Crispy-skinned duck breast thinly sliced over spinach and served with a delicious sugar-free raspberry vinaigrette. Low carb and gluten-free.

I don’t remember the first time I tried duck but I wish I did. It must have been a momentous occasion, my eyes opening wide with delight at the crispy skin and rich dark meat of this delicious waterfowl. At least that’s how I like to imagine it, because it certainly made some sort of impression upon me. I have loved it ever since and order it in restaurants whenever it’s on the menu. There is just nothing quite like it. I don’t think the skin of any other poultry gets as crispy with the application of heat as duck skin does. And oh, that wonderful layer of fat that seems to cover every portion of duck meat. I find it heavenly.

It’s only in the last year or so that I ever considered making it at home. Duck recipes always seemed like gourmet creations, best served on fancy china out of a professional kitchen. And the only duck I ever found at grocery stores was in whole form, which was a little intimidating. But the recent appearance of some duck portions, both legs and breasts, at one of my local stores spurred me on and inspired me to give it a go. I first purchased two legs and made a simple but absolutely outstanding dish which I will share another time. But those legs appear to be highly coveted as I went back several times and could find only breasts. The butcher tells me that they run out quickly, since there are a few people who will purchase almost all of them when they are in stock. I can’t say I blame them.

So I picked up a couple of breasts, and when Swerve Sweetener asked me to come up with a creative spring salad recipe for their April newsletter, I settled on seared duck breast over spinach. I whipped up a fresh, low carb raspberry vinaigrette that might just be my new favourite salad dressing. Tangy but sweet, and a far better option than sugar-laden store bought dressings. A little goat cheese and some fresh raspberries and I enjoyed one of the best salads I’d had in a long time.

Please see my Seared Duck Breast Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette on the Swerve Sweetener website.

Nutritional information (calculated with Mastercook):

Salad dressing makes 8 servings (about 2 tbsp each). Each serving has  69 Calories; 7g Fat (86.5% calories from fat); trace Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 157mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS = 1 g.

Salad makes 4 servings. Each serving (without dressing) has 455 Calories; 40g Fat (76.7% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 69mg Cholesterol; 186mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS = 4 g.

As always, you can enjoy 10% of your order of Swerve with coupon code DREAM10. Click the image below.