Per Eden's request: this recipe is from a book on Tuscan cooking by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Haven't made it yet, but will in two weeks for a Tuscan themed wine dinner. But reading the recipe, I have to tell you that I anticipate we'll at least double the liquid here (and more on the wine side than the broth)--1 cup, BEFORE reducing the wine, just isn't going to be enough. We'll be using all leg/thigh portions.
Roast Duck with Black Olives
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt, pepper to taste
1 5 lb. duck, cut into serving pieces
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
5 whole cloves garlic
12 small onions, peeled but left whole
1/2 c pitted oil-cured black olives
4 or 5 sage leaves, slivered
1/2 c red wine
1/2 c light chicken broth
Grind the fennel seeds to a coarse powder in a spice grinder, then pound them in a mortar with the crushed garlic and about 1 tbs salt. When the mixture is reduced to a paste, add plenty of black pepper. Rub this spice mixture all over the duck pieces and set aside, lightly covered, for about 30 min, or longer if necessary. Refrigerate the duck if you're not going to cook within an hour.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 deg F. In the bottom of an oval roasting dish, preferably one that has a lid, add the olive oil and gently brown the whole garlic cloves and onions lightly but thoroughly on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the duck pieces to the oil remaining in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and brown the duck pieces, turning at least once, on all sides, about 10 min to a side. When all the duck has been browned, tilt the pan and remove most of the oil, leaving about 2 tbs in the bottom of the pan. Add the olives, and sage slivers, stirring to mix all the ingredients together, then add the wine. Let the wine bubble and reduce for about 5 minutes, until the wine has been reduced by half. Stir in the broth, add the onions and garlic, and cover the pan.
Set in the preheated oven to bake until the duck is done and the sauce is reduced to a syrupy liquid that coats the onions and olives--about 2 hours in all. To further brown the duck, remove the pan lid for the last 15 mins of cooking.
Remove the duck to a warm serving platter and surround it with the onions, garlic and olives. If the juices are too liquid, boil over high heat to reduce. If they've boiled down too much, add additional red wine and cook, scraping up the brown bits in the pan. Serve the sauce poured over the duck and garnishes.