*** This recipe is part of a Christmas Special where I show you how to make 3 mains and 4 side dishes that take 1.5 hrs to prepare and can be largely made ahead. So this Christmas, you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time with your family! 🙂 *** Duck is not something I cook with on an everyday basis. But every time I make it, I wonder why I don’t. I think because like most people, I subconsciously have duck tagged as fiddly to cook with and expensive to buy. Not true!! It’s time to get the story straight!! Firstly, a whole duck costs around the same (on a weight basis) as chicken breast (at least, here in Sydney) – but it’s a whole lot more interesting and tasty!! A 2.3 kg / 4.5 lb duck cost me $20 from my local butcher. It is around $22 – $25 at large supermarkets. Secondly, duck is alot easier to roast than a whole chicken for two reasons:
- The flesh has more natural flavour so flavour infusion / thick gravy or strong sauce isn’t as necessary as it is with roast chicken; and
- Duck is fattier than chicken which means you don’t end up with dry breast meat and burnt wing tips. The roasting formula is simple. 40 minutes per kg / 20 minutes per pound. Just make sure you pat the skin dry so you end up with crispy skin. A simple sprinkle of spices on the skin, and a very quick sauce for the side. That’s all there is to it! I deliberately choose not to stuff it because depending on the size of the cavity and how much you pack it (or not) and the type of stuffing you use, the roasting time can significantly vary. In any case, stuffing made separately is so much more tasty because you get more brown crunchy bits. I dialled the crunchy bits aaaalllll the way up by making individual stuffing cups in a muffin tin lined with pancetta. So, what do you think?? Will duck make it on the menu at your next festive gathering?! – Nagi *
Easy, Stress Free Seven Course Christmas Menu (1.5 hr prep)
You can read about this menu here, including a step by step of the order in which I prepared, baked, reheated and plated up each dish. I made all these dishes (with the exception of the cabbage salad) for a Christmas Party with my friends and these are photos of the actual dishes that I took to the party. I’m sharing this in the hope that it might inspire your Christmas menu!
Easy Maple Sticky Glazed Ham (15 min prep, 1 – 1 1/2 hrs inactive baking, can be made ahead) Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast (5 min prep, then set and forget, reheats well but best slow cooked overnight on the night before serving) This Festive Duck with Apple Cider Drizzle (5 min prep, 1 1/2 hr inactive baking, reheats very well) Pork Apple Stuffing in Pancetta Cups (20 min prep and worth every second. Reheats extremely well) Julia Child’s Potato Dauphinoise Gratin (15 min prep, 45 min baking, reheats very well) Red, Green and White Christmas Salad (10 minutes prep) Warm Red Cabbage and Spinach with Garlic Herb Butter (10 minutes prep)
