Apricot Duck – Worth a Re-view

This time I had 2 duck legs and decided to invent a dish that I have called Apricot Duck.  Inspirational name, isn't it?

To prepare the duck legs I took them out of the fridge and let them rest on the bench to come up towards room temperature for half an hour or so.  Then I took my sharpest knife (and it does need to be sharp) and slashed the skin of each duck leg so that there were intersecting diagonal lines – a bit like you do when you are preparing a ham for glazing.

I rubbed some salt, freshly ground Sichuan pepper and white pepper into each skin side of the leg as well as some oil.  You could use black pepper but we like the tang you get from Sichuan pepper.

Heat a pan until it is just about smoking and then fry the skin side of the duck until it is quite golden and crispy.  Don't be afraid to really give it a sizzle – I pressed down on each leg with a wooden spoon as well to help it colour up.  Don't flip the duck over onto the other side. Just do the skin side.

While this is happening heat your oven up to a moderate heat, put the duck legs into a roasting dish which has in the bottom of it a little chicken stock, brandy, chopped dried apricots and a little splosh of chilli sauce.  I didn't put the duck on a rack but let it sit in the liquid.  Don't let the liquid go over the skin side though or you'll lose that lovely crispiness you created in the pan.

Cover it all with foil and bake for about 45 minutes and then enjoy!