Chez Allard’s Roast Duck with Olives

By corlear

Canard aux Olives
Chez Allard

Chez Allard, one of Paris’ longtime popular bistros, has had this dish on the menu for decades. The recipe comes from the notebooks of Marthe Allard, the restaurant’s first cook. While many recipes for duck with olives simply call for olives to be tossed into a warm sauce at the last minute, this version offers a more intense reduction of flavors, a subtle blending of herbs, wine, stock, tomatoes, and delicious green olives—a perfect sauce to serve with the simplest roast duck. With this, sample a fruity red, such as a Beaujolais cru, Fleurie.

Ingredients

• bouquet garni:
• 2 tablespoons rendered chicken fat (or substitute 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter)
• 2 pounds (1 kg) chicken wings or backs, cut up
• 1 duck (about 4 pounds; 2 kg), well rinsed, patted dry, and trussed, with neck and gizzard reserved
• 3 onions, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons superfine flour
• 2 cups (50 cl) dry white wine
• 2 quarts (2 l) chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1/3 cup (8 cl) tomato paste
• 9 ounces (250 g) brine-cured green olives, pitted
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce; 30 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 12 parsley stems
• 8 peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 imported bay leaf tied in a double
• thickness of cheesecloth

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a large nonreactive stockpot or stovetop casserole, melt the chicken fat over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and reserved duck neck and gizzard. Cook, stirring over medium-high heat, until golden, about 8 minutes. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle on the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the wine, stock, bouquet garni, and tomato paste. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a nonreactive saucepan; discard the solids.

2. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 quart (1 l) of water to a boil, Add the olives and boil over high heat for 2 minutes; drain and rinse under cold running water; drain well. Taste an olive. If it still is very salty, repeat the blanching. Add the olives to the strained sauce. Set over low heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is just thick enough to coat a spoon, 1 to 1½ hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

4. Pierce the duck skin all over with a knife; rub the skin with the butter. Place the bird, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C); turn the duck breast-side up. Continue to roast the duck until the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh with a skewer, about 1 hour more. If you find that the breast is brown before the bird is cooked through, shield the breast by covering it loosely with aluminum foil.

5. To serve, carve the duck. Arrange the meat on a large serving platter and surround it with the green olives and sauce.