Saturday Night Feast: Roasted duck w/ sugar browned potatoes and red cabbage

I know, I know. It’s out of season for a traditional Danish Christmas dinner. No matter how it’s still a beautiful meal and I can be served year round. It is one of my favorite dishes. Granted; it’s some work and takes a little preparation.

Here in the US this probably falls under an ‘exotic’ category. Never the less the flavors come very close to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. If you’re into that, this may be a very good alternative as it is not as hard to do, takes less time in cooking and preparation.

Ingredients:

The Duck:
6 lbs duck
½ lb seedless prunes
½ lb green apples
4-6 cups of water
Salt and pepper

Red cabbage:
One red cabbage
5-6 table spoons current jelly
2-3 table spoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

The Potatoes:
4 lbs small round potatoes
Sugar
3 table spoons of butter

Sauce:
1 bottle of red wine
1 onion
1 fennel
3-4 carrots
3 table spoons of butter
Neck and heart from the duck
15-20 black pepper corn (not ground)

How to go about it:

The Duck:

Remove neck and any insides from the duk. Rinse it under cold water. Cut the apples in bite size pieces and stuff the duck with the apples and prunes.  Rub the duck with salt and ground pepper. Close the gap with meat needles.

Preheat the oven to 480F and put the duck on a rack on the roasting pan. The duck brown for 20 minutes breast down.  Turn the duck around and reduce temperature to 320F and add 2 cups of water. Add more water if the pan is drying out during roasting. Let the duck roast for about 2 hours. If the thigh loosens easy and the juice from the duck is clear, its done. Baste the duck every 20 minutes alternating with melted butter and drippings from the roasting pan.

The Sauce:

Brown the neck and heart in butter with the rough cut vegetables. Pour in a 2 cups of red wine and 2 cups of water. Let it boil down for a couple of hours. If it reduces too much add more wine and water. Your final result should be about 2½-3 cups. Strain the reduction into a casserole. Thicken with a bit of corn starch and adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Add a tablespoon or two of currant jelly. Let it simmer while the potatoes are roasting.

The Red Cabbage:

Quarter the red cabbage. Slice the quarters thinly. Put 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a pot large enough to hold all the cabbage. When the butter is melted put in the cabbage. Add the current jelly and balsamic vinegar. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper and maybe balsamic vinegar and currant jelly. Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes until it has the texture you prefer.

The Potatoes:

Boil the potatoes with the skin on and let them cool. Peel the potatoes. Take a large skillet and pour sugar in a thin layer so it covers the bottom of the skillet. Melt the sugar on the skillet. Let it get a little color but don’t let it turn black. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter on the melted sugar and stir it up gently before pouring the potatoes on the skillet. Stir the potatoes gently for about 15 minutes until they have a nice brown color.

TIP: If you prefer you can avoid browning the potatoes. Or maybe just brown half of them.

DINNER – by Dad is ready