Thanksgiving with my mom offered a great opportunity to revisit a family fave holiday meal - roast duck with orange sauce. Turkey or ham were more common choices, but every once in a while we would have duck, and I would be pressed into service making the orange sauce - since I was the only one who had the patience to grate the orange zest, juice the oranges, and prepare the sauce without any lumps.
Last Christmas I had a similar opportunity, and it worked really well. So... Thanksgiving day supper was duck with orange sauce, wild rice, roasted root veggies, candied sweet potatoes, and steamed broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
The sweet potatoes and roasted veg were prepared in the morning and brought ready-to-reheat. I prepped the wild rice and steamed veg as the duck roasted. I cheated this year and only had time to prep the package of orange sauce that was provided in the bird's cavity - it was acceptable, not too sweet...
I stuffed the cavity of the duck with a couple orange wedges and thyme and rosemary from the garden. It was a really small cavity, despite the bird being almost 6 lbs. I pricked the skin to help drain the subcutaneous fat, a sprinkle of salt, and into a 375F oven for about 2 hours.
The wild rice was flavoured with sauteed garlics, shallots, and thyme, and took a good hour to simmer on the stovetop. The steamed veg only took a few minutes to prep, and started cooking just before the bird was removed from the oven to rest before carving. The sweet potatoes and roasted veg took a spin in the oven to reheat.
All came out really well, the duck was moist and tender, even if the skin wasn't quite as crispy as I usually like. My mom really enjoyed the holiday meal, and provided a bottle of wine to share over dinner too!
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