I’ve been so lucky to experience the power of love between sisters. I’m not just talking about the natural affection between siblings, but the anchoring, soul-affirming love between women who have stood by your side time and time again through the ups and downs of life.

That kind of love never gets the recognition it should come Valentine’s Day.

Personally, I’m not big on celebrating Feb. 14. Whether single AF or in some sort of trash-ass relationship, the holiday has just never been all that awesome to me. If I’m being honest, that’s probably because I’ve had so many disappointing Valentine’s Days that, over time, I’ve conditioned myself to not make a big deal of it.

Funny enough, the best Valentine’s Day I ever had was right after the worst break-up of my life. I was dating this guy that I swore I was going to marry—like ring shopping, cross-country moving, wedding venue-selecting sure I was going to marry this guy—and when we didn’t work out I was devastated.

I was downing full handles of Jack Daniel’s weekly to cope and hiding it from my roommate because I knew I was doing the most. During this period, which lasted about 6 months, my girlfriends would take shifts everyday after work coming over to my apartment to make sure I was bathing, eating, not crying despondently in the shower.

Anyway, the idea of facing my first Valentine’s Day a few months after getting my heart ripped out just crushed me. I was planning on spending that day shut in my apartment feeling like shit when one of my girls had the idea for us to all spend V-day together.

At first I thought it was going to be a pity party where they all just decided to forgo their own plans to make sure I wasn’t alone (which I mean, talk about sisterhood). We made a reservation at some fancy Italian restaurant in town, got all dressed up and exchanged goofy cards. But, no bullshit, that was the best Valentine’s Days I’ve ever had and now I refuse to celebrate it any other way.

I love my husband, God knows I do (Miss Sofia voice) but my best friends are my first soulmates and when I think of them, I think of true love. Why wouldn’t I celebrate them on Valentine’s Day?

I know, you’re probably reading this and thinking “girlllll, you’re married please stfu”—okay maybe you aren’t saying it that harshly (because again, sisterhood) but admittedly it’s easy to choose to celebrate Feb. 14 with your girls when you have romantic love in your life as well.

When I was single, it would annoy the shit out of me to hear women in relationships tell me to enjoy my singledom...it felt trite and condescending so I won’t repeat any of that here or make you feel whack or weak for wanting a partner in your life. But I will share with you something my best friend said to me on my first valentine’s day post-break up.

“If you never fall in love with yourself, and never find contentment with where you are in your life right now, you’ll literally take any person that comes your way just to not be alone, and that’s my biggest fear for you.”

Lord knows I didn’t want to learn that lesson when I did, or how I did but I’m so very very grateful that I did.

Regardless of my relationship status, Valentine’s Day will always be the day where I celebrate the women who were there for me when I couldn’t show up for myself, who picked me up and sat with me when I was low and who stood by my side the day I chose to say yes to adding a little more love into my life on my wedding day.

My wish for you is that you are showered with this kind of love from your sister-friends every damn day of your life. This Valentine’s Day wrangle up your besties and treat them to a meal that is decadent and meant to make y’all feel spoiled, loved and cherished, cause you are.

For this recipe traditional au gratin potatoes get a Southern-inspired twist with thinly sliced sweet potatoes and smoked gruyere cheese. The savory duck boobs get crispy from some time spent in a hot pan leaving a nice crust that you’ll love with the addition of jammy luxardo cherries—as a bonus you can use any leftover cherries to make as many Old Fashioneds or Manhattans as you want!  

Now, of course you can make this meal for your significant other but I’m hoping you’ll realize how significant your non-romantic friendships are and treat your tribe to the best Galentine’s Day that their future partners will never be able to live up to.

I’ve tried my best to answer some questions you might have below but if you have anymore leave me a comment or hit me up on Instagram.

I love my friends but duck is expensive, can I use another meat?
I get it, duck tits are about $8 a pop so you might be looking for something a little more economical. This recipe would work just as well with a skin-on chicken breasts or thighs or even a nice pork roast with a thick fat cap.

Can I use maraschino cherries instead of luxardo?
Hard NO. If anything forgo the cherries completely or get a jar of fig jam.

Can I use other cheeses besides gruyere?
Yep, you totally can. Here you might consider a smoked sharp cheddar or even a nice aged parmesan.

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Seared Duck Breasts with Au Gratin Sweet Potatoes

Yield: 2

Author: Ryan Shepard

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

Ingredients

Au gratin sweet potatoes

• 2 cups half and half
• 2 cups shredded smoked gruyere cheese
• 1 cups parmesan shredded
• 1 large sweet potato, sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon Wondra flour
• 1 clove garlic, sliced (note if you don’t have Wondra flour you can make a simple roux instead)
• 1 sprig of thyme
• Ground nutmeg to taste

Seared duck breast

• 2 duck breasts
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled butter, divided
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallot (about 1 large)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 8 Luxardo cherries, reserve about a tablespoon of the syrup
• 2 tablespoons tawny Port

Instructions

For Au Gratin Sweet Potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Clean and peel sweet potato and slice thinly and set aside.
2. In a medium sized stock pot add half and half, fresh thyme and garlic. Add sweet potato slices to simmering liquid and cook for about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.
3. Scoop potatoes into a baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
4. In the pot with remaining milk, add butter and whisk in Wondra flour and half of gruyere and parmesan cheese. Cook over medium heat until cheese melts and sauces thickens. If the texture becomes too thick, add a little more cream to desired consistency.
5. Pour cheesy sauce over potatoes and top with the remaining gruyere and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with a dash of ground nutmeg.
6. Bake in the oven at 375 for 40 minutes.

For Duck

1. Place duck breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound lightly to even thickness. Discard plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, score skin making sure to not cut into the duck meat. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add duck, skin side down, to skillet and cook until skin is browned and crisp, about 7-8 minutes. Turn duck breasts over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about another 4 minutes.
3. Transfer duck to cutting board and cover with foil to keep warm, and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons rendered duck fat from skillet. Add shallots to skillet and stir over medium heat taking care that they don’t burn.
5. Add broth, cherries, Port, and cherry syrup to skillet. Increase heat to high and boil until sauce is reduced to a glaze, about 3-5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and whisk in remaining 1 tablespoon cold butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Thinly slice duck. Fan slices out on plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @ryannicoleshepard on instagram and hashtag it #brownsugarandbourbon

Created using The Recipes Generator

‍