Duck carnitas with roasted cherries

Posted by petra08 on June 28, 2015 · 17 Comments 

Carnitas means little meats in the Mexican cuisine. It is pork cooked low and slow until it is super, falling apart tender. I didn’t have any pork at home so I decided to use two duck legs I had in the fridge. Two duck legs is not enough for dinner for M and myself, he can easily eat three on his own so I was thinking what I could make that would be substantial enough and I thought why not making carnitas, or “duck cooked like pork carnitas”. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.

 

I started by doing a dry spice rub.

 

Duck carnitas spice rub

preparation time 5 minutes 

cooking time 0 minutes

serves 4 

Ingredients

• 1 heaped tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp sweet paprika powder
• 1/4 cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 chipotle chile, chopped

Place the sea salt and the chipotle chile in a blender and blend until quite smooth and mix with the other spices.

 

 

Rub the duck legs with the spice mix. Leave to infuse for a few hours.

 

 

Duck carnitas 

preparation time 10 minutes 

cooking time 2 hours + 15 minutes 

oven 160C 0r 320F

serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 duck legs, infused with the spice mix
• 500 ml or 2 1/2 cup coca cola
• 4 dl chicken stock
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp oil

For the reduction

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• the remaining minced garlic
• salt to taste

Chop the carrot, onion, and celery stalks fine. Take the spice infused duck legs and pan fry them brown all around in hot oil.

 

 

Add the remaining spice mix to the pan, the vegetables, the chicken stock, half of the minced garlic and add the coca cola. Bring everything to a boil and place it in the oven for one and a half hour. Roast the cherries in the oven with the duck for an hour.

The duck is cooked when the meat falls off the bones. Remove it from the oven and place it on the cooker with the soy sauce, the rice wine and the remaining minced garlic and bring to a boil, taste with salt. Reduce the juice until it is slightly thick and sticky.

 

M picked a courgette from the allotment. I brought the bulgur wheat to a boil in chicken stock and let it boil for a few minutes. I cut up the courgette and added it to the bulgur wheat when I turned the heat off and let it stand with the lid on for ten minutes. I cut up half a mango and one tomato to mix in along with parsley and dill from the veg patch.

 

 

 

 

I served it with mango and veg studded bulgur wheat and roasted cherries and coleslaw.

 

 

 

 

I am bringing a plate full of my “duck carnitas” to Angies Fiesta Friday. There is no better foodie party around so if you have cooked come and join us and if you want to just get inspired have a browse around here. This week Angie’s two co hosts are Caroline, Caroline’s Cooking who has brought us a lovely looking stuffed pork tenderloin, and the lovely Loretta, Safari of the Mind, who in every blog takes us on a delicious foodie journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed under Allotment/Veg, Broad beans, Bulgur Wheat, Carrot, Celery, Cherries, Chilli, Courgette, Duck, Fruit, Garlic, Herbs, Main course, Mango, Meat, Onion, Recipe, Tomatoes · Tagged with Carnitas, duck carnitas, roasted cherries