Top tips for your Easter Roast

Easter Weekend is an ideal opportunity to take a little more time over preparing and enjoying your meals with your family. Our whole ducks and duck crowns are perfect for smaller gatherings. Here are our top tips for Easter roasts –

If you are unable to ‘Dine out’ over the Easter weekend then you could ‘Dine in’ instead with a delicious duck meal. Our roast in the bag whole ducks and duck crowns make cooking a roast really simple, the film bag locks in all of the juices and flavour of the duck so the end result is a tender, succulent duck with a rich gamey flavour. Cut a hole in the top of the bag for the last 30 minutes to crisp up the skin.

A delicious rich gravy to serve with your roast duck. Make the stock while the bird is roasting by boiling the giblets in 1 1/2 pints of water with 1 onion sliced in half, 1 roughly chopped carrot, 1 stick celery, 1 bayleaf and 6 peppercorns. Strain and reserve the liquid. When you are ready to make the gravy skim off most of the fat from the roasting tin your meat has been cooking in (you can strain this and use for roast potatoes another time). Place the tin over a low to medium heat on the hob and add 1 knob of butter, sprinkle in 1 1/2 tbsp flour and mix well with a whisk. Bring up to a simmer then add 375ml red wine. Add the reserved stock, simmer and allow to reduce until you have the consistency you prefer. Season to taste. You can mix in a generous tablespoon of redcurrant jelly if you prefer it sweeter.

Roast potatoes are one of our favourite parts of the roast. First par boil your chopped and peeled potatoes (we recommend using Maris Pipers), drain and shake the potatoes to rough up the edges. Leave to air dry for a minute. Heat up a dish with 25g duck fat (or vegetable oil) in the oven, when the fat is hot place the potatoes in the dish and turn them so they are covered in the oil. Season with salt and white pepper, add 3 sprigs rosemary. Bake for 35-45 minutes until crisp and golden brown.

Happy Easter!