As
the shooting season is well and truly over, now is the time to
catch up and take a wonderful romantic break – Verbier? Klosters?
Isle of Wight? Think roaring fires, furry rugs, chess and lots
of champagne.
Roast Duck with cherry Sauce
Serves 4
1 duck 2.5-3 kg
Maldon salt
Never put any extra fat with duck it has more than enough of
its own!
Prick the skin of the duck deeply all over so that the fat
can escape. Place the duck on to a roasting rack and sit that
into a deepish roasting tin. Season the duck with the salt then
put into a pre-heated oven 220c on the highest rack possible
and cook for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 160c and leave
the duck to cook for a further 2 ½ - 3 hours. Check the
duck to see if the fat needs pouring off from time to time.
Keep all the duck fat for using later for roast potatoes.
When it has finished cooking, remove the duck and rest for
5 minutes. Drain off all the fat into a bowl and save as before.
Cut the duck into quarters – I use a kitchen scissors or a
very sharp knife. First, cut the duck in half then into quarters
– along the length of the duck through the backbone.
Arrange on to a warmed serving dish and garnish with a fresh
bunch of watercress.
Serve with the cherry sauce.
Cherry Sauce
200g Morello Cherry Jam
175ml red wine
1 jar – about 425g bottle of either morello cherries or black
cherries in port or red wine Fortnum and Mason do them- you
will only need half of the cherries
Combine the jam and the wine in a saucepan and simmer for about
10 minutes so that it reduces and slightly thickens. (You can
do this in advance and just re heat.) Drain half of the cherries
from the bottle, add to the saucepan just to heat through, and
serve.
Wine: a delicious bottle of Demi-Sec Champagne of course –
it’s February what else does one drink during this dreary month?
Tip:
All I want for Valentine’s Day is a trip to Theo Fennell www.theofennell.com
- I want the pink sapphire and diamond winged’art charm and
the diamond heart and crossbones, but we all know I want never
gets…