Slow Roasted Duck With Sides

It has taken me almost 6 months to really get to "know" my oven and now we are very happy to try out new things together, slow roasting a whole duck for example. Time and patience are all you need once you have gathered all the very basic ingredients needed. I wanted the duck to be almost au natural and hence the very simple seasonings - sea salt, pepper and some herbs I picked from my garden. Although the duck needs to be cooked for 3 hours but once it is in the oven, there are very little else to do. I took the opportunity to make the delicious beetroot relish that I posted yesterday while waiting for the duck to cook. By all means make a sauce if your heart desires and play around with the sides, something I will certainly do the next time around.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 2 to 3 as a one dish meal
oven preheated at 240 C (conventional)
you'll need;
1 whole duck, excess fat removed (this can be rendered down for other uses)
2 sprigs of rosemary
6 sprigs of thyme
1 head of garlic, lightly bashed
sea salt and black pepper to taste
4 to 6 potatoes, cut into large chunks
blanched green beans to serve
beetroot relish to serve

Season the duck inside and out then stuff the cavity of the duck with garlic and herbs of your choice and place it into the hot oven preheated at 240 C for 45 minutes. Turn down the oven to 200 C and continue to cook for 2 hours. Quite a bit of fat will be rendered out so drain it off from time to time during the cooking process.

Add potatoes into the roasting pan during the last 30 minutes of cooking. Remove duck from the roasting pan and rest at a warm place for at least 30 minutes while continue to cook the potatoes until golden and crispy.

This is the amount of fat collected, keep it for other uses. 

The skin is extremely crispy and the meat so tender it comes of the bones effortlessly. 

Serve duck with, potatoes, blanched green beans and some beetroot relish.