Recipe #234: Roasted Duck

I've been neglecting my blog lately, so in my search for something new and different to make, I found a recipe for a French dish called cassoulet.  That led to some research and the realization that I'd need to locate some duck meat.  Then I decided that maybe I should make duck on its own first before making a cassoulet, which is why today I was at the West Side Market at Kaufmann Poultry buying my first duck.  It's not cheap ($20 for a five pounder), but the novelty made it worth it.

This recipe is based on tips from the vendor, a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, and other bits of information that I found on the internet.  I didn't really do anything fancy prep-wise this time.  There are a lot of ways to prep a duck, I found out (AFTER I put mine in the oven), but in the end, it turned out moist and delicious, which is all that really matters.  Even the cats got to taste some.  I also made up a sauce based loosely on recipes I'd read, but you could take it or leave it depending on your tastes.

Duck breast and drumstick with sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 approx 5lb whole duck (unfortunately, mine came frozen, which I'm not a fan of, so I had to thaw it first)

1 apple, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 ribs celery, roughly chopped

Paprika

Salt

Poultry seasoning

Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Remove the neck and giblets bag from the cavity of the duck.  Rinse and pat the duck dry.  Salt the inside of the bird, and put the apple, celery, and onion bits inside.  Season both sides of the duck generously with paprika and poultry/chicken seasoning, spray or rub with oil, and place breast-side down on a roasting rack.  If there are extra apples and veggies, put them in the bottom of the roasting pan.  Put about two cups of water into the bottom of the pan.  This prevents the oil from smoking.

Roast the duck for 1.5 hours.  Remove from the oven, flip over.  Change the oven temperature to 325 degrees and put the bird back in.  Roast for another hour.

A way to tell that the duck is done is that the skin is crispy and you can move the drumsticks somewhat freely.

Let sit on the cutting board for about 15 minutes to let the juices go back into the meat.

The sauce I made was a mixture of orange marmalade, soy sauce (low sodium), and a touch of powdered ginger.  Adjust to your tastes

Golden before cutting

Without sauce, breast (skin side up) and drumstick

Recipe #233: Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb

I made lamb again.  I had a craving for roasted lamb this time as opposed to my usual lamb chops craving, so I found a nice looking 3.5 lb boneless leg of lamb at the store today.  I grabbed fresh rosemary and then looked for a decent recipe that might be a little different than what I'd posted before (see this link).

I was excited about this recipe because it was less of a dry seasoning and more of a marinade.  It was worth the extra run out to the store after I realized I didn't have butcher's twine.  This came out perfect, with medium-rare bits more in the middle and more-cooked bits at the ends.  There are plenty of leftovers and I plan on using those (and the leftover mashed potatoes) to make some shepherd's pie (see this link).

This recipe is from http://www.skinnytaste.com.  My comments are in red.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, more or less to taste
• fresh ground black pepper
• 3 1/2 - 4 lb uncooked trimmed lamb leg, boneless, rolled and tied

DIRECTIONS:

After you let the lamb roast sit out for about an hour to come up closer to room temperature, Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and place a rack in the pan.  

Combine crushed garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper;mix well and rub mixture all over lamb. Roll the lamb and use butcher's twine to tie it together and place it on the prepared roasting pan.  Again, do this about an hour before preheating the oven.

Roast in the oven until medium-rare and a meat thermometer inserted in center reads 135-140ºF, anywhere from 70 minutes and up depending on the size of your roast.  (My 3.5lb roast was perfect at 70 minutes)  Remove the lamb and let it rest about 15 minutes on a cutting board. Keep in mind the temperature will increase a few degrees once it rests.

Slice lamb into 1/4-inch thick slices and place on a serving platter.