A tangy and warming dish of Middle-Eastern and Persian flavours.
I’ve used an old favourite, pomegranate molasses, in this recipe along with a new one, dried limes. The flavour of both of these ingredients is so intense, it’s well worth hunting them out. I’ve recently found pomegranate molasses in my local supermarket so it is becoming more widely available, though you can easily find it online. I found dried limes in my local Asian grocer but you can also get them online.
Serve with toasted almond, coriander (use the leaves left from the stalks which went in the tagine) and caramelised onion couscous.
Serves 2
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients
2 duck legs
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small carrot, cut into little cubes
1 tbsp chopped coriander stalks
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 dried red chilli
1 tsp tomato puree
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
350 ml chicken stock
5 whole dried limes
Salt and pepper
100g spinach, washed and chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
- Sear the duck legs in a hot frying pan, skin side down for around 5 minutes, until the skin is brown. Turn and brown the other side for a few minutes.
- Transfer the duck legs to a casserole dish or tagine, if you have one.
- Discard all but a tablespoon of the fat from the duck legs. Turn down the heat and sweat the onions until soft and golden brown. Add the garlic and carrot. Cook gently until the garlic fumes dissipate and the carrot has softened slightly.
- Add the coriander stalks for a few seconds followed by the paprika, coriander, chilli and tomato purée. Stir for a few minutes to prevent them from burning. Pour in the pomegranate molasseses and chicken stock.
- Add the dried limes, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes before pouring over the duck legs.
- Cover with a sheet of greaseproof and cook in the oven for 1 and 3/4 hours.
- Remove from the oven and stir through the spinach to wilt it.