This Roast Duck Recipe is the perfect lunch or dinner idea. Pair it with a glass of red wine
A food blog without a duck cannot be called a food blog, right?
You’ll find it in most restaurants and you can make it yourself in a number of ways, so you might be tempted to say that it’s a pretty common dish. But what makes it stand out is the texture, its tenderness, the way you marinate it (assuming you do) and of course the side dish will play an important role as well.
You might also think that it’s kind of fat (especially for dinner), but duck fat is quite different from others. It starts melting at only 14 degrees Celsius, which makes it a lot easier to digest (unlike beef at 45 degrees).
To make it tender and give it flavor, I would suggest you macerated it a day before and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to throw it in the oven. This is not essential though, you can just follow the recipe as it is.
And here’s how I macerated it: I chopped ginger, leek and garlic in a food processor and then I added two spoons of olive oil. With this mix, I greased the duck legs and I added salt and pepper. Then I placed everything in a sealed bag and left it in the fridge overnight (You can apply this technique to any kind of meat, to make it tender and to add flavour).
I chose to serve it with sweet potato purée and garlic peas. As you probably know by now, I like my dishes a bit spicy, so I garnished with some chili flakes.
This duck came out tender, with the skin a bit crispy, and subtle ginger and garlic flavors.
It’s always a good choice for a special dinner and it goes well with red wine.
Duck With Sweet Potato Puree and Garlic Peas
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp duck fat - or you can use oil instead
- 2 duck legs
- 4 fl oz (120ml) white wine
- 1 cup (237 ml / 8 fl oz) stock - can be vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 2 tbs thyme leaves
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 tbs butter
- 1 garlic clove - , peeled and minced
- 1 cup (145g) frozen peas
- 4 tbs double cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 180°C.
- Place a cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt the duck fat and add duck legs.
- Seal them, by getting them golden on both sides, it should take about 2 minutes for each side. This way they will remain crispy on the outsides, but keep all juices and tenderness inside.
- When the legs are golden, add wine, stock and some fresh thyme leaves and place the skillet in the preheated oven. Cook for about 90 minutes.
- Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in big chunks, place on a baking tray and roast for 20 min in the oven at 180 degrees.
- Melt the butter in a pan with the sliced garlic for 1 min, stir in the frozen peas, and cook for 10 min to defrost and get a nice garlicky flavour. season with salt and pepper to taste
- In a food processor, place the roasted sweet potato, 4 tTbs of double cream and a touch of salt. Blitz for about 2 minutes until you have a smooth puree.
- Divide the sweet potato pure and the garlicky peas between 2 plated, add the duck legs and garnish with chilli.
Nutrition
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love the plating and the recipe