Duck with Pears
Duck with Pears
This recipe from The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden is a delicious Catalonian dish that has pleased our guests over the years.
Ingredients
- 1 duck (about 5 1/4 pounds)
- salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 12 blanched almonds
- 4 unripe pears, peeled, cut in half and cored
- 2 1/4 cups dry white wine
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 to 4 tbsp brandy
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the duck in a roasting pan. Rub it with salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil and prick the skin in a few places to allow the fat to run out. Turn it breast side down and roast in oven for 1 hour.
- Remove the duck from the roasting pan, pour out the fat (save the duck fat for other uses such as roasting potatoes), and add 1/2 cup water, then return the duck to the pan breast side up. Roast for another hour and 10 minutes or until the skin is nicely brown and juices run clear when you cut between a leg and the body.
- While the duck is roasting, put the almonds on a piece of foil on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside.
- Put the pears in a saucepan with the wine and simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 15 to 30 minutes, until tender; the time will depend on the type or pears and their ripeness. Watch that they do not fall apart. Remove from the heat.
- Saute the onion in the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide casserole, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the tomatoes, some salt and the sugar and cook, stirring every so often, over high heat for 8 minutes or until the sauce is jammy. Add the stock, thyme, and bay leaf, pour in the wine from the pears, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- When the duck is cooked, lift it out of the roasting pan and set aside to rest. Ladle off the fat from the cooking juices and add the juices to the sauce.
- Make a picada: Grind the toasted almonds and garlic cloves into a fine paste with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor, then mix in the brandy. Stir this into the sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Cut the duck into four pieces and put them into the sauce. Add the pears, heat through and serve.
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