cooking challenge week nine: roast duck leg with red cabbage

You will need:

2 duck legs
1 red cabbage
1 onion
1 small apple
3 garlic cloves
5 bay leaves
A few raspberries
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
Vegetables for roasting (I used squash and potato)

What to do:

For the duck-
24 hours prior to roasting the duck, place the duck in a shallow dish. Slice the onion into chunky pieces and add to the dish. Add chopped garlic, olive oil, 3 bay leaves, fennel seeds, raspberries and a sprinkle of sea salt. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 175'c. Use a small paring knife to poke a few slits into the duck skin. Replace the duck legs into a large, shallow baking tray. Add the ingredients from the marinade and a touch more salt. Add to the oven, skin side up. Set the timer. After 20 minutes, remove from the oven. Spoon the rendered duck fat over the skin and return to the oven. Do this 3 times. After 1 hour, spoon some of the duck fat into a small frying pan and reserve for the gravy. Turn the heat up to 200'c and cook for a further 10 minutes, to crisp the skin.

Make a traditional gravy by adding cornflour and water to the reserved duck fat and whisk over low heat. However, I made a redcurrant sauce by adding a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly to the duck fat, with a tablespoon of flour, a few tablespoons of red wine and 1/4 cup water. Whisked constantly over very low heat until it had thickened and reduced.

For the cabbage -
This is a very traditional dish and I absolutely love it. There are a lot of different ways you can make it and I think everyone has their own method, but I find this easy and tasty. I love dishes that you can pop on the stove and leave to bubble away for a few hours, to get richer and richer.

Core the cabbage and rinse it well (there are always slugs and bugs in the outer leaves - just rinse them and check them well). Once you're sure the cabbage is sans pests, chop it finely.

Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan over very low heat. Add one clove of garlic, the bay leaves, and then the cabbage. Grate the apple and then the white wine vinegar, half of the balsamic and half of the sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well. Leave to simmer for around 30 minutes, then check the seasoning. Add the balsamic and sugar as required, for flavour. I cooked this for around 2 hours. Once almost all the liquid has reduced, add the lid and turn the heat right down to the minimum setting.

To serve, plate up the vegetables and cabbage, top with the duck, and the onion and bay leaves from the roasting pan. Add gravy and serve.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!