Chef's Recipes

Whole roast duck with winter vegetables and orange

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for whole roast duck with winter vegetables and orange by Daniel Southern from Melbourne restaurant Comme Kitchen.

By Daniel Southern
  • 30 mins preparation
  • 1 hr cooking plus drying, resting
  • Serves 6
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Whole roast duck with winter vegetables and orange
“This is my version of duck à l’orange. It’s a great sharing dish for winter. I often use Aylesbury duck for its flavour, but you can use another large duck. The sweetness of the orange and the aniseed flavour of the fennel is a real delight.” You’ll need to begin this recipe 2 days ahead.

Ingredients

  • 1 Aylesbury duck (about 2kg; see note)
  • 1 fennel bulb, cut into eight wedges
  • 12 baby carrots, trimmed
  • 1 celeriac, cut into 1.5cm barrel shapes
  • 4 thyme sprigs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil, for drizzling
  • 2 oranges
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar

Method

Main
  • 1
    Blanch duck in a large saucepan of boiling water (10-15 seconds). Drain well, then place breast-side up on a wire rack lined with baking paper and placed on a tray, and refrigerate uncovered until skin is taut and dry (2 days).
  • 2
    Preheat oven to 220C. Transfer duck to a roasting pan, season to taste and roast, basting regularly, until light golden (20-25 minutes), reduce oven to 170C and roast, basting occasionally, until medium to medium-rare and golden on the outside (20-30 minutes). Rest in a warm place (5-10 minutes).
  • 3
    Meanwhile, blanch fennel in boiling water (2-4 minutes). Drain, pat dry with absorbent paper, scatter on a roasting tray with carrots, celeriac and thyme, drizzle with oil, season to taste and roast until vegetables are golden and cooked through (30-40 minutes). Keep warm.
  • 4
    Meanwhile, remove orange rind with a peeler (reserve flesh), then remove pith (discard) from rind. Cut rind into julienne, then blanch (10 seconds). Drain, then repeat process 4 to 5 times until tender. Set aside. Combine sugar and 80ml water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add rind, then cook over low heat until rind is sweet (2-3 minutes). Meanwhile, remove pith (discard) from flesh, cut into segments, set aside.
  • 5
    Serve duck hot, scattered with orange segments and a little orange rind, with roast vegetables.

Notes

Aylesbury duck is available from select butchers, but you may need to order it in advance.
This recipe is from the July 2010 issue of
.
Drink Suggestion: Choose a pinot from Nuits-Saint-Georges. These full-bodied wines have beautiful earthy, plummy flavours and are ideal for game. Drink suggestion by Marty McCaig and Frederic Blevin

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