Rounding Out the Week with a Roast Duck

Start a day ahead.  Prepare the duck by removing the fat lobes on the inside of the duck, next to the thighs and clip off the tips of the wings.  Rinse the duck and dry with paper towels.  Season the duck inside and out with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and refrigerate overnight uncovered.


The next day, take the duck out about 30 minutes before cooking.  Pierce the skin all over with a fork.
Steam the duck for 40 minutes.  Depending on what you have, you can use a large wok or a roasting pan with a V rack.  With the wok, fill with 6-8 cups of water but not so much that it will boil into the duck.  Place an inverted heat-proof dish or rack in a wok.  Place duck into a rimmed dish, set on top of dish or rack, cover wok with lid to steam.   The roasting pan works in the same way with the V rack set inside it, water in the bottom of the pan, cover pan with foil wrap to steam.  In both cases, you should check water level as the duck steams to make sure the pan does not dry out.


6-8 Small shallots, peeled.  Or 3-4 large, peeled halved, etc.
8 oz King Trumpet mushrooms, halved or quartered
2 Cups cauliflower florets
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and cut into 2-3" pieces
4-6 Fresh sage leaves
3-4 Sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 450.  Once the duck is cool enough to handle, place it into a roasting pan.  Surround the duck with the shallots, potatoes, sage, thyme, salt and pepper.  Roast for 25 minutes.  Add in the cauliflower and mushrooms and use a spoon or spatula to mix them in with the potatoes, etc.  Spoon out any excess fat, leaving only about 2 tbsp in the pan.  Roast for another 30 minutes or so, until duck is golden brown and crispy.  Let the duck rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it.
How do we love duck, let us count the ways.  Veggies may have had a little too much duck fat.  Duck coma!