Slow Roast Duck

For most of us, the weekdays are spent juggling the hectic schedules of work and home leaving us with hardly a moment to spare, so weekends give us a chance reward ourselves, to wind down have a drink and a decent feed.

If you're in the mood for some comfort food (and forget the diet), here's a really yummy recipe for a SLOW roast duck I made on the weekend.

Serves: 4
Preparation and Cooking time: Approx. 3Hrs

Ingredients:
1 Size 17 Duck
Coarsely ground Sea Salt
Freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tsp dry Oregano
4 whole Star Anise
100g Fresh Ginger
Grated Rind from 1 Lemon
1/2 a bulb of Garlic - bulbs removed and halved
1 Red Onion sliced
4 tbsp Chardonnay and Chilli Wine Jelly*
(alternatively, use 2 tbsp Apricot Jam, 1 fresh Chilli finely sliced and 1/4 cup Chardonnay mixed well)
1 glass Botrytis Semillon (dessert wine)
2 cups Chicken Stock

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.

Wash duck and pat dry with paper towels. Prick skin all over with fork. Remove neck and fat around neck, wingtips and any giblets, set aside for sauce.

Season duck generously inside and out.

Mix half the coarsely grated ginger, half sage, garlic, onion, star anise, half lemon rind, basil, 2 tbsp Wine Jelly. Stuff mixture into the cavity of duck. Seal opening with string or a skewer.

Place duck on wire rack on top of chopped giblets, wingtips, neck and fat. Place rack in roasting tray (raised from bottom). Roast in oven for an hour. Then reduce heat to 150C and roast for a further 1 1/2 hr until skin is crisp and flesh is tender. During cooking process drain fat from tray. the clear oil can be reserved and used for frying.

Remove stuffing and allow duck to rest while sauce is made. Place stuffing, neck, fat, giblets into roasting tray and allow to simmer over low head. Add Botrytis and stock. Deglaze tray and reduce consistency to taste. Strain sauce through a coarse sieve and set aside, discard 'stuffing'.

Fry unused stuffing (ginger, sage, onion etc) with some of the duck oil (or olive oil if preferred) till crispy, mix in remainder of Wine Jelly.

Sprinkle fried stuffing mix on duck and drizzle with sauce.

Serve with grilled or panfried Cheesy Polenta slices and wilted greens (eg baby spinach or bok choy).

This meal was served with a chilled 1998 Mount Pleasant Pinot Shiraz... yum!!!

* Chardonnay and Chilli Wine Jelly is made by the Grape Alternative in Mudgee.