Roast duck with fresh porcini mushrooms and a root vegetable gratin

Method

1. Using a carving fork, prick the skin of the duck without piercing through to the flesh all over.

2. Wash the duck and pat dry with kitchen paper. Spike the lemon several times with a skewer. Place the lemon, thyme and bay leaves inside the duck's cavity.

3. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7.

4. Pour a kettleful of boiling water over the duck in the sink; drain the duck thoroughly.

5. Place the duck on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast the duck for 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 180°C/Gas 4 and roast for 1 more hour.

6. While the duck is roasting for the first half hour, prepare the vegetable gratin.

7. Keeping the sweet potatoes, swede, celeriac and parsnips separate, mix each root vegetable with a quarter of the cream and the tarragon. Season each batch with salt and freshly ground pepper.

8. Layer the vegetables in a shallow ovenproof dish, finishing with the sweet potato.

9. Once the oven temperature has been lowered to 180°C/Gas 4, add the gratin to the oven. Bake the gratin for 1 hour 30 minutes.

10. Once the duck has roasted for an hour at 180°C/Gas 4 check that it is cooked through by moving the drumstick. If the drumstick is loose then the duck is cooked.

11. Remove the duck from the roasting tin (leaving the gratin to continue baking). Drain off the duck fat (reserving it for roast potatoes). Drain the juices from the cavity and let the duck rest for 15 minutes. Carve the duck into portions and keep warm on a serving platter.

12. Wipe the porcini clean and cut into 5mm slices. Heat the roasting pan on top of the hob. Add the flour to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously.

13. Add the porcini and wine to the tray and cook until the porcini soften, around 5 minutes.

14. Spoon the porcini sauce over the duck portions and garnish with parsley. Serve with the gratin.

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Ingredients

1 oven-ready duck, (ideally Aylesbury), about 2.3 kg
1 lemon
1 small bunch Thyme
3 fresh bay leaves
1 tbsp Flour
400g fresh porcini mushroom
150ml Red wine, (ideally Chianti)
1 tbsp chopped parsley, to garnish

Root vegetable gratin

500g Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm-thick slices
500g Swede, peeled and cut into 5mm-thick slices
500g celeriac, peeled and cut into 5mm-thick slices
500g Parsnips, peeled and cut into 5mm-thick slices
550ml double cream
15g tarragon leaves
salt and pepper

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