I've done variations of duck pasta a gazillion times before (using store bought roasted duck or home prepared duck parts) but this is the first time that I've roasted a whole duck at home. And it was brilliant! Especially so when the pasta was flavored with the juices and drippings from the roasting duck.
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| Pasta tossed with slices of roast duck, sun-dried tomatoes, oven roasted garlic, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and rocket leaves - all bathed in natural juices and drippings from the duck |
The sudden burst of inspiration to roast my own duck at home was largely motivated by (1) an italian dinner to celebrate my birthday during which the subject of a certain dear friend's infamous crispy duck recipe kept creeping up and (2) an email thread amongst another group of friends (who are self proclaimed "foodies") during which various mouthwatering techniques of duck preparation was brought up. All during the same week. Not one to believe in frivolous coincidences ... that could only mean 1 thing for me. We were having home roasted duck this weekend!
I purchased a 3 kg duck from the market. Stuffed it, steamed it and roasted it. For the pasta, I cut up some sun-dried tomatoes, prepared some caramelised onions and roasted garlic, and sauteed some button mushrooms before tossing them all together with the duck drippings and some rocket leaves.
Illustration in pictures as follows:-
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| I started off by roughly chopping up some coriander roots, a stick of celery, an inch of lemon grass, some stalks of spring onions and a knob of smashed ginger root. |
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| I stuffed the cavity of the duck with the above-mentioned chopped ingredients mixed with a generous sprinkling of seasalt. Also rubbed sea salt all over the exterior of the duck. |
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| Using a wooden satay stick, I threaded the cavity of the duck shut trapping the stuffings within. Next, I rubbed some oyster sauce and paprika powder all over the exterior of the duck. It went back into the fridge for a good 2 hours to allow for the marinade to seep in a little. |
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| After marinating, I placed the duck in a round stainless steel pan (to catch the juices while steaming) and placed the duck into a wok steamer to steam for an hour |
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| When the hour of steaming was up, I removed the duck onto a plate to brush a mixture of teriyaki sauce, honey and some mustard onto the skin of the duck. The juices and drippings of the duck which collected in the stainless steel pan during the steaming process was set aside for later use as stock for the pasta. (My daughter helped herself with the wings of the steamed duck which accounts for the missing limbs in the picture above) |
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| Before placing the duck on a rack atop my roasting pan, I placed a garlic bulb with the top lobbed off and 2 onions which were finely sliced underneath the duck. I sprinkled about a teaspoon of sugar onto the sliced onions and spooned some duck oil (from the drippings collected from the steaming process earlier) onto the garlic and onions. |
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Roast the duck topside up first in a preheated oven at 220 degrees celsius for about 15 minutes before turning the duck over for roasting for another 15 minutes.
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| When duck is done roasting, remove from oven. Use a spatula to squeeze the soft roasted flesh out from its roasted garlic bulb. |
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| Ingredients for the pasta : In a wok (on the left), I sauteed about 200g of sliced button mushrooms in some duck oil and stock. On the right, is the roasting pan with the duck drippings, plus chopped up sundried tomatoes (from top left corner), the squeezed out garlic pulp (in the middle) and the roasted caramelised onions (right of the pan) |
While the duck was roasting in the oven I had prepared about 350g of pasta in salted boiling water with a teaspoon of oil in it, drained it and set aside for later use. Once all the ingredients in the above picture was ready to use, proceeded to toss thr spaghetti into the wok with the sauteed mushrooms in it plus all the other ingredients seen in the rectangle pan above. Season with the duck drippings/juices from the steaming process earlier, seasalt and freshly grated black pepper to taste. (Pour in 1/3 cup of white wine if you have any on hand , does wonders to the taste). When the pasta is nicely coated with just the right amount of stock and nicely tossed and mixed through, turn off the fire and throw in the rocket leaves (also known as arugula leaves) to the party.
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| Serve the pasta immediately with slivers of deboned roasted duck on the sides. Goes well with a sprinkling of chilli flakes too. |
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