It’s been a while since duck has featured on my blog; I wanted to make the dish full of flavours and interesting textures, with vibrant colours that come to mind in the summer. Pulses are a great source of protein. This means they can be particularly important for people who don’t get protein by eating meat, fish or dairy products. Pulses such as black turtle beans, are a great source of iron but are also a starchy food that adds a fibre and extra flavour your meal. I decided to use a whole duck rather than duck breasts and add some oriental flavour to the duck during the cooking.

Ingredients (serves 4)
Duck and marinade
Whole Duck 2.5kilo
2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Ginger finely chopped
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 Tbsp Rapeseed oil

Salad Ingredients
150g Black turtle beans soak in cold water overnight*
300g butternut squash, cut into chunky dice
1 tbsp olive oil
75g baby rocket washed
150g black turtle beans raw
175g Red Rice raw
*1 knorr chicken stockpot (optional)
6 spring onions, cleaned and trimmed
1 punnet of dark plums (not fully ripe)
2 tsp red chillies, cut in half and seeded
and finely diced

Salad Dressing:
2 Tbsp Rice vinegar
2 Tbsp Clear honey
Juice of half a lemon
1 Tbsp Cold pressed Rapeseed oil
2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
Juice of half an orange
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

Duck:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C (395 F) and remove any excess fat from inside the duck cavity.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients well and then use a pastry brush to thoroughly coat the inside of the duck.
3. Use a sharp knife and score both breasts through the skin at 45 degrees like Raymond Blanc does. Begin roasting on a high heat and baste after 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 170 C  (335 F). Keep basting every 15 minutes for the first hour.
4. After an hour, pour out the excess fat in the roasting tray and keep. Next, turn the oven down to 165 C (329 F) and brush the outside of the duck with the marinade. Then return to the oven on a middle or lower shelf and cook for a further hour brushing the duck with any remaining marinade from time to time.
5. It’s important to check your duck to make sure it is not getting too brown.
6. When cooked after 2 hours let the duck rest for fifteen minutes before carving.

Whilst the duck is roasting start the salad…

1. Drain off the black beans, cover with fresh water and simmer until tender (about 45 minutes).
2. Wash 175 grams of Red rice in cold water and drain and then cover with boiling water and cook for 35-40 minutes. You can add a chicken stockpot to add extra flavour if you wish.
3. Heat a Tbsp of the reserved duck fat in a large nonstick frying pan and fry off the butternut squash until lightly brown and tender, season with salt and pepper.

Salad Dressing:
Combine all the dressing ingredients, and add two chopped plums from the punnet and blitz in a blender until mixed well and season. Stir in the finely diced chilli.

To serve:
In a large serving bowl cut the remaining plums into segments and mix with the washed rocket leaves and spring onions. Then drain the beans and red rice well and add to the salad. Stir in the salad dressing and toss gently. Serve a portion of your warm salad into a pasta bowl and top with some slices of your roast duck.

Special Thanks to the good people at Steelite International for kindly giving me this wonderful bowl to serve my food on. The bowl is a deep rimmed Bowl from the Willow pattern in the colour Azure.

© Kevin Ashton 2019 all rights reserved

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