HOW TO:

Preheat the oven to 220c/200 fan/gas 7. Trim the duck of any excess fat and pierce the skin all over with a knife point or fork to allow the fat to run out. Season the duck generously with salt and black pepper and place in a deep roasting tin, on a rack or trivet if you have one. Add 3-4 tablespoons of water from a recently boiled kettle. This will prevent the fat from smoking as it starts to render out of the duck. Cook in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200c/180c fan/gas 6 and cook for another hour basting frequently until the duck is fully cooked. You might need to spoon out some of the fat from the roasting tin half way through the cooking process. This fat can be used for your roast potatoes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest while you make the sauce.

Put all the ingredients for the sauce except the red currant jelly and cornflour into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until reduced by half. Stir in the redcurrant jelly until fully dissolved. Mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of water. Add a ladleful of the hot liquid to the mix and then pour it all into the pot stirring continuously until the sauce thickens. Check the seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if needed.

To carve, cut the legs from duck and divide in two at the joint. Cut the whole duck breast from the bird and slice. Serve the duck with the red wine sauce, the red cabbage, the crispy duck fat roast potatoes and selection of vegetables on the side.

Braised Red Cabbage:

Put all the ingredients for the red cabbage into a stainless steel pot* and gradually bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 ¼ – 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is cooked and adding a little more water if needed. This can be made the day before and reheated to serve with the duck.

*This avoids staining on enamel or aluminium pots.

*Duck Fat Roast Potatoes

Par cooking the potatoes softens the edges allowing them to absorb more fat which in turn makes the outside golden and very crispy. When cooked, sprinkle immediately with Irish sea salt flakes…perfect!

Preheat the oven to 200c/ 180c fan/ gas 6. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters if very big so you have even sized chunks. Put in a pot and just cover with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a vigorous boil then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 3 minutes exactly. Put a roasting tin in the oven with the duck fat and allow to heat while you time the potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the heat and drain well. With the lid on, give the pot a good shake to roughen up the potato edges. Take the hot roasting tin from the oven and tumble in the potatoes. Turn each one to coat in duck fat and put back in the oven. Roast for 45 minutes turning every 15 minutes to get crisp and golden all over. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and serve straight away.