a new cookbook to your collection, nothing will. Try it. You’ll like it. Trust me. 

Duck Breast Tacos with Plum Salsa

1 whole star anise
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon ground ancho or other chile
1/2 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 boneless, skin-on duck breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
3 or 4 corn tortillas, preferably homemade (page 84)
1/2 jalapeño chile, stemmed and seeded (seeds reserved)
1 barely ripe black or red plum, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small shallot lobe, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 large fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Using a spice grinder (such as a coffee grinder reserved for spices), grind the star anise, dried oregano, and Szechuan peppercorns to a fine powder. Dump into a small bowl and stir in the ground ancho, salt, and cinnamon.

Pat dry the duck breasts with a paper towel. Use a sharp knife to cut through just the skin and fat, without piercing the meat, in 1-inch intervals, then repeat the cuts at a 90° angle to make a crosshatch pattern all across the skin. Sprinkle the spice mixture all over the duck breasts. Pack in heavy-duty resealable plastic bags, squeezing as much air out as possible, and refrigerate for several hours or as long as 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a small roasting pan lined with aluminum foil, roast the duck breasts skin side up for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to 550°F and turn the breasts skin side down. Roast until much of the fat has rendered and the skin is browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate, pour off the extra duck fat from the pan and reserve for another use. Let the duck breasts rest for at least 10 minutes. (If desired, wrap one of the duck breasts in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 1 week for a later meal.)

Warm the tortillas and wrap them in aluminum foil to keep warm.

Meanwhile, make the salsa. Finely chop the jalapeno, in a small mixing bowl, combine the jalapeno with the plum, shallot, cilantro, mint, lime juice, oil, and a generous sprinkling of salt. Taste, add more salt if necessary; if you want more heat, add some of the reserved jalapeno seeds.

Lay the tortillas out on a plate. Cut the duck breast crosswise into ½-inch slices, place a couple of slices on each tortilla, top each with the plum salsa, and eat.

Reprinted with permission from “Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One” by Joe Yonan copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.