Need a simple, relatively quick and easy to prepare dinner for tonights supper? Why not try some roasted gessingham free range duck with honey and soy sauce served on a bed of pea risotto. This is a wholesome dish with lots of flavour. I love the gamey meat of duck and gessingham duck is widely available at most supermarkets. Once coated in a simple marinade of honey and soy sauce all you need to do is pop it into a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, depending on how you like to serve it. Just before it finishes cooking, whip up your risotto and hey presto! I would normally serve 1 leg per person but my husband loves it so much he has two! Bon apetit!
You will need:
4 duck legs
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons soy sauce
A pinch of celery salt, black pepper and ground all-spice or chinese five-spice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
300g risotto or arborio rice
50g vermicelli
25g butter
About 600ml chicken or vegetable stock
About 2 handfuls of frozen peas
Coarse ground black pepper to finish
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to gas mark 6/200*C. Make the duck marinade by putting the honey, soy sauce, all-spice or chinese spice, salt, pepper and sesame oil in a roasting tray and mixing well. Add the duck legs and fully coat. At this point you can leave the legs to marinade for about an hour or even overnight. Otherwise, pop straight in the oven and allow to roast for about 30 minutes. Check to see if they are done by pushing a skewer into the centre and seeing if the juices run clear. Some like their duck served a little pink in the centre but I prefer to cook mine for longer until the skin crisps up nicely and the juices are completely clear, about 45 minutes.
To make the risotto, on a low heat, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the vermicelli. Fry slowly until the vermicelli has browned then stir in the peas and the rice. Now start to add your hot stock a little at a time, stirring the rice so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. As it absorbs the stock, add more. Repeat this process until all the stock has been used up. The rice should be slightly Al dente in texture and a little starchy.
Place the rice in the centre of a plate, sprinkle over some coarsley ground black pepper, place a duck leg on top and serve. Delicious!
