Rosie's Alternative Christmas Dinner

I went to trusty Peckham Farmers Market in search of game for an alternative Christmas feast. I found pheasant, mallard, free-range chickens and brightly coloured chard, buffalo milk and the rest. The ducks resulted in this quick and unconventional Christmas dinner, full of festive orangey and gamey flavours. The duck should be rare and the couscous packed with bursting colours. And it won't take you all day either.

MOROCCAN ORANGEY DUCK WITH COUS COUS for four

2 mallards weighing about a kilo each
500ml water
4 plump Moroccan oranges
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp runny honey
2 tsp powdered bouillon chicken stock
lots of freshly ground pepper and salt

8 spring onions
300g medium cous cous
400ml bouillion vegetable stock
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
80g flaked almonds
1 pomegranate
1 lemon
lots of freshly ground pepper and salt

PUT THE BIRD IN THE OVEN

Whack the heat of your oven right up to 220C for about 20 minutes. Get out your birds and make sure they are neat and tidy. Place these in a baking tray, breast side down and add the water. Now place these in the piping oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the oranges with a sharp knife, removing all the pith and any pips. Whizz these up in a food processor so that you have a thick pulpy juice, and set this aside. In a small bowl, paste together the ground cumin and honey. This will be the bird's glaze. Remove the mallards from the oven, place them on a baking rack breast side up, and glaze with the honey mix, returning them to the oven over the initial baking tray, for a further 15 minutes. Any juices will be caught.

AND WHILE IT'S IN THERE...

While the birds are in their final lap, you can make the cous cous. Finely chop the spring onions and place them in a large and beautiful bowl (it expands a lot). Pour over the grains. Make your stock, adding some good quality extra virgin olive oil and then pour this over the cous cous. Cover the bowl tightly with cling film for five minutes and then fluff it up with a fork so that each grain becomes an individual. Get a dry frying pan over a low heat on the hob and toast the almonds.
They become pink and gold very quickly so don't be tempted to try and catch the end of the EastEnders special or you'll have cinders on your hands. When they start to colour, remove them to the cous cous bowl and fold in. Break open the pomegranate and pick all the seeds out, again straight into the cous cous bowl, being careful to remove any sour pith. Squeeze over the juice of a lemon and thoroughly season. By the time you've done this, your ducks should be rare but ready (like the French Magret breasts).

THEN THE FINAL FLOURISH...

Remove the birds from the oven to a chopping board and cover with foil. With the juices in the pan, you are going to make a tart orange sauce. Place the tray of juices on the hob and heat on a medium flame. When it's beginning to reduce add the orange pulp and a teaspoon of powdered chicken stock. Bring it to the boil giving it a good mix around and season. Decant this to a bowl and serve up this warm exotic dish.

FIND OUT MORE

Rosie Lovell runs Rosie's Deli Café, 14e Market Row, Brixton Market, London, SW9. Her first book, Spooning with Rosie will be published by Fourth Estate in May 2009, £14.99, ISBN978-0-00-728517-4

To view more of Rosie's recipe's and read about Rosie's Deli Café, visit her website here. To read Rosie's blog, click here.

Uploaded December 08