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Photo: Duck legs with mango sauce

“What are you doing? I thought we were having plums with the duck.”
Danny’s eyes flicked across the green mango skins on the chopping board.

I had planned to make a duck leg version of our duck breasts in a fresh plum sauce  but have overdosed on plums recently. So when I spotted a pile of mangoes in the fridge – waiting to be turned into Mango Chutney I decided to make a little less chutney and use a plump mango as the fruit base for this recipe.

I’m pleased that I did. This recipe is really easy and tastes superb – don’t skip liquidising the sauce at the end as it produces a lovely silky sauce that looks as good as it tastes.

And with all our vegetables fresh from the garden it was a real feast. The duck legs and mango were half price so we ate a treat meal for under £3.00.

Duck legs with mango sauce on a bed of saffron rice recipe for 2
Ingredients:
Two duck legs
One plump mango – ours weighed 400g
3-4 tsp of fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp of white wine (optional)
Half a tsp of garlic granules
1 tsp of ground ginger
5 allspice berries
Seasoning to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 200c (180c fan).
Peel the mango and chop roughly. Place the mango in the bottom of the dish with the lemon juice, garlic granules, ginger powder and white wine.
Place the duck legs on top of this mixture and push them down. The legs need to be islands in a sea of mango and wine.
Cook the duck in a lidded pan for 45 minutes then remove the lid, turn down the temperature to 180c (160c fan) for a further 30 minutes. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes as you prepare your sauce and vegetables.
Remove the duck to a warm place whilst you liquidise the sauce – it takes seconds with a hand blender.
Reduce the sauce by simmering on the hob and seasoning to taste.
Pour the sauce over the portions of duck and serve with saffron rice and lots of fresh vegetables.
Saffron rice recipe (for 2-3)
Ingredients:
Chicken or duck stock (or a stock cube at a pinch)
100g of basmati rice
Large pinch of saffron
A saucepan of boiling water to cover the rice by at least an inch
Method:
Rinse the rice under cold water and bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the stock cube, rice and a large pinch of saffron. Bring to the boil and simmer the rice following the timings on the pack – our Basmati rice takes about 12 minutes.