Easy Duck a L'Orange
Yield
2-4
RECIPE Ingredients
- 1 quart fresh-squeezed orange juice
- 1 (12-ounce) jar bitter or sweet orange marmalade, or a combination of the two
- ½ cup honey
- 1 Rohan Duck, 5 to 6 pounds, giblets and excess fat removed and discarded, wing tips turned under
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 thin-skinned orange, washed and cut into thin slices
- ½ cup Cointreau or triple sec
Recipe notes
Here's an easy version of the classic duck a l'orange, which anyone can make at home. We've taken all the "fuss" out of the French duck recipe.
RECIPE Preparation
- Combine orange juice, marmalade, and honey in a bowl deep enough to hold duck. Add duck to marrinade and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight, turning duck once or twice if marinade doesn’t cover it.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Remove duck from marinade, reserving marinade. Prick duck skin all over with a fork (do not pierce the flesh), and season inside and out with salt and pepper. Place breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan and transfer to oven. After 10 minutes, turn heat down to 350°F and roast for 1 ½ hours. (It may also be cooked on a rotisserie for 1 ½ hours in a 350°F oven).
- Once duck has rendered some fat, spoon 2 tablespoons of it into a saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, add onion, and sauté until tender and light brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Sprinkle on flour and cook for 1 minute to lightly color, stirring occasionally. Pour in reserved marinade and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring up any browned bits. Adjust heat to medium and reduce liquid until thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Scrape sauce into an electric blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour through a strainer into a pan and set aside.
- When duck has roasted for 1 ½ hours, remove pan from oven and turn heat down to 325°F. Discard all but a little fat from roasting pan, and lay orange slices over bottom of pan. Return to oven and cook until slices begin to brown about 10 minutes. Remove orange slices and duck from pan, and let stand for 10 minutes while finishing sauce.
- On top of stove, pour Cointreau into roasting pan and carefully ignite, stirring up all browned particles. When flames subside, pour in reduced orange sauce and stir to blend. Keep warm.
- To serve for 2: Cut duck in half using sharp scissors or poultry shears. Remove backbone by cutting along one side and then the other, then cut along breastbone. For 4: Cut each half into breast and leg sections.
- Place each duck portion on a warm plate. Spoon a generous mound of rice next to it, lay orange slices around it, add watercress sprig, and ladle on sauce.
