Roast mallard with autumn vegetables recipe

This dish requires some preparation ahead, but once that’s done it’s simple to finish.

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large carrots

• 4 sticks celery

• 1 fennel bulb

• 2 small red onions

• 6 garlic cloves

• Vegetable oil, for cooking

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 1 bay leaf

• Pinch of cumin seeds, crushed

For the duck:

• Olive oil, for cooking

• 2 mallards, plucked, legs removed and reserved (ask a butcher to do this for you if you are unsure)

• Juice of 1 orange

• 200ml chicken stock

• 1 tsp butter

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• ½ tsp honey

• 50ml olive oil

• 10ml red wine vinegar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.

2. Prepare your vegetables. Peel the carrots and slice them into large lozenges. Wash the celery sticks and slice into similar length pieces. Strip any discoloured outer layers from the fennel bulb and cut it into wedges, removing a bit of the core but still keeping the wedges intact.

3. Toss all the vegetables, along with the red onion and garlic, together in a baking tray with a dash of vegetable oil and the herbs, and sprinkle over the crushed cumin seeds. Season well.

4. Pour in 100ml of water and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Check the tray every so often to make sure the vegetables are not drying out (sprinkle in some water if so). Remove from the oven and set aside.

5. Meanwhile, start to braise the duck legs. These will always be tougher to eat, so need a longer cooking time.

6. Heat a touch of oil in an ovenproof pan over a high heat. Season the legs all over, then add them to the pan and cook them briefly to colour all over.

7. Set the legs skin-side down in the pan. Add the orange juice to deglaze (scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge any tasty bits), then add the chicken stock and cover the legs with parchment paper.

8. Place the legs in the oven and cook until you are able to bend them easily – about 20 minutes.

9. Pat dry the two mallards with kitchen paper and season well inside and out. Cook in a large oiled ovenproof pan over a high heat to add some colour to both sides – no more than two to three minutes. Add the butter to the pan and baste the breasts with any juices, then place in the oven for eight minutes depending on the size, until cooked through.

10. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

11. To finish the dish, lightly reheat the vegetables and distribute between the plates. Add the duck legs (keeping the braising liquid), and slice the duck breasts and add to the plates.

12. Heat the duck braising liquid, stir in the mustard, honey, olive oil and vinegar, and mix well. Pour this all over the duck and serve.