There are hundreds of duck recipes kicking around the internet, but this one - Duck with Honey and Oyster Dressing - truly is brilliant.
Duck is popular as there are so many different ways that it can be served. It can be stripped off the bone, served in Chinese pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and plum sauce. It can be sliced neatly and eaten cold with a light salad. But for us, the best way is to roast the duck and serve it whole with both gravy and vegetables (as written below). Whatever you choose to do, the trick is to make sure the skin is crispy.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Four tablespoons of Scottish Heather Honey
Eight tablespoons of Oyster sauce
Two x one and a half pound ducks
Two sticks of celery, sliced thinly
Four spring onions chopped roughly
Six garlic cloves, peeled and squashed
Four bay leaves
One handful of basil and coriander
One medium fresh chilli, sliced thinly
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat your oven to 225 degrees/gas mark 7. Make your sauce by putting the honey and oyster sauce in a pan and heat slightly.
Prepare each duck by pulling away any excess fat from within its cavity. Wash inside and pat dry with kitchen towel. Put all your vegetables, garlic, herbs and chilli in a bowl. Mix with two good pinches of salt and pepper, and toss all lightly.
Stuff the ducks with the filling.
Place the ducks on the rack inside a roasting tray, with about 1 pint of boiling water on the bottom of the tray. Tightly cover with baking foil to keep the boiling water and steam inside. This will keep the duck fat free.
Keep cooking for one more hour. Baste throughout this time as and when to make skin crispy.
Take duck out of the oven and leave to rest for fifteen minutes.
Side dishes
We recommend roasted vegetables to go with your delicious duck, or a carrot salad like this one. Fancy something a little more unusual? Mashed pumpkin or cabbage goes deliciously with the crispness of the duck.
Starter
We only have one recommendation. Our strawberry lavender and honey soup created by the wonderful Camille Aubert. Check it out!
Dessert
Need you ask? Clearly our grilled peach and honey ice cream!
