Réunion - How I made Canard à la Vanille

Due to its strategic location in the western Indian ocean and its history as a centre of contact between European, African and Asian cultures, the island of Réunion has quite a variety of culinary traditions. Whether it's Indian-style carris or Madagascan-style stews like rougail, there's quite a lot to choose from.

I plumped for a dish that combines European and African traditions, with a bit of Chinese duck thrown in for good measure!  As I've recently been learning about the history of vanilla and the role Réunion has played in global vanilla cultivation, I really wanted to experiment by cooking with vanilla myself, for the very first time.

I looked at a few different sources online and then made my own recipe, but I was heavily influenced by Celtnet,org's recipe for Clementine and Vanilla Duck.  This is a great website, that I've used many times in the past and it's a labour of love which currently needs some funding to keep the website going, if you're interested in supporting a worthy cause!

The ingredients

Ingredients for Canard à la Vanille

4 duck breast fillets - 4 filets magret de canard (my fillets were marinated in lemon juice and star anise, which gave them a lovely taste)
2 vanilla pods - 2 gousses de vanille
6 oranges - 6 oranges (smaller oranges like clementines or mandarins work best - I used mandarins)
orange juice - jus d'orange
4 tomatoes - 4 tomates
2 onions - 2 oignons
a cup of rice - une tasse du riz
1 lemon - 1 citron
rocket salad - salade de roquette
French dressing - vinaigrette

How I made Canard à la Vanille

I usually start by making my rice, which I added lemon juice and rind to, once it had cooked, to give it nice tangy taste.

Preparing the orange juice

Next, I prepared the main ingredients.  I chopped the duck breasts into bite-sized pieces; separated four of the oranges into segments or carpels; juiced the other two oranges; chopped the onions; chopped the tomatoes; halved the vanilla pods, then sliced them lengthwise to expose the vanilla seeds.

Prepare the ingredients for the Vanilla Duck stew

I started by frying the duck breasts until they had cooked through and browned on the outside - I removed the duck pieces and set them to one side.

Cook the duck pieces until they brown

Next I fried the chopped onion, until it had softened and yellowed a bit - I added a dash of water and some orange juice, to collect some of the duck fat at the bottom of the pan, so I could start making a sauce.  Next I added the orange pieces and vanilla pods, finally adding the chopped tomatoes and letting the whole mixture stew on a low heat for about 20 minutes, occasionally adding orange juice or water.

Vanilla and orange stew

It was interesting handling the vanilla - the pods were quite 'earthy' and smelt amazing, when I'd split them open.  Most people I know have only ever used vanilla to make ice-cream or dessert, so it was a thrill to add it to a stew - it also felt a bit decadent, considering the price of vanilla pods!

Vanilla pods

Once in the ingredients had stewed a bit, I re-added the duck pieces and some more orange juice and let the whole lot stew on a slightly higher heat for another ten minutes.

Vanilla Duck stew

I served with the lemon-rice, rocket salad and French dressing.  The end result was miam-miam!

Canard à la Vanille served with lemon-rice and rocket salad

Image credits:

All images were taken by me on my trusty Canon EOS 1100D.  Feel free to re-use these images with the Creative commons license:

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