I've mentioned the local Farmers' Market a couple of times. We're lucky to have it, and we support it by going every month. We normally take £40 in cash and end up spending all of it - it may sound like a lot, but it mostly goes on freezable items which generally see us all through the month. We couldn't go this month, which is just as well because the freezer is absolutely full to bursting so I'm setting myself to using it all up.
Tonight was the turn of a wild duck, which if memory serves cost less than a fiver. Farmed ones are much larger and cost more per pound, so the skinflint in me couldn't resist this little beaut!
I thought I'd try a variation on the slow-roast chicken theme. I still wanted crispy skin and moist slow-cooked meat, but this time I fried the duck all over in a pan before putting it in the slow-cooker. You don't want to cook the duck - just get the skin crispy and brown. I did it this way round rather than grilling the skin after slow cooking because my grill is built into the oven, and I wanted to use the oven to do proper roast spuds and parsnip tonight. The spuds were perfectly nice in the slow cooker - I just fancied roasties tonight.
If you're pushed for time, you can just cut potatoes up and roast them in the oven, but they're much nicer if you boil them first. Lots of recipes tell you to par-boil them, but I'd say cook them until they're ready to eat - that way they'll be fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. My mum always taught me to start root vegetables in cold water - no idea why, but it seems to work - so about an hour before the duck will be ready, peel and chop one large red potato, put it in a pan of cold salted water and set it to boil.
Turn the oven on at the same time, to pre-heat it to 190C.
When the potatoes are boiled (it'll take about 20 minutes from cold water, depending on how quickly your stove can boil the water), drain them in a colander and shake them up a bit to create some broken bits of potato which will become nice crispy bits of roast potato later.
It makes things easier all round if you start the potatoes off in hot fat, so put your choice of fat (butter, goose fat, duck fat, dripping or lard - olive oil is no substitute, I'm afraid) into a roasting tray and melt it in the oven while you're draining the potatoes. Don't dawdle - you just want it to melt, not burn. Then put the potatoes into the roasting tray and turn them all over with a spoon so that they get coated in fat. Pop the tray back into the oven.
There's been a lot of waiting around up until now, but things will start to come together soon.
The next thing to go in is the parsnip. Unlike potatoes, parsnips don't need boiling before roasting and they don't take long. They do react well to being coated in seasoned cornflower though!
This will help them to crisp up, and the cornflower will help to thicken the gravy later. So: put some cornflower in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Chop up a parsnip into chunks, coat the chunks in cornflower, then put them in the roasting tray with the potato, making sure to coat the pieces all over in the hot fat.
Don't discard the cornflower yet, you'll need some of it later.
You can probably get on with the last element of the dish at this point, the poached shallots. Peel them, but don't chop them. Then poach (ie, cook in a pan over a low heat - bubbling gently but not boiling) in a mixture of red wine and stock. I used some of the chicken stock from the roast I did the other day, but Oxo cubes are fine. I chucked in a glug of Worcestershire sauce and a sprinkle of dried thyme as well. Rosemary would have been just as nice.
This is the moment to get the duck out of the slow cooker to rest. It's had three hours.
Once the shallots are soft (it'll take about 10 minutes) serve the veg and ask your girlfriend to carve the duck while you turn your attention to gravy. You're going to make it in the roasting tray that the veg cooked in, so as not to waste any of the flavours. Put it on one of the larger rings on the stove and turn it on to minimum power. Chuck in a tablespoonful or two of the reserved cornflower from earlier (you'll have your own preferences as to how thick you like your gravy - the more cornflower, the thicker it will be).
Stir it around in the bottom of the baking tray until it's all coated in fat. There will be lumps at this point - don't worry about them. Now pour in the liquid that's collected in the bottom of the slow-cooker insert - all those lovely juices that came off the duck. Mix at all around again with a fork until it's a smooth paste with no lumps. Don't worry if it takes a little while, root veg takes ages to go cold. Once you've achieved your smooth paste, pour in some of the wine/stock mixture that the shallots cooked in. You might want to raise the heat a little, just to get some bubbles but not a hard boil. Keep agitating with your fork, adding more liquid if necessary, until you're happy with the texture. Be careful to add liquid slowly - you can add more to thin the texture down, but there's nothing you can do to thicken it again! If you add more cornflower now it'll just turn into lumps.
Pour on the gravy and enjoy!
Taste verdict
There's definitely a difference in the flavour between this wild duck and the farmed duck that I'm used to. There was a strong smell from it while it was cooking, and a stronger, gamier flavour too. I can't describe the flavour that we call "gamey" - you've just got to eat a wild animal at some point, then you'll know what I mean! My girlfriend seemed to prefer it, but I'm not sure. My principles prefer the wild duck, but my tastebuds seem to go for the milder flavour of farmed duck (free-range, of course!). Oh - and you have to look out for shot too of course! The jury's still out.
Financial verdict
One wild duck - about a fiver
One large red potato - 60p
One large parsnip - 58p
Handful of shallots - 66p (all the veg came from Waitrose today, where it tends to work out cheaper because they have a wide selection of veg available loose rather than in oversized packets)
Glass of wine - £1
Cornflower, stock, butter, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper - pennies, from store.
Total: £7.84. That doesn't exactly look cheap at face value... but think of the leftovers! There's a tupperware of potato and parsnip left which is going to go into the freezer and become bubble-and-squeak at a later date. There's also plenty of duck left, which will likewise go into the freezer until it's Crispy Peking Duck time. If there had been a couple more people around I would have also cooked some green veg from the freezer and it would have fed four quite comfortably. Four meals means £1.96 per portion - and I promise to blog the bubble-and-squeak and Peking duck when I get to them!
The skinny
For the duck
Fry a small wild duck over a highish heat on all sides until the skin is crispy and golden-brown.
Place into a slow-cooker on low for three hours.
Rest for about 10 minutes before carving.
For the potatoes
Cut up a large red potato into equally-sized pieces and put the pieces into cold salted water.
Boil and cook until soft.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C while the potatoes are boiling.
When the potatoes are ready, put some fat into a roasting tray and put it into the oven.
Drain the potatoes in a colander and shake them around to create some broken edges.
Take the roasting tray out of the oven, put the potatoes into the hot fat and turn them over and around using a spoon so that they end up coated in fat.
Cook them in the oven for about 45 minutes.
For the parsnips
Cut up a large parsnip into equally sized pieces.
Coat the pieces in seasoned cornflower.
Put the pieces in the roasting tray with the potatoes, again coating them all over with hot fat.
Cook them in the oven for about 15 minutes.
For the shallots
Peel and poach in a mixture of red wine and stock for about 10 minutes.
For the gravy
Put the roasting tray that the potatoes and parsnips cooked in onto a low heat.
Add a couple of tablespoonfuls of the seasoned cornflower from the parsnip preparation.
Stir with a fork until the cornflower is all coated in fat from the roasting tray.
Add the cooking juices from the slow-cooker insert.
Keep stirring until there are no more cornflower lumps and the mixture has become a paste.
Add some of the red wine/stock mixture that the shallots cooked in.
Keep adding liquid and stirring until you are happy with the texture - everyone likes a different thickness of gravy! Be careful not to add too much liquid at once. You can make it thinner by adding more liquid but you can't make it thicker.
WeightWatchers ProPoints
12 per portion
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