Crunchy Roast Duck with Turnips & Cider Sauce from Joanne Harris & Fran Warde at The French Kitchen Cookbook

This is not the exact way that Joanne and Fran say to do it in their book, but close enough. It is a superb dinner party dish, as it is pretty easy, doesn’t take too long to prepare and looks and tastes great on the plate.

Steamed tenderstem broccoli is a lovely accompaniment.

To serve 4

The ingredients:

Duck – 1 large one
Shallots – 1 small packet (about 10-15)
Turnips – about 8
Cider – 300ml + a little more if the sauce gets too thick
Knorr Vegetable stock pot – 1
Olive oil for roasting
Salt and pepper
A little plain flour for thickening the sauce

The recipe:

  • Set the oven at 200°C/Gas 6.
  • Place the olive oil in a large roasting tin, and place in the oven to get hot.
  • Stab the duck all over, and rub a generous amount of seasoning into it.
  • Place the duck on the heated oil basted roasting tray, and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes*
  • Peel and chop the shallots and turnips into rough bite size chunks, then place on the roasting tray and roast with the duck.
  • When the duck has finished roasting, remove from the roasting tray, cover and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
  • Also remove the turnips and shallots, and keep warm.
  • Meanwhile, steam the broccoli/prepare any greenery you may be serving as an accompaniment.
  • And meanwhile again, make the sauce: drain some of the oil/fat off the roasting tray (you could re-use it for roast potatoes).
  • Next, sprinkle a little flour and the stockpot into the tray, followed by the cider.
  • Whisk the sauce to prevent any lumps of flour, and to incorporate some of the meaty sticky bits on the roasting tray. If it is too thick, add a little more cider, if it’s not thick enough whisk in a little more flour (just make sure it’s little by little so you don’t get a lumpy insipid sauce).
  • Once the sauce is done, carve the duck and serve.

*Read the instructions on the packet/listen to your butcher though, because this will depend on the size of the duck.

If you read my post you’ll see that I didn’t get round to pictures, but I’m quite pleased about that because it means I’ll have to make this again soon to take some.

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