Celebrate good times, come on!

Is this roast duck a celebratory sight or what? There are three things I love about this recipe; one is that it’s so impressive, two is that it’s COMPLETELY delicious, and three is that it’s SO EASY, you won’t even believe it. The ratio of effort to reward here is so imbalanced, it almost makes me feel bad about taking credit when people rave over how delicious their dinner is. Almost.

This roast duck has a grand total of four ingredient, plus salt and pepper. And to cook it, you put it in the oven for 2 hours. Oh, you have to turn the temperature down after 20 minutes. But yeah, that’s it. It’s CRAZY, right? This gorgeous, juicy and tender and crispy ROAST DUCK, that tastes incredible, takes no effort at all. You stuff the duck with a sliced orange, rub it with chinese five spice, salt and pepper, and then roast it and serve it scattered with pomegranate seeds. BOOOM, let the accolades roll in.

Your options for what you serve this with are wide open – go traditional with some minted peas, roast potatoes and gravy, or go peking-style with some pancakes, scallions and cucumber, or go lighter, with a salad and some crusty bread. There’s no bad way to eat this, I’m telling you. This is my go-to fancy dinner. What’s your go-to fancy recipe? If you don’t have one, it should be this!

xx Sarah.

Five Spice Pomegranate Roast Duck

An original recipe by Sarah Coates for The Sugar Hit.

Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS

1 whole duck, approx 4 pounds/2 kilos

1 orange (or clementine or mandarin)

2 tsp chinese five spice

1 tsp each of salt and pepper

1 pomegranate

Preheat the oven to 400F/200c. Pat the duck dry with paper towels and score the skin on the breast of the duck in a cross hatch pattern. Slice the orange in half and place inside the cavity of the duck. Mix together the five spice, salt and pepper, and rub this mixture thoroughly over the whole duck. Place on a rack (I use a small metal cake rack) in a roasting tray. A lot of fat will come out of the duck as it roasts, so the rack is important. Place into the oven and roast for 20 minutes, before turning the heat down to 340F/170C and roasting for a further hour and 40 minutes. Let the duck rest for at least 15 minutes before transferring to a platter, and sprinkling with pomegranate seeds (I just cut the pomegranate and half and bash the seeds out straight onto the duck). Slice it up and serve with whatever you like (suggestions above).