Cuisse de Canard a la sauce de Cassis – duck legs with blackcurrant sauce

With the first cooler days of autumn creeping in I fancied a robust flavoured, meaty dish.  One of my favourite meat dishes is duck in any form or shape. I managed to get a stock of raw, frozen duck legs from Rougie in Sarlat and I created a recipe around them. I also have some beautiful fruit sauces made by Belberry at the shop, one is with blackcurrants. In this recipe I slow cooked the ducks’ legs in a red wine marinade then basted them with the blackcurrant sauce. This recipe can be prepared the day before serving, then the duck is reheated and basted prior to serving. I needed sweetish vegetables to accompany the dish so I chose baby carrots in honey and mashed potato mixed with puree of chestnuts.

Ingredients for 8 guests:

• 8 Rougie Ducks Legs raw, frozen, order in advance from the French market shop
• 1 bottle 250ml Belberry cassis sauce  from the French Market shop
• 1 bottle of Merlot
• 100 ml of Crème de Cassis
• 1 teaspoonful Herbes de Provence

Directions:

Prepare the marinade 24 hours prior to cooking:

1. Wash the ducks’ legs and remove any small chips of bone.
2. Pour the wine into a large, deep bowl
3. Add a teaspoonful of Herbes de Provence
4. Add the ducks legs and press down so that they are covered as much as possible by the wine
5. Leave to marinade for 24 hours turning occasionally
6. 24 hours later  – Preheat the oven to 150 C Degrees
7. Remove the ducks legs from the marinade and place them in an oven proof, deep casserole pot
8. Pour all the marinade over them
9. Cover with the lid and slowly cook in the oven for 150 minutes (2 ½ hours).
10. Remove from the oven and place the ducks on a dish, cover and place in fridge until required
11. Pour the cooking juice from the meat through a strainer into a bowl and allow to cool
12. Once cold remove the thick layer of fat from the cold meat juice.
13. Prior to serving, preheat the oven to 150C degrees.
14. Put the ducks legs in a wide baking tray or dish
15. Pour the Belberry  blackcurrant sauce over the duck legs and turn each piece so that they are well coated.
16. Place in the oven for about 20 – 30 minutes until hot. Baste regularly.
17. Sieve the cold meat juice which has jellified into a heavy based saucepan
18. Add the crème de cassis (Blackcurrant liqueur)
19. Add ¼ teaspoon salt.
20. Bring to the boil then gently simmer for about 20 minutes
21. Pour into a sauceboat and serve hot with the duck.

I suggest serving the duck with sweetish vegetables such as baby carrots cooked in butter and honey and mashed potato blended with puree of chestnuts.

I recommend serving  this beautifully flavoured dish with a good Merlot.

 Bon Appétit!