Should this roast duck recipe spark a love affair with fowl, set a lunch date with a seared duck breast sandwich. I layer mine with artichokes and roasted red peppers on a chewy ciabatta.
Roasted duck
Let me tell you what I love about roasted duck for Christmas dinner: My roast duck recipe brightens the game-bird flavour with Christmassy mandarin halves and garlic. Putting them inside the cavity releases a fragrant steam while roasting that will infuse the meat and keep it juicy.
Port and cranberry sauce
Roast duck is often partnered with sour-tasting fruit; cherries or orange usually. I’ll eat duck with anything, but now we are coming into cranberry season. Port and cranberry are time-honoured Christmas flavours and combined create a gleaming garnet sauce that elevates this roast duck recipe in more ways than one. Port is a sweet and fortified wine that is almost syrupy. It has mulled notes of raspberry, chocolate and cinnamon making it sweet, cosy and warming. It’s in direct contrast to the wintry cranberries, which are tart and bright. Combined they make a gloriously sweet and sour sauce that lifts the duck from the depths of gaminess, resulting in a lighter dish that feels more digestible. And the recipe is so simple. Basically, 5 ingredients thrown in the pan and left to boil and bubble down to a soft, but still berry-textured, ruby sauce.
Serving suggestions
I’d say there are two paths to the perfect Christmas roast duck dinner. First, the more conventional consisting of; roast potatoes, either cooked in the duck fat itself or oven space-saving crispy air fryer potatoes; two veg, roasted rainbow carrots with pistachios and lemon garlic green beans; and a good gravy on the side. Or the lighter and less conventional; fresh and herby hasselback potatoes with gremolata, or simple new potatoes with butter and parsley; and a vibrant winter salad of red cabbage, kale and pomegranate. I am leaning towards sharp flavours that are lively and bright to keep up with my cranberry sauce and slice through the strong-tasting and aromatic duck.
Leftovers and storage
With little meat to spare on a roast duck, most likely there won’t be any leftovers to speak of. On the off chance, they can be covered and kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. However, the port and cranberry sauce is a sandwich-loving wonder sauce, that keeps a long time and should definitely be saved. Serve it cold on Boxing Day, slathering it on ham, cheese or bacon sandwiches, or put a pot out with the cheese board. It will keep covered for up to 10 days once refrigerated.
Other roast recipes to try
Perfect Roast Potatoes Classic Pork Loin Roast with Gravy Roast Chicken with Jerusalem Artichokes and Lemons Pork Roast with Warm Persimmon Sauce
