Important Bird: 5 duck dishes for New Year's Eve dinner
Text: Olga Antonova
Bird is one of the main dishes of the holiday table. However, the usual chicken for a dinner party seems boring, and the traditional for the American and European Christmas turkey in our latitudes rather unusual. A duck is more common in the markets and shops, but do not pass by - this is also an excellent choice. It is not only a matter of special taste: duck - an excellent source of protein, vitamins, beneficial fatty acids. Too lean on this meat in the New Year's Eve is not worth it: unlike turkey, there is a lot of fat in it and it is not easy to digest it. But a couple of pieces of fragrant, tender and juicy duck will please everyone who is not indifferent to meat. We offer five win-win dishes - from soup and salad to appetizers and main dishes.
Duck baked with honey and oranges
INGREDIENTS:
Cooking:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix the basil, ginger and salt and coat the inside and outside with the spicy mixture. Remove the pulp from the orange halves and spread evenly over the duck.
Place the duck in a deep pan and pour the water there.
In a small saucepan, mix honey, oil, lemon and orange juice and simmer on low heat until a liquid syrup is obtained.
Cover the duck with a small amount of sauce and place in the oven for thirty minutes, then turn the breast down, reduce the temperature to 150 degrees and bake for two - two and a half hours, periodically pouring honey mixture.
Ten minutes before readiness, turn the duck over again. Serve with leftover honey-orange sauce.
Vietnamese salad with duck
Cooking:
For dressing, mix lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chili, ginger and sesame oil in a small bowl. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.
Combine duck breast in deep dishes with fish sauce and ginger and leave for five minutes. Transfer the breast to a cold cast-iron skillet and fry over medium heat for six minutes, putting the fillet face-down. Turn the fillet over and fry for another thirty seconds, and then right in the pan, place in the oven for fifteen minutes.
Cool the duck breast slightly and thinly.
Prepare rice noodles, following the instructions on the package, and cool. Add shredded cabbage, finely chopped Bulgarian pepper, coarsely chopped carrots, bean sprouts, chopped green onions and cilantro to it.
Add the duck breast slices, mix thoroughly and season the salad. Serve with lime wedges.
Duck breast stewed with apples
INGREDIENTS:
Cooking:
Remove the breast meat from the bone, wash, dry with paper napkins and rub with salt.
Heat a dry frying pan and fry the breast for four minutes on each side, first putting the pieces skin-down. Then wrap the meat in foil and leave in a warm place.
Cut the apples into four pieces, remove the core and cut into small pieces. Extract the flesh from each orange slice and remove the stones. Fry the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a dry frying pan.
In a pan where the breast was cooked, fry the apples on high heat for three minutes, then add the orange pulp, pour in the wine a minute later, cook for another minute and stir in the flour mixture. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the sauce for four to five minutes, stirring constantly.
Take the duck breast out of the foil, cut into thin slices, put in the pan with the sauce and warm under the lid on low heat. This dish is well served with rice or other side dish to taste.
Duck goulash
INGREDIENTS:
Cooking:
Season the duck legs with salt and pepper and fry in sunflower oil until golden brown on both sides. Then remove them from the pan and boil the wine in it for five minutes or until it is approximately halved.
In a large saucepan, heat the sunflower oil and fry the chopped onion and garlic until soft, add diced carrots, peppers and celery. Fry for five minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the paprika and cumin, mix well, add the flour and continue cooking, stirring for another two or three minutes.
Add bay leaf, chicken broth, wine, diced tomatoes, chopped dried and fresh mushrooms, cayenne pepper and parsley to the pan. Mix well and add duck legs.
Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about an hour or until the duck is soft.
Remove the duck legs from the soup, separate the meat from the bones, coarsely chop and return to the pan. Add salt, if necessary, and serve with fresh parsley and sour cream.
Spicy dried duck
INGREDIENTS:
Cooking:
Wash rosemary and thyme. Finely chop the rosemary and leave a third in the form of whole twigs. Remove the leaves from a part of the thyme, and leave the other with a sprig. Pepper crush slightly.
In a bowl, mix sea salt, chopped rosemary, thyme leaves, half pepper, and brandy. Spread three cotton towels and divide the meat into three equal parts. On each towel, put on the sixth part of the whole spicy salt. Put the duck on the salt, top with salt and wrap tightly with a cloth, tie up with string and leave for thirty-six hours in the refrigerator
After two days, rinse all the salt from the duck under cold water. Wipe the meat dry, place on clean towels and rub with pepper. Place laurel leaves and sprigs of rosemary and thyme around the duck.
Wrap the meat tightly, tie it with string and put it in the refrigerator for ten or twelve days. By the New Year's Eve dinner, she most likely will not be ready, but here it is for Christmas or just a feast on holidays. Every few days, turn the meat to the other side. Serve, cut into thin slices.
Photo: Stanislav Samoylik - stock.adobe.com, vchornyy - stock.adobe.com, karelnoppe - stock.adobe.com, FomaA - stock.adobe.com (1, 2), O.B. - stock.adobe.com