Roast duck two ways with spiced clementine sauce
By Jane Hornby
Christmas dinner for two? Forget having to carve a whole duck and enjoy this meltingly soft, crispy skinned leg and breast meat version instead
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Prep:10 mins
Cook:1 hrs 40 mins
Ready in 1 hour 40 mins plus marinating - More effort
Nutrition per serving
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kcal 834
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fat 48g
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saturates 14g
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carbs 38g
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sugars 35g
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fibre 0g
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protein 63g
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salt 1.14g
Ingredients
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- pinch ground allspice
- 6 or so thyme sprigs, left whole
- zest 2 clementines, juice of 4
- 1 large duck breast with skin on
- 2 duck legs
- 50g light muscovado sugar
- 100ml sherry vinegar
- 150ml good chicken stock
- knob of butter
Method
Mix the spices, thyme and zest. Slash the skin of the breast, cutting through the fat but not into the meat, then rub the spice mix over the breast and legs. Leave for at least 2 hrs, or for up to 24 hrs in the fridge.
Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the legs into an ovenproof frying pan or smallish roasting tin, season well, then roast for 1½ hrs until deep golden and crisp. Sit the legs on a plate, then keep warm in a low oven or let cool. Spoon off excess fat from the pan juices and keep it for the next time you make roasties. Pull the meat and skin from the legs, shred using 2 forks, then mix together. Keep warm or, if making ahead, reheat in a hot oven for 10 mins before serving.
Put the pan back on the hob, add the sugar for the sauce and let it melt and turn dark golden. Add the vinegar (the sugar might turn hard at this point but don’t worry as it will dissolve again), then reduce by about half. Tip in the clementine juice and almost all the stock and bubble again until reduced and syrupy. Whisk in the butter, then season to taste.
Heat a frying pan, then cook the breast, skin-side down, for 10-12 mins until very crisp and the fat has run out. Turn over, fry for another 5 mins for just pink (or longer if you prefer), then lift onto a plate and rest, uncovered, for 10 mins. Spoon off remaining fat, add the leftover stock to the pan, then stir to dissolve any tasty, meaty bits. Add to the sauce.
Slice the breast on the diagonal, then divide half of the leg meat between 2 warm plates in small piles (you can use a cutter or ring if you like, to make it neater). Top with slices of breast. Spoon the sauce over the meat and serve with glazed veg and potatoes.
