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4 as a main
A very elegant recipe, with mouth watering flavours. These delicious duck legs can be made ahead of time and frozen until required.
4 Luv-a-Duck duck legs
1 medium onion, chopped
2 rashers bacon, chopped
100g pistachio nuts, shelled
100g slivered almonds, toasted
100g dried figs, chopped (or fresh if available)
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1/2 tbsp sage, chopped
1/2 tbsp thyme, chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
250g chicken or veal mince
1 egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
300ml shiraz
50gm brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup cranberry juice
2 cups cooked spinach to serve
1 tsp duck fat
In a food processor mix the mince, egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, herbs, almonds and pistachio nuts until just combined.
In a fry pan cook off the onion, garlic and bacon until fragrant, set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl combine the mince, onion mix and figs and season to taste
Lay the duck legs out flat and spoon some of the mixture down the middle of the meat side, roll up to encase the filling and tie off both ends with butchers string.
Heat a frypan with a little duck fat and gently seal off the duck legs until golden brown, place onto an oven tray and cook at 180C for 25 mins. When cooked remove from oven and allow to rest for a few minutes.
As the duck is cooking, using a heavy based saucepan simmer the wine, sugar, honey and cranberry sauce until reduced by half, do not let the sauce boil as it will burn. Strain through a fine strainer to remove any impurities.
Heat spinach leaves in a little duck fat, season to taste and place on a large white dinner plate.
Cut the duck leg in half on the angle to expose the colourful filling and stand them up on each other, and drizzle some of the shiraz sauce around the outside of the plate and serve.