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Christmas holiday fare - roast duck, hot cherry sauce

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Roast Duck with Hot Cherry Sauce

Duck is a succulent, delicious fowl and is classed as red meat, but it is also a very fatty one. It is because of this that I do not usually serve the stuffing as I find it absorbs much of the fat. The stuffing below though delicious, is actually for seasoning purposes and can be made the day before. Scroll down for the sauce recipe.

preheat oven to 230°
roast for 1-1/2 hrs.
serves 2 well or 3 (1 duck of this size will normally serve 2 adults)

1.5 kg. young duck

stuffing:
425 g. tin of premium quality cherries (NOT pie filling)
1 orange
29 g. butter
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 sm. onion, chopped
150 to 200 g. dried bread crumbs
1 egg
2 T. orange juice

2 good sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 t. dried
salt and pepper

Drain the cherries, reserving half the cherries and syrup. Cut remaining cherries in half and cut the orange into eighths. Melt the butter in a pan, sauté the onion for several minutes. Add the garlic and the grated rind of the orange. Remove from heat, add the crumbs, the slightly beaten egg, cherry halves, thyme and the orange juice; mix well.

Rinse the duck, pat dry inside and out and salt and pepper the cavity. Loosely stuff the duck and tie the legs with string (do not tie the wings). Using a fork, pierce the duck all over, this will allow the fat to escape and will thus baste itself.

Place in the middle of the preheated oven breast side down. Turn over once a little browned and continue to roast with the breast side up.

15 minutes before the end of the roasting time, baste all over with a salt water solution. This will make the skin of the duck crispy. Even if you do not wish to eat a little of the skin, it is a lovely effect. Remove to a warmed plate and allow to sit 20 minutes or so before carving. During this time serve the Mangetout Fans with Orange Slices as the first course.

Cherry Sauce:
4 t. cornflour (cornstarch)
*80 ml. orange juice
reserved juice from cherries

cherries
1 clove
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 cube of concentrated chicken reduction or bouillon
+ - 4-6 T. brandy

Simmer the orange juice with the clove and reduction or bullion cube for 5 minutes. Remove and discard the clove. Mix the cornflour with a little of the cherry juice to make a paste. Stir into the orange juice with the remaining drained whole cherries and simmer until thickened. Stir in the brandy just before serving. (Or use it to flambé.)

Serve hot over the slices or leg of duck and the potato dumplings.

(*Another way of doing this to avoid any MSG in the bouillon if you cannot purchase MSG free bouillon cubes/powder is to combine 80 ml. of good chicken stock and 80 ml. of orange juice - total 160 ml. Reduce together to 80 ml. and proceed.)

Note: if you can find flavourful, dark cherries at this time of year (gourmet shops) then use about two handfuls of them for this recipe. Remove the pits with a 'pitter' and simmer them a few minutes until 'al dente' in about 300 ml. good cherry juice (also gourmet or specialty/health food shops).

All recipes are excerpts from "Welcome to My Kitchen" - The Epicurean Table and are copyright of the author. Recipes are not to be

added to any form of archive or other works of any kind. Contact the author for further information.