Roast Duck

Salt and pepper the duck and roast in an oven at for 30 minutes at 450°F/220°C/Reg8. Drop the oven to 400°F/200°C/Reg6 and cook for a further 90 minutes. After one hour of cooking take out the oven and pour off the fat.  Picture  

Remove the duck from the pan and cut the duck into four joints - two leg and breast, two wing and breast. Discard the rest of the carcass. Keep the duck warm in a low oven.  Picture  

Keep the cooking pan off the heat, spoon off any excess duck fat leaving around two tablespoonfuls. Add a tablespoonful of flour and stir in with a wooden spoon until smoothly combined.

Put the pan back over a low/medium heat. Add the red wine and cointreau and reduce a for a few minutes stirring all the time. Slowly pour on around ¾ of the stock stirring all the time. Season with salt and pepper, more cointreau, and/or little more stock to taste. Keep warm.

Prepare the vegetables to accompany the duck: sweet potatoes  Recipe  , potatoes with rosemary and garlic  Recipe  , and peas simmered barely covered with a little water and a tablespoonful of butter, and mangetout cooked in a boiling water for about three minutes and then drained.

Cut the peel and pith off the oranges with a serrated knife, use a corer to remove the middle and cut into slices. Put a little butter in a warmed dish, add the orange slices, sprinkle over a little brown sugar and put under a hot grill for two or three minutes.  Picture  

Put the duck pieces on to serving plates, pour on a little sauce and server, add the carmelized oranges, and add the remainder of the accompaniments.