Roast Duck - The Series (Roast Duck Hash)

I was scrolling through my photo stream and realized that I didn't do a post on the first meal I made the morning after my roast duck dinner.  The leftover bits of crispy duck skin, brussel sprouts and three types of roasted fingerling potatoes made a beautiful looking hash.

In case you missed Roast Duck - The Series (Crispy Skin Roast Duck with Brussel Sprouts and New Potatoes), I used a mix of fingerling potatoes  (baby yukon, red and purple peruvian).  I especially love the nutty flavor and vibrant color of the peruvian potatoes.

Roast Duck Hash
1/4 cup roast duck meat and skin, finely chopped
1/2 cup roasted potatoes, smashed and mashed
1/4 cup roasted brussel sprouts, chiffonade (finely cut into thin strips)
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp crispy fried shallots, crumbled
1/2 tbsp flour or cornstarch
1/2 tsp duck fat
salt and pepper, to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine duck, potatoes, brussel sprouts, onion and fried shallots.  Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle in flour/cornstarch and mix.  Make sure the flour/cornstarch is fully incorporated into the mixture.  The flour/cornstarch gives the hash that crispy finish.
In a cast-iron pan or a heavy bottomed frying pan, heat up the duck fat for 15 seconds.  Add the hash mixture.  Cook and stir for about 15 seconds.  Spread and press the hash mixture evenly down on the pan.  Cook over low-med heat until the bottom is crispy, about 10-15 minutes.  With a spatula, divide the hash mixture into quarters and flip each piece over, trying not to break it any further.   Press down and cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until the other side is brown and crispy.
Serve with eggs cooked however which way you like.  I personally prefer poached or over easy.

Roast Duck - The Series (Duck Shepherd's Pie)

Duck Shepherd's Pie

The rest of the meat from my roast duck went into this next meal.  I minced up the duck meat and used a cup of duck stock to make this super filling and comforting shepherd's pie.  It is a little twist on the traditional shepherd's pie made with lamb.  I mixed up the minced duck meat with ground lamb.  A shepherd and a duck farmer walked into a bar...

Duck Shepherd's Pie with Parmesan Potato Crust

1 1/2 lbs potatoes

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup half & half

1/2 tsp sea salt

5 shallots, minced
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 cups minced duck meat (or as much as you have left), leftover from Roast Duck recipe
1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
2 cups Duck Stock
2 tbsp flour or cornstarch
3 tsp thyme
5 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups frozen peas
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 tsp sea salt

I like to leave the skin on my mashed potatoes.  Skin them if you prefer your taters naked.  Cut up the potatoes so that they cook faster.  Put cut up potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Cover pot with lid and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, uncover and bring down to a simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are nice and tender.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the meat filling.  In a large saute pan, saute the shallots in the vegetable oil over medium heat until translucent.  Add ground lamb, garlic powder, thyme, flour or cornstarch and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir until half the lamb is cooked, about 5 minutes.  Add duck meat and tomato paste.  Stir well to incorporate into lamb mixture.  Add duck stock.    Simmer over low heat for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Once the lamb meat is completely cooked through, taste the filling mixture and add salt & pepper to taste.  Remember, the parmesan that will be added to the potato crust will also add saltiness to the dish.  Mix in the frozen peas.
Once the potatoes are cooked, turn off the heat and drain.  Add half & half, butter and about half of the grated parmesan to the potatoes and mash it all together.  Taste the mashed potatoes.  Add more salt if needed, but remember that the rest of the parmesan will be sprinkled on top of the crust, making the potatoes more salty.
Pour the meat filling into an 11x7 inch baking dish and spread evenly.  Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the meat filling.  Sprinkle the rest of the grated parmesan over the top of the potatoes.  Place the dish on a baking sheet in the oven.  The baking sheet is for in case the gravy from your pie bubbles over while baking.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top starts turning golden brown.  Let rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Roast Duck - The Series (Duck Stock)

The neck, feet, wing tips and carcass left over from the roast duck made a wonderfully rich stock.  That one bird produced multiple meals.

Duck Stock

In a large stock pot, I sauteed the duck parts, 1 stalk of diced celery and 2 minced shallots in a bit of duck fat.   Once the duck parts started to brown, I filled the pot up with water and turned the heat up to high.  Once everything came to a boil, I turned the heat down to a low simmer.  Leaving the pot cover slightly propped up, I let the duck stock simmer away for at least 5 hours.  I always wait until the stock is done simmering to add salt.  You don't want too much of the liquids to simmer away and end up with salt water.  Sure, you can add more water, but in diluting the salt you would be diluting away all the other flavors as well.  Better to taste and salt at the end.

I enjoyed duck egg noodle soup the next day and froze the rest in 2 cup portions. I now have duck stock to flavor my risotto, mashed potatoes, duck shepherd's pie etc.

Roast Duck - The Series (Crispy Skin Roast Duck with New Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts)

I picked up a young duckling from the frozen meats section at 99 Ranch.  Yes, that's right.  Roast duck.  It's an entire series.  It's so much more than just roast duck.  I rendered and saved the duck fat.  Duck fat brussel sprouts and new potatoes.  Duck stock.  Duck spring rolls.  I got my money's worth out of that one bird.  The skin was crispy.  The meat was juicy and succulent.  I was glad I didn't over complicate the seasoning.  The flavor of the duck really stood on its own.

Crispy Skin Roast Duck w/ brussel sprouts and assorted new potatoes

First, let's start with the duck itself.  I bought a 19" roasting pan and was excited to use it.  Unfortunately, it was too big for my freakishly small oven.  So I positioned the roasting rack on top of a baking sheet instead.

Crispy Skin Roast Duck with new potatoes and brussel sprouts

1 1/2 lb whole duck 

salt

pepper

*new potatoes

*brussel sprouts (about the diameter of a quarter or cut in half if larger)

After I tore off the plastic packing that the duck came in, I discovered that I literally had a whole duck.  

With the feet and head still attached.

For those who feel uncomfortable with the fact that the animals we eat once came with a head, I'll spare you the pictures of the dismemberment and beheading.

I clumsily cut off the wing tips, feet, neck and head.  I saved them for the duck stock, which I'll get to in another installment of "Roast Duck - The Series." I also set aside the liver, heart and kidneys that were inside the cavity of the duck.  I later sauteed the offal with some salt, pepper, shallots, duck fat and balsamic vinegar for a little snack while the duck was roasting.

I scrubbed the duck all over with salt and rinsed it all off.  I then thoroughly dried off the duck with paper towels.  I preheated the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.  Like I said, my oven is freakishly tiny.  So if you have a normal sized oven, preheat to 325 Fahrenheit.

Part 1 of the secret to getting crispy skin and juicy meat is to carefully make little slits all over the skin of the duck without piercing the flesh.

Since I was going to render the duck fat, I simply seasoned the duck by sprinkling salt and pepper inside the cavity of the duck.  With butcher's twine, I tied the legs together and the wings close to the body.

I popped the duck into my tiny, preheated oven.  Part 2 of the secret to crispy skin and juicy, succulent meat is to roast the bird in low temperatures for 3 1/2 hours, flipping the bird over every 20 minutes.

Like I said, I was rendering the duck fat and roasting the bird in a baking sheet.  Every time I took the bird out of the oven to flip it over, I also used a baster to remove the duck fat and strain into a ceramic bowl.

*With 1 hour of roasting time left, I threw some new potatoes into the baking sheet underneath the roasting rack and rolled them around to cover them with the drippings.  I rolled them around some more each time I flipped the duck over.

*With 40 minutes of roasting time left, I threw the brussel sprouts in with the potatoes.  I turned them over during the final duck flip.

Part 3 of the secret is to let the bird rest 15 minutes before carving.