Roasted duck stew with black eyed peas
So change it up!
How? Try a different vegetable or different meat.
Try making you usual chicken stew with another kind of fowl. A roasted duck is a nice occasional change from same old same old.
Duck is similar in flavor to other poultry, but has a consistency closer to dark turkey meat. With a duck, all of the meat is dark. It is also a bit fattier than other poultry since it is waterfowl and needs the extra fat to stay warm in cold water.
We are now raising our own ducks, but this stew was made with a supermarket duck.
Roasted Duck Stew
- 3 cups diced/shredded roasted duck
- 1/2 cup frozen green peas
- 1/2 cup black eyed peas
- 8 celery stalks sliced
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- Half cup diced onion
- 5 medium carrots sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
- Black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
To start, your probably need to cook a duck since pre-cooked duck meat is not something most people have sitting around.
Prepare your duck for roasting
Remove neck and giblets. Rinse duck in cold water inside and out. Trim excess neck fat if you like.
Place duck breast side down in roasting pan with the fat flap folded underneath (if you didn’t trim it off). Gently rub bird with optional salt and pepper.
Turn oven to 420°F. Roast duck breast side down, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Then turn heat down to 350° and continue roasting for one hour. Turn temp down again to 300° and continue roasting for one hour 15 minutes. Excess liquid should evaporate on its own.
Bone your duck and set meat aside. Set aside the rendered fat as well. Place your carcass in a crock-pot and cover with water until the carcass is completely covered. You can add the skin and leftover fat drippings if you like, but this will make a very fatty stock which not everyone prefers. Cover the slow cooker and allow to lightly simmer for at least 12 hours. (I just do it over night.)
Pull your duck fat from the fridge and add a tablespoon to a soup pot on medium heat.
Chop your celery, onion, garlic, and carrots, and add them to the fat. Saute until onion begins to slightly caramelize.
Remove carcass from slow cooker and strain out bones and debris. Pour your duck stock into your soup pot with the veggies. Turn on low heat.
Continue to simmer for an hour, then add black eyed peas and green peas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Some fresh thyme goes nicely too.
Duck makes a rich stew even with a simple recipe.
Simmer for another hour and then it is ready to serve. Obviously, you can substitute some other vegetables and add more herbs. Rosemary goes well with duck. And I think wild rice is fabulous in a duck stew. It comes out very earthy tasting.
