Five-Spiced Duck with a Bourbon-Peach Sauce and Pumpkin Puree

This is an original of mine, taking the flavor combination here of duck, bourbon, peach and pumpkin. The sauce was great, but could have used more peach in it to bring out a fruitier note. Nice spice on the sauce and duck, too, and the pumpkin puree was nice and smooth. I consider this a work-in-progress, but a good first attempt anyways.

FIVE-SPICED DUCK
4x200 g duck breasts, skin on
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon five-spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice

BOURBON-PEAR SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion
2 cups bourbon
2 dried ancho chiles, blistered, soaked, seeded, chopped
1 dried habenero chile, blistered, soaked, seeded
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup peach puree
2 star anise
1 stick cinnamon
10 Sichuan peppercorns
1/3 cup brown sugar

PUMPKIN PUREE
600g pumpkin, peeled, chopped
½ cup double cream
1/4 cup milk
1 knob butter
salt and pepper
cilantro, to garnish

DUCK
Score the duck skins and trim off any sinew. Combine the brown sugar, cayenne, five-spice, salt and allspice in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the duck and set aside. Heat the oven to 200C.

SAUCE
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the red onion and saute until softened (but not colored), about 5-7 minutes. Add the bourbon and bring to a boil. Reduce the bourbon down to a few tablespoons. Add the stock, peach puree, star anise, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and brown sugar. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Let this reduce down halfway, stirring, about 15-20 minutes. Strain the mixture and put back into a clean saucepan. Reduce down to a sauce consistency, about 15 minutes. Add a splash of bourbon in the last few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

PUMPKIN
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pumpkin and cook until pierced easily with the tip of a sharp knife, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the cream and butter until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm.

Puree the pumpkin in a blender with some of the cream mixture, adding more until you reach the desired consistency. Pass the puree through a fine-sieve. If it is too liquidy, reduce in a saucepan until it reaches desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

FINISH
Put the duck, skin-side down in a cold cast-iron pan set over medium-high heat. When the duck starts to render it's fat out, cook for 5 minutes or until the skin is nice and golden brown, but not burnt. Drain the fat out and flip the duck over and briefly cook the meat side just long enough to put some color on it, 15-25 seconds.

Drain the fat again, put the duck back in the pan (skin-side down) and put the duck in the oven for another 5-6 minutes. When the duck is cooked medium rare (internal temperature of 145F), pull them out of the oven and the pan and rest skin side up for 5 minutes.

Lay down some pumpkin puree on a plate. Slice the duck and arrange on top. Spoon over sauce. Garnish with cilantro.