This recipe is a delicious duck leg recipe that everyone loves, adults and children alike and extremely moreish. Try to buy locally reared duck whenever possible, obviously not everyone is able to do this and that is fine but always whenever possible support your local traders and producers.
Ingredients:
6 duck legs
5 cloves garlic, sliced
4cm piece of ginger, julienned
375ml chicken stock (homemade if possible)
120ml red wine
120ml soy sauce
190ml shaoxing rice wine
80g soft light brown sugar
3 whole star anise
1 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
Large handfuls of shredded spring onions, thinly sliced red chilli, mint & coriander leaves to serve
Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C
1. Cook duck legs in batches, skin side down in a frying pan set over a very low heat for 15 mins until fat is rendered out. Turn and cook for 5 mins to brown all over, set aside while you do the rest.
6 duck legs |
2. Transfer duck to a roasting tin and drain all but 1 tbsp of duck fat from the frying pan, reserve the fat for cooking potatoes.
3. Put frying pan back on a medium heat, add garlic and ginger and fry for a minute until fragrant, add all other ingredients, except five spice. Bring to boil then simmer for 5 mins to dissolve sugar.
5 cloves sliced garlic, 4cm julienned ginger, 3 star anise, 190ml shaoxing rice wine, 375ml chicken stock, 120ml red wine, 120ml soy sauce, 80g soft light brown sugar |
4. Pour sauce over duck legs, sprinkle with five spice, cover tightly with foil and roast for 1-2 hours (this is an ideal dish for slow cooking, reduce temperature to 150˚C or if you have an Aga cook in simmering oven for up to 3 1/2 hours, the longer and slower the duck is cooked the more tender and falling off the bone the meat will be)
1 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder |
5. Meanwhile prepare the potatoes, bring potato cubes to the boil in a saucepan of cold salted water, cook for 5 mins, drain and set aside. 20-30 mins before serving, heat 100ml of reserved duck fat in a frying pan over medium heat and fry until crisp, tossing regularly.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Alternatively roast in hot oven (roasting oven of Aga) tossing regularly until crisp.
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 1"cubes |
6. Remove duck from oven, increase temperature to 220˚C (roasting oven of Aga) place on a clean oven tray and roast for a further 10 mins until skin is golden and slightly crisp.
Strain braising liquid into a saucepan, removing excess fat from surface. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 mins or until reduced and slightly thickened.
7. To serve, put potatoes on a large serving dish, place duck legs on top, drizzle with sauce and garnish with spring onion, chilli and herbs. Serve remaining sauce in a jug on the side for everyone to help themselves. Note: if you pour all the sauce over to serve, you will end up with soggy potatoes.
Shredded spring onion, sliced red chilli, mint & coriander leaves |
Note on where to buy ingredients:
Duck legs are available from O'Sullivans Poultry on the English Market, they stock Skeaganore Duck, which is produced in West Cork.
Skeaganore duck is also available in some Dunnes Stores in the Simply better range and Aldi stores in the Specially selected range
Asian ingredients most of these are now available in supermarkets however I always buy mine from Mr Bells on the English Market (mrbells.ie)
Fresh herbs and chilies grown in my Click & Grow smart garden
Grow your own fresh herbs, salads etc organically 365 days a year in a Click & Grow smart garden. For more information & to see special offers on smart gardens see my page Smart Garden above and for a year round discount of 10% click on link on page or enter my discount code JACQUI10 at checkout .
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