Jono & Jules do food & wine

Ripped red pepper duck curry

The addition of fresh red peppers and cherry tomatoes gives this curry a really fresh and summery feel. Perfect for when you fancy something spicy on a warm evening. It is also equally at home as the nights draw in, like the moment in Dublin and you fancy an open fire to cosy up to.

Wine Suggestion: A good Gewürztraminer makes a surprisingly brilliant match for this dish with enough weight for the richness and texture and plenty of aromatics to compliment the flavours. Our choice this time was the excellent Cave de Turckheim’s Reserve Gewürz, an off-dry wine that balanced perfectly with the heat of the red curry paste.

Ripped Red Pepper Duck Curry – serves 4

• 4 duck legs
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 stick lemongrass, finely chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• vegetable oil
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced lengthway
• 5 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
• 3 tsp sugar
• juice of ½ a lime, plus wedges for serving
• 12 baby plum tomatoes
• a handful of Thai or regular basil
• red chilli and shallots, sliced finely to serve
• steamed rice, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/Gas 6.

Rub the duck legs with some salt and pepper, 1 tbsp of the fish sauce, lemongrass, crushed garlic and 2 tbsp of oil. Place in a roasting tin, cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and add the sliced red peppers to the tin, tossing them in a little of the duck fat. Turn up the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/Gas 7 and roast uncovered for another 15 minutes or until the duck skin has crisped and the pepper slices are blistered. Remove the peppers and keep to one side. Pull the duck meat and skin from the bones and keep to one side.

Simmer the bones in 500ml water for about 30 minutes to make a stock.

In a saucepan, fry the curry paste in the oil until darkened in colour. Stir in the coconut milk, then add the stock, fish sauce and sugar and simmer for about 20 minutes or until it has thickened slightly. Squeeze in the lime juice. Stir in the strips of pepper, baby plum tomatoes and the shredded duck – reserving some crispy-skinned pieces for serving – and gently simmer for about 3 minutes or until heated through.

Remove from the heat and stir in a small handful of basil leaves. Ladle into bowls, piling on top the reserved crispy duck, some extra basil and shredded chilli and shallots to taste. Serve with lime wedges and steamed rice.

(Original recipe by Alastair Hendy in BBC Olive Magazine, August, 2014.)