Roast duck salad (ördek salatasi)

I cannot cook a chicken or a duck with their bottoms intact. I have to remove these first because I think all the toxins build up in this place. I know some think the "parson’s nose" is delicious, so if you want to keep it and eat it, go for it. The world is your oyster and I won’t see it.

Roast duck salad (ördek salatasi) Credit: Sevtap Yuce

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  1:30 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 duck, weighing about 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz), tail removed
• 1 beetroot (beet), scrubbed but not peeled
• 150 g (5½ oz/1 cup) pumpkin (winter squash), peeled and cubed
• 175 g (6 oz/1 cup) fine burghul (bulgur wheat)
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 red chillies, finely diced
• 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) pomegranate molasses
• 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 20 g (¾ oz/1 cup) mint leaves
• 30 g (1 oz/1 cup) coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 60 g (2 oz/½ cup) dukkah

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Rub sea salt over the duck and place it in a roasting dish, breast side down.

Wrap the beetroot in foil, then place on a non-stick baking tray with the pumpkin. Transfer the duck and vegetables to the oven and bake for 45 minutes, checking the beetroot and pumpkin and removing them from the oven when they are just cooked, and setting them aside to cool.

After the duck has been roasting for 45 minutes, turn it over and bake for a further 45 minutes, or until cooked. (You will know it’s cooked if you poke the fattest bit with a skewer and the juice runs clear.)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, put the burghul in a small saucepan with 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes, or until just tender. Drain well and set aside.

Rub or peel off the skin from the roasted beetroot. Cut the beetroot into cubes and place in a large bowl with the roasted pumpkin and the burghul. Add the onion, chilli, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, mint, coriander and dukkah. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, mix together and set aside.

Once the duck has cooled, remove all the skin, then tear or cut the skin into small pieces and set aside. Pull off all the meat, tear into bite-sized pieces and fold the meat through the salad.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Fry the duck skin for 5–6 minutes, until nice and crispy. Sprinkle the crispy duck skin on top of the salad and serve immediately.

Recipe and image from Turkish Meze, Sevtap Yuce (Hardie Grant Books, $39.95, hbk)

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.