Roast Duck Leg with Wine Poached Pears

 

Roast duck leg with red wine poached pears

Duck is not always obvious as a form of wild game but it very much falls into the classification of a wild animal or bird shot in its natural habitat for food. Like many other types of wild game, it is also seasonal in that ducks can only be shot in Scotland from September to January each year. This recipe features a duck leg only, taken in this instance from my freezer. It is served on a bed of fried potato discs with red wine and spice poached pears and a tasty mushroom and pak choi stir fry.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 1 hour 15 min

Ready in: 1 hour 30 min

Yields: 1 serving

Pak choi, mushrooms and onion for stir frying

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck leg, skin on
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 medium sized baking potato, skin on
• 1 smal pak choi (sometimes referred to as Chinese cabbage)
• 3 medium chestnut mushrooms
• 1/4 small, peeled white onion, finely sliced
• 2 small conference pears or similar
• 1 large glass red wine, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon are ideal
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• Small piece fresh ginger root, peeled
• Oil for frying potatoes

Duck leg ready for roasting on wire rack

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 180C/Gas Mark 4/350F.

Carefully prick the skin of the duck leg all over with the tines of a fork, careful as you do so not to damage the meat. Season the flesh side of the duck leg with salt and black pepper and the skin side with salt only. Suspend the leg as shown, skin side up, on a wire rack over a suitable ovenproof dish on a large oven tray to catch the dripping fat as the leg cooks. The collected fat will later be utilised in the stir frying of the vegetables. Put the leg into the preheated oven for 1 hour to 1.25 hours, depending upon the size of the leg.

Wash the potato and dry with kitchen paper. Slice across the way to a thickness of about a quarter inch (0.5cm). Put the slices into a bowl of cold, unsalted water to steep as the duck leg cooks. This helps to remove the excess starch.

Split the pak choi into individual leaves and rinse well under running cold water in a colander. Wipe the mushrooms clean with a piece of kitchen paper or brush with a small mushroom brush.

Take the duck from the oven and transfer to a plate. Cover with foil and leave to rest while you prepare the other component parts of your meal.

Pears are put on to poach in spiced red wine

Pull away any remaining parts of stalk from the pears, wash them and pat dry with kitchen paper. Peeling is optional. I didn't bother on the basis that a large percentage of the vitamins is in or just under the skin. Cut them in half down through the centre and carefully cut out and discard the seeds and tougher core.

Put the pears into a saucepan and pour in the red wine, ensuring the pears are covered. Add a little more wine if necessary. Add the piece of ginger, the star anise and the cinnamon stick and bring to a very gentle simmer for 10 minutes, turning them carefully half way through the cooking time.

Seasoned potato slices are put on to fry

Pour a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil into a large frying pan and bring it up to a medium to high heat. Take the potatoes from the water and pat dry between sheets of kitchen paper. Season on both sides with salt and pepper and add them to the hot oil to fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes each side.

Stir frying pak choi, mushrooms and onion in duck fat

Very carefully, pour the duck fat from the (still hot!) ovenproof dish into a small frying pan. If necessary, add a little oil. Bring it up to a high heat. Thickly slice the mushrooms and pak choi before adding to the pan with the onion slices, seasoning with salt and pepper and stir frying on a high heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

Potato discs form bed for roasted duck leg

Lift the potatoes to a plate covered with kitchen paper to briefly drain. Arrange them overlapping in a circle on a square serving plate as shown above to form a bed for the duck leg. Sit the duck leg on top of the potatoes, skin side up, and lift the pear slices one at a time from the cooking liquor with a slotted spoon, allowing them time to drain off, before sitting one at each corner of the plate.

Enjoying roast duck leg with red wine poached pears

Divide the stir fried vegetable between the four sides of the plate and serve immediately.