Holidays are approaching, and there is always that friend or family member on the table that we want to surprise. From Miramar we suggest you do it with a stuffed duck. Here it is!

INGREDIENTS:

1 duck of approximately 2.5 kg
200 g of chestnuts
100 g of dried apricots
100 g of dried plums
400 ml of milk
10 cardamom pods
200 g of stale bread (or bread crumbs of the day)
Salt and pepper to taste
Water
Cava (sparkling wine)
The juice of 3 oranges
Aluminium foil
2 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary

PREPARATION:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

In a saucepan, infuse the milk with the cardamom, opening the pods and boiling it briefly. Strain the milk to remove the pods and cool slightly.
Prepare the filling: boil or heat/roast the chestnuts until tender, peel and chop into not-too-small pieces. Combine the chestnuts with the dried apricots, prunes and crumbled bread. Pour the infused milk over the mixture and let it rest.

Clean the duck, season the inside with salt and pepper and fill with the mixture. Place it in a roasting pan, placing the thyme and rosemary branches and even the orange peels on top, so that it doesn't stick to the aluminium foil that you will need to cover everything with. Close the opening through which you have introduced the filling with the help of some wooden toothpicks.

Heat in the oven for approximately 2 hours, shredding every 30 minutes.

Time to deglaze: mix equal parts orange juice, water and cava, and pour over the duck, gently sprinkling it.

It is time to uncover the duck, remove branches and orange peels and brown the skin, keeping a constant eye on it to prevent it from burning.

It is very interesting to serve it with mashed potatoes with a little butter, semi-cured cheese and chanterelles or mushrooms.