The combination of duck and fruit is one that chefs have visited for many years because it works. The contrast of the rich umami flavour of duck with tart fruit be that oranges, blueberries, raspberries or even plums. And since plums are in season at the moment they had to be my first choice. So I used them both in the compote and also in the plum and onion salad, giving this dish an amazing amount of contrasts in flavour and texture….I real Autumnal treat that i hope you will try. In the UK it is relatively easy to find duck legs in local supermarkets these days and some of my American friends say they now can find duck too. I created this dish for my online cooking lesssons and some of the recipes end up on a separate blog Cooking lessons with Chef Kevin Ashton

Duck Ingredients: 4 servings

4 Duck legs

2 Tbsp duck fat or olive oil

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

8g fresh thyme

10g fresh sage

Garlic Roasted New Potatoes

800g new potatoes

2 Tbsp Duck fat or olive oil

1 large bulb of garlic

Plum Sauce:

8 large mixed-colour ripe plums

2 small red onions 170grams

1 Tbsp Duck fat

50 ml cold water approximately

Plum and Salad:

100g Watercress Rocket and Spinach leaves washed

1 ripe yellow plum

1 ripe red plum

½ small white onion

Pinch of granulated sugar

1Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

25 g pistachio nuts skinned and roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/gas 4.
   
   
2. Spoon 2 Tbsp of duck fat or olive oil into a roasting tray.
   
   
3. Dry the duck legs with paper towel and trim off any excess and save for another use.
   
   
4. Place the duck into the roasting tray and rub the duck fat into the legs then sprinkle on the Chinese five spice and rub the spices into the duck. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on 2/3 of the thyme and ½ the sage.
   
   
5. Roast on the top shelf 80-90 minutes.
   
   
6. As the duck is roasting cut the potatoes in half and cook in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes (until they are almost cooked), then drain and toss in a colander.  Heat a separate roasting tray with 2 Tbsp duck fat and then add the potatoes and the garlic bulb cut in half and the rest of the fresh sage. Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven until crispy and fully cooked. Use a fish slice or fork to squash down the potatoes (this will increase the surface area for extra crispiness).
   
   
7. Next de-stone 8 large plums and peel and cut the 2 red onions into small wedges.
   
   
8. Melt 1 Tbsp of duck fat or olive oil in wok and start by frying off the onions on a medium high heat. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes until you begin to see a light caramelization then add the plums and the remainder of the fresh thyme. Stir from time to time and add ½ Tbsp caster sugar to the plum compote and cook until ¾ cooked.
   
   
9. Remove the duck legs from the roasting tray and rest on a warm plate then drain and keep the excess duck fat.
   
   
10. Pour the 50 ml cold water into the roasting pan and scrape to free up any sediment from bottom of the roasting pan. Now add the plums and onions mixture and stir well before returning the roasting pan to the oven to finish cooking the compote.
    
    
11. For the salad, de-stone the red and yellow plums and cut them into very thin slices. Cut the white onion half also into very thin slices and sprinkle with a pinch of granulated sugar and leave for 5 minutes. Now mix the onion slices and plum slices together.
    
    
12. Mix 1 Tbsp of red wine vinegar and 3 Tbsp olive in a cup then pour this over the onion and plum slices and season with salt and pepper.
    
    
13. When you have duck, the potatoes and plum compote ready, toss the plum slices into the salad leaves add the chopped pistachio and toss gently.

To Serve:
Place a duck leg on a pasta bowl a portion of the crispy garlic potatoes, a spoon of the plum compote and lastly add a handful of the Plum and onion salad.

Chef’s Notes:

You can easily cut this recipe in half and make just 2 portions if you prefer.

The Duck legs can be gently reheated in a frying pan with a little duck fat. The potatoes can be reheated in the oven and they should stay crisp. The plum compote will keep for about 5-6 days.

Roasted Duck Leg with Plum Compote with Garlic Potatoes©KevinAshton 2026