An indulgent crispy duck, cocktails and mocktails for Easter

Easter weekend is all about feasting. What will you serve your guests or family?

From egg hunts to traditional feasts and religious observances, there is no shortage of ways to mark this special occasion.

For those staying at home or hosting guests, Chef Emmanuel Aluda from Park Inn by Radisson recommends you prepare a special dinner; pork should be a must-have on your menu.

Here are food and drinks recipes from top chefs and a mixologist.

1. Crispy roast duck with whisky marmalade sauce

Recipe by Chef Wayne Walkinshaw, executive chef, Radisson Blu Upper Hill

Ingredients

-1 whole duck

-1,000 ml fresh chicken stock

-2 x 450g all gold Seville marmalade

-60ml whisky

-Salt & pepper

-1 orange cut in half

-10 sprigs fresh thyme

-Tinfoil

-Baking tray

Method

-Set oven at 180 degrees

-Make sure the duck is dry, season the duck with salt (also sprinkle salt into the duck cavity)

-Take the thyme and 2 orange halves and stuff it into the duck cavity

-Move the duck to roasting pan

-Cover with tinfoil (shiny side facing inwards) crimp the foil tight around the baking tray edges to ensue that it is properly sealed

-Place in oven (covered with foil) for 80 to 120 minutes

-Check the duck after 80 minutes of being in the oven… if you can pull the legs away from the body with ease then the duck is cooked.

-Remove foil, leave duck in pan to cool

Sauce

-Pour chicken stock together with marmalade in a sauce pan

-Let it boil for 20 to 30 min

-Pour in whisky while pan is still on the heat, it will sort of foam/bubble up when the whisky hits the sauce, give it a bit of a stir and let it simmer, remove from heat, set aside to cool. Sauce will thicken more when cooled

Back to the duck

-When duck has cooled enough to handle, remove from roasting pan onto cutting board.

-Break the skin between the body and thigh with a knife, move your hand down the thigh of the duck to where it joins the back, push up with your 4 fingers, while pulling the leg part down with your thumb this should give you a nice whole intact duck leg.

-You should be left with 2 breasts still on the carcass remove the breast (boneless) discard bones or use to make stock, soup, terrines etc.

-Place your duck portions skin side up on a baking try, spring with some Maldon salt (or table salt)

-Re-heat marmalade sauce

-Place duck under grill (leave oven door open) and grill till duck skin is nice and brown

To serve

-Serve with roasted garlic mash, charred baby marrow, marmalade sauce and marrow bone.

Cocktails and mocktails to serve

Cocktails and mocktail drinks are perfect additions to any Easter gathering.

Kelvin Thairu, a mixologist and bar manager at Tribe Hotels says there are endless possibilities to explore in the world of mocktails and cocktails.

When choosing a cocktail or mocktail, pick a recipe that is suitable for all ages and has a light, sweet, and refreshing taste with floral notes.

“For children mocktails, use ingredients like honey instead of sugar and add fruits like raspberries and blueberries. Finish it off with a splash of sparkling water or soda water to give it a refreshing twist,” he says.

You can also order your cocktails or mocktails from your favourite bar or hotel, a trend that has stuck since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Due to the pandemic-related restrictions, hotels had to adapt and develop a new way of serving guests through batched cocktails. Customers could order drinks and have them delivered in bottles. While this delivery service is no longer available, the batched cocktails themselves remain on our menu,” Mr Thairu says.

You can also hire a mixologist for your Easter party.

The mixologist should discuss with the chef the flavours of the food to come up with something that pairs well.

How can you know you have hired the right mixologist?

“We have many mixologists, so before hiring one consult,” Mr Thairu says.

When hosting, pick a welcoming drink that is light.

“I always recommend Spritzers because they have low alcohol by volume (ABV) they are drinkable by everyone or serve Champagne. And for the children, serve a drink with cucumber water, pineapple basil, and mint with a top-up of soda water,” he says.

1. Raspberry fizz cocktail

Recipe by Kelvin Thairu, a bar manager at Tribe Hotels

Ingredients

-8 pieces of Raspberries

-30ml of sugar

-20ml of lemon juice,

-45ml of preferred gin

-1 Egg white

-Soda water

Note; Egg white to give it a texture and a nice mouth-feel of the cocktail.

Method

-In a shaker, add all the ingredients then shake with the ice

-Strain into a glass with a couple of ice blocks

-Stir and garnish with a dry lemon.

2. Hibiscus cooler mocktail

Ingredients

-Hibiscus tea

-Simple syrup

-Lemon juice is shaken and served in a whisky glass

Method

-Fill the glass with ice. Fill halfway with hibiscus tea. Top each with about a tablespoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of the honey simple syrup, and stir to combine. -Adjust to taste by using less lime juice or more simple syrup—totally up to you!→[email protected]