This is a brief post in response to the requests for the gorgeous duck recipe by my friend Lucy from our lovely lunch at her place last weekend. Lucy has generously shared the recipe. I know what I’ll be doing with duck the next time I cook it…
Persian Roast Duck Legs with Date and Pomegranate Sauce
8-10 duck legs
2 onions, roughly sliced
salt flakes and pepper
1 Tbl olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
¼ tsp tumeric
¼ tsp ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup chicken stock
16 fresh dates, pitted
3 Tbl pomegranate molasses
Heat oven to 180 degrees. Put the duck legs in a roasting pan on a bed of the sliced onion, sprinkle the skin with salt and pepper and roast for 1 1/4 hours. The skin should be crisp and golden brown and the meat coming away from the bone.
Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and fry the chopped onion until lightly browned and softened. Add the spices and fry for a minute. Add the stock and 1/2 cup of water then add the dates and pomegranate molasses. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Break up the dates with a wooden spoon as the sauce cooks, the sauce should be thick, dark and unctuous.
Enjoy.
Oooh, that looks delicious, Sarah! I wonder if I could get away with a whole duck, cut up (much cheaper than buying legs – I can get a whole duck for $18). What do you think? Thanks…
Celia I don’t see why not. I’ve not dealt with a whole duck before but I imagine that if you joint it like a chicken you’d just have several different cuts (maybe you’d need more than one duck to get the same amount of meat from 8-10 legs though, as they tend to be the meatier bits)
A whole roast duck is a joy to behold, yes, but will only feed 4 at the absolute most. Chuck a seasoned duck into a 200 degree oven for 15 mins then turn down to 180 for an hour. If it needs more browning at the end turn the oven back up for a further blast and another 10 minutes. Easy.
Mmm, date & duck…. nice combination.
Sarah, this looks like absolute heaven. The date and pomegranate sauce sounds divine!
Anna and John – the sauce was a lovely foil for the richness of the duck meat. As you can see the duck wasn’t smothered in the sauce as you don’t need heaps of it – it’s fairly intense in flavour.
Fantastic! I’ve been cooking a lot with duck lately, and can vouch for how well pomegranate molasses goes with it. Can’t wait to add some dates (or prunes!) next time.
Mmm, looks delicious.
Please pass on my thanks to your friend for sharing.
Sounds amazing, I adore dates and I’m intrigued to try more recipes using pomegranate molasses so this would be a great dish to try!
Oh my….I’m drooling. I love Persian food and I love duck and I love pomegranates! Thanks to Lucy for sharing the recipe and you Sarah for featuring it!
I love the sound and look of this dish – I am fascinated by this style of cooking, and I love duck, so i will have to try this some time.
Bel – I’d like to get more into duck cooking. So far I’ve only used the breast as it’s so easy to come at. This recipe makes me feel brave though as it’s so easy.
Amanda – done
Maria – yes a great combo of the sweet and tangy
Lorraine – all the best ingredients together!
Cakelaw – Middle Eastern cooking has been a pet interest of mine for a while now. It has a great range of slow cooked and quick (lots of flash frying) dishes, all with big flavours. A book I’ve been exploring in some detail is the Greg and Lucy Malouf book Turquoise (Turkish food) which has a great range of easy and more challenging dishes. Any of their books are a great place to start actually.