Duck recipes please!

[Jezabelle]

The in laws are due at the weekend and I've bought a whole duck at Tesco (because they're half price just now!) So, I'm looking for a nice meal for Saturday night for 4 adults. Something a bit more interesting then a roast. It can't take ages as will have to get kids to bed etc whilst cooking and entertaining!

TIA

I know you said not a roast, but... we recently had roast duck served with dauphinoise potatoes (with lots of nutmeg), red cabbage braised with apple and dried cranberries (BBC website recipe) and broccoli. It was gorgeous and all the prep could be done in advance so easy to manage with bath / bedtime.

If you joint it you could do a confit. You cook it long and slow in duck fat then leave it to cool so you can do that the day/night before. Then scrape off the fat and oven roast for 20 mins. Super delish and good with red cabbage and dauphinoise as sterling suggested. Slow cooked red cabbage can def be done in advance and reheats well. Even the dauphinoise can be part cooked earlier in the day (Nigella method of pre cooking pots in the garlicy cream first). Don't be afraid of the huge amount of fat you confit the duck in. The peeps from the South West region of France where it's from have one of the lowest heart attack rates in Europe, AND it tastes bloomin' fab.

Both sound delicious! I'm eating out with girlfriends tonight and I'm starving aready! Sterling - I'd happily do your roast, just didn't want bog standard one as wanted something a bit more special.

Could try harder - Do you know if you could do this in a slow cooker? That would make things really easy. Do you need extra duck fat for this recipe then? Not too worried about health implications as they don't come that often and I can't usually afford duck anyway!

Lots of duck or goose fat - most supermarkets carry it now. Cover the pieces in a mixture of salt, crushed garlic and thyme and leave for a good few hours. Wipe that off (or wash off if you are a bit salt phobic but make sure they are dry after) then stick in into the melted fat and cook gently for one and a half hours. I normaly do this in the oven at 150 but don't see why it couldn't be in a slow cooker. Take it out and either leave it to cool down and for the fat to set (scrape off when you want to cook) or pop it straight into the oven 200 degrees C for 15 - 20 mins skin side down til skin is crisp. You can use the solidified fat again if you keep it in a jar in the fridge - great for roasties.