My friend Tracy was astonished to see me using marmalade in recipes. I use marmalade in marinades and various sauces for meats aswell as adding to various cake and dessert recipes, it really brings out a great tangy flavour I love. So for Tracy it was a lesson that marmalade is more than just for the toast in the morning!

One of my favourites is Marmalade Duck, I remember like yesterday the very first time I tried this when my grandmother cooked it for me. I was at that age where I fed the ducks but didn’t want to think I was eatting them too. But being brought up on a farm meant it didn’t take long before I appreciated everymeal laid before me, and that everything on the farm from the land be it, crop or meat, eventually would be taken to market or eatten. This dish was divine and I in turn have made it many times for my family and today I was cooking for my dear friend Tracy.

For this scrumptious of dishes your are going to need: a duck cut into 6 or 4 large duck legs (so talk to your local butcher), 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 tblsp groundnut oil, 3 medium onions, 100g fresh ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 heaped tablsp flour, 1.5ltr stock, 3 tblsp rice wine (dry sherry or even vermouth), 4 star anise, 100g dried apricots, juice of 1 lemon and 4 tblsp quality marmalade (homemade if possible).

Start by preheating youroven to gas 4 or 180 c. Rub the pieces of duck all over with the sea salt. Warm the oil in a deep heavy pan or cast iron pan and lower the duck legs or pieces in to brown (be careful they will spit at you!). Turn them using tongues and brown the other side too. Lift them out and set aside on a plate. Peel the onions and slice, then stir into your casserole dish and leave to soften stirring occasionally. Peel the ginger and cut into matchsticks and stir in with the onion. Flatten the garlic cloves, remove the skin and put the flesh in to the casserole dish with the onions and ginger. When the onion is soft sprinkle with the flour then pour in the stock and stir throughly while bringing to the boil. Return the duck to the casserole dish and pour in the rice wine (sherry or vermouth), the star anise and dried apricots and leave to bubble for 15 minutes then cover with a lid and place in the oven. After 35 minutes remove and stir in 3 tblsp of marmalade and return to the oven without the lid. After a further 30 minutes of cooking lift the duck out and cover again with the lid. Leave this to cool a little as any fat will come to the surface so you can ladle this off. Check your sauce for seasoning and add the remaining marmalade and juice of a lemon. Now bring the sauce back to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes then return your duck peices to the sauce bringing it back to the boil before serving with a rich mash of potato and sweet potato.

Look at my previous blog confit away other duck recipes can be found in my previous blog walking recipe encore

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