Savory Roast Duck Crepes with Arugula & Stawberry Plum Sauce

Good morning my little sugar bottoms! I have a question for you...

Do you know how to roast a bird?

The usual suspects are turkey or chicken. Simple, traditional, tasty. Chances are your mother or grandmother or someone in the family taught you. Or you can at least remember chowin down on one of these fine creatures on Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter (assuming you celebrate one or all of these colonial & Christian holidays) or in the case of my family, while camping. Yes, my mother required her camping oven be large enough to fit a full turkey. We really roughed it growing up.

But did you know you can roast duck the same way?  It's a little more work, but not by much. 

I was talking to John the other day and we were both commenting on how easy roasting a duck is but no one seems to do it. No one we know, anyway. It's just not in our cultural repertoire. That being said, there's no reason not to start! 

Now, don't let the cuteness of the little Quack Quacks fool you - their meat is sweet, earthy, moist, and so succulently worth it. Plus you end up with a jar full of duck fat! You think bacon is good, well my friend, duck fat makes everything better. Mmmmmm, duck fat. There's a reason my pants don't fit me anymore. 

FYI: The meat on a duck is limited and one duck typically feeds two very hungry people or three muchie people. Try to find one that's been able to roam and eat what it would naturally and organically - find a happy duck! And then eat him! ...well, maybe kill & cook him first. It's the humanly thing to do.

Savory Roast Duck Crepes with Arugula & Strawberry Plum Sauce

(printable recipe)

Ingredients for Crepes:

2 C Whole Milk.

4 Large Free-Range Organic Eggs, room temperature.

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature.

1 1/2 C Flour.

1 Tsp Sea Salt.

Ingredients for Sauce:

2 C Frozen Strawberries, thawed & drained.

3-4 Plums, pitted (mine were frozen, I thawed & drained them as well).

Zest & Juice of 1 Blood Orange.

2 Tbsp Local Organic Honey.

2 Tbsp Balsamic Reduction.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

Other Ingredients:

1 Whole Duck.

1/2 Onion, chopped.

3 Garlic Cloves, peeled & smashed.

1/2 Orange, cut into 2 or 3 pieces.

Kosher Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.

Fresh Arugula, for topping.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F.

Meanwhile, remove any giblets inside the duck, rinse well and pat dry with paper towels. Make sure to remove any remaining quills that may have been left behind and cut off any extra flaps of fat. Throw the "other ingredient" onion, garlic and orange inside the duck cavity and season very well with salt and pepper. Lift the little guy up by his legs and shake it around. Now tie the legs together nice and tight with some string (it's called "trussing") and tuck his little arms back underneath him - kind of like if you were to walk up behind someone and try to break their arms.

Place the duck on a wire rack in a large roasting/baking pan. At an angle, gently slice through the skin of the duck to ensure the fat will cook/leak off during the cooking process so you end up with crispy skin. Careful not to cut the meat though - only the fat! 

Using a smaller knife, prick the little guy all over to increase fat drippage. Again, focus on hitting the fat, not the meat. Season the outside with salt and pepper, front and back. Place the duck breast side up on the rack and place in oven. 

Cook 1 hour. Re-prick with small knife. Flip onto the other side. Repeat this step 3 times for a total cooking time of 4 hours.

Turn the heat in the oven up to 400 degrees and cook for a further 15-20 minutes.

By now the skin should be super crispy. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 15 minutes. Then, peel off the skin and meat, reserve, while tossing the bones, stuffed vegetables, etc... Voila! Duck! 

Be careful when cooking duck - they are uber fatty! You can wait for the fat to cool before you dispose of it or you can let it cool slightly, pour it in a jar and stick it in the back of your fridge for roasting potatoes, etc... It's to die for!

For a photo tutorial of this process, click here.

Now, as the duck reaches it's final 40 minutes or so of cooking, you can make the crepes and sauce.

For the sauce, throw everything into a food processor. Blend till smooth. Taste. Add more of whatever you feel is necessary.

For the crepes, add the wet to the wet, the dry to the dry, then combine. Whisk well until batter is smooth & consistent. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat, lightly grease with non-stick spray or butter and drop about 1/3rd a cup or so of the batter into the pan. Swivel the pan in a circular motion to coat the bottom with the batter evenly. Place back on the burner, cook about 1 min or until lightly golden on the bottom and rather solid on top, gently flip, and cook on the other side for about another 30 seconds or so. Remove from the pan, place in a covered baking dish and keep warm until serving.

To serve: take a crepe, chuck on some duck, some arugula, some sauce - roll.

Eat.

This post is linked up with This Chick Cooks; Cast Party Wednesday; Full Plate Thursday; Simple Lives Thursday; Tastetastic Thursday; Fresh Bites Friday; Fight Back Friday; Seasonal Inspiration Saturday; Seasonal Celebration Sunday; Tasty Tuesdays; Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; Tuesday Talent Show; The Hearth & Soul Blog Hop via Premeditated Leftovers.