It is little surprise to me that fortunes have been made buying and selling spices. Some mixtures, such because the basic Chinese language five-spice, are so fragrant that I discover myself mesmerised by them. It takes moments to make and transforms each duck and the accompanying plums in at this time’s recipe, including complexity to the fruit’s acidity. The crisp potatoes are a scrumptious addition; slice the duck thinly and you'll discover you might be effectively fed with out a lot meat.
5-spice duck with roast plums and crisp potatoes
I like to make use of the oven to cook dinner all three parts of this dish, however you may make a extra conventional plum sauce with ginger and garlic on the range, should you favor. It will make extra spice combine than you want right here: retailer the surplus in a sealed jam jar and use on roast potatoes, as a rub in tacos or in stir-fries.
Prep 30 min
Marinate 3 hr+
Prepare dinner 1 hr 30 min
Serves 4-6
3 duck breasts
2 star anise
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, or black peppercorns
1 tsp cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
Salt
1½kg floury potatoes
150g duck fats, or goose fats
For the plum sauce
750g plums, wash, stoned and quartered
40g comfortable, darkish brown sugar
1-2 tsp five-spice combine, to style (see above and methodology)
1 tbsp darkish soy sauce
40ml red-wine vinegar
Just a few rosemary branches, leaves picked and finely chopped (elective)
Rating the duck pores and skin in a crisscross sample. Toast the spices in a dry frying pan till fragrant, then grind to a reasonably high quality powder in a mortar or spice grinder. Rub two teaspoons of the five-spice powder and a teaspoon of salt all around the duck, then marinate within the fridge for a number of hours, or in a single day.
About 90 minutes earlier than you need to eat, warmth the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gasoline 6. Steam the potatoes entire for 12 minutes, then lower into 1-2cm cash. Put the duck or goose fats in a baking tray within the oven and, as soon as it’s smoking scorching, add the potato slices, scatter over a teaspoon of sea salt and roast for 60-75 minutes, basting three or 4 occasions whereas they cook dinner, till golden. Forty minutes into the cooking time, pour off the surplus fats and scatter over half the rosemary, if utilizing; on the similar time, take the duck out of the fridge to return as much as room temperature.
Line a baking sheet with foil and lay the plums lower aspect up on high. Sprinkle with the sugar and a teaspoon of five-spice combine, then pour on the vinegar and soy sauce. Scatter over the remaining rosemary, then roast alongside the potatoes for 35-40 minutes, till caramelised and jammy.
About 20 minutes earlier than you need to eat, put a frying pan on a medium-high warmth. Add a teaspoon of the duck fats, then lay within the breasts pores and skin aspect down and depart to fry for 3 or 4 minutes, till the pores and skin is golden and crisp. Flip the breasts over, sear on the flesh aspect for only a minute, then switch to an oven dish and put within the oven and switch it off. The residual warmth ought to cook dinner it by in 4 to 5 minutes.
Take away and relaxation the duck when you tip the plums and their juices to a jug or bowl; style and, if want be, modify the seasoning with extra soy or sugar. Lower the duck into wafer-thin slices and serve with the potatoes and plums.
The straightforward flex
These plums go superbly with grilled goat’s cheese or halloumi, too. And cook dinner the potatoes in vegetable oil as a substitute of duck fats, should you favor.
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