Wednesday 1 July 2015

Roast Duck with Marsala Figs

Duck can be a tricky thing to cook so for this dish I used my 'adapted sous vide' technique first and then roasted the duck portions in a very hot oven for twenty minutes to make the skin really crispy and golden brown. 


The figs will keep for weeks if kept refrigerated in the syrup. They are also quite nive as a dessert with some vanilla icecream or sliced into a bread and butter pudding.

To Cook the Duck
Bone duck into four portions, two breast and two leg/thick portions. 
Season each portion with a little salt and pepper.
Vacuum seal the legs into one pouch and the breasts into another.
Follow the instructions for the belly pork, The water temperature was kept to 80 deg C. 
I cooked the pouch of duck legs longer than the pouch of breast, 2 1/2 hours for the legs, 1 1/2 for the breast. 
Remove the poches from the water. Carefully drain the juices from each pouch into a saucepan and put aside to make the sauce.
Pat the duck portion dry with some paper towel
Place each portion on a tray lined with cooking parchment, spray with cooking spray and place in a very hot oven for 20 minutes. 

To make the Sauce
Combine the reserved juices with 1/2 cup Marsala or Port. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the sauce evaporates a little. Add two or three figs per person to the sauce and warm through.
Check flavour of the sauce, add some salt and sharpen with a  splash of balsamic vinegar if necesarry.

To Serve
Cut breast portion in half diagonally.
Place leg portion on the plate, tuck figs in and around the leg. You may prefer to cut each fig in half.
Add the breast portions and a little more fig.
Spoon a little sauce around the plated duck.

Dried Figs in Marsala Syrup 
1 pkt dried figs
1 cup Marsala wine / Port
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Combine sugar, Marsala /port and water in a saucpan and bring to boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Add figs making sure that they are covered by the syrup. Add a little more water/marsala if necessary.
Simmer until figs soften approximately 15 minutes. 
Refrigerate figs in the syrup, they are better if left for a day or two. 

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