wine and wild dogs

“Roast Duck Afrique”

Rules of procurement:

Buy green peppers, onions and oranges from the local market ladies, who need to send their children to school. These sun-ripened vegetables taste much better than supermarket varities anyway……

Grow every kind of chilli and herb you can think of, around your house.

Buy meat locally grown, organically reared by Zimbabwean producers.

Use Painted Wolf Wines, created by food lover and wine-maker extraordinaire, Jeremy Borg. His wines win awards and better still, each bottle sold results in spin-off funding for African wild dog conservation and research.

(The harvest has begun …..Jeremy has promised to keep us informed of progress during the very busy weeks ahead. He’s very excited about the quality of grapes this year and a new winemaker who has come on board – so things continue to head onwards and upwards for Painted Wolf Wines!!)

http://www.facebook.com/paintedwolfwines

Jeremy Borg’s bicycle does service as he inspects the grapes.

Method:

Clean and rinse the duck,

Simmer cracked wheat in water, till soft, to create a base for the stuffing.

Lin chops an onion in half to add to chicken stock in a saucepan, simmered with the duck’s neck to create a rich stock for the gravy. Throw in a whole chilli for flavour if you like….

Lin in the kitchen

Kelli finely chops green pepper, onion , one red chilli, heart, liver and gizzard for the stuffing.

Saute the chopped ingredients in a pat of butter.

Kelli chops….

Clive liberally salts and peppers the duck skin, after piercing it all over with a skewer for the fat to run out….

Clive salts….

Kelli grates orange zest, to add to the cooked cracked wheat stuffing, together with the sauteed green pepper, onion, red chilli, heart, liver and gizzard. Season well.

Kelli grates…..

Lin stuffs the duck, and Clive carves instant little skewers out of matchsticks to secure the skin.

Lin stuffs….

The Cobb Cooker is hot, ready to barbeque roast the duck…baobab tree in the background.

Cobb cooker

Clive tenderly places the duck over the coals…closes and leaves for 2 hours.

roast time…

We choose Pictus One 2009- a Painted Wolf Wine, to cook with and to drink.

Not good to use poor wines for cooking-use the best for the job!

Pictus One

Add Pictus One to the simmering gravy stock. Reduce to a rich gravy, adding cornflour paste as necessary to thicken.

a rich gravy

Steamed vegetables add colour to the luncheon table, in our Tsavene house, on Senuko Wildlife Reserve, Save Valley Conservancy.

good food and great wine

Clive pours and Adiel tastes ………

Adiel tastes….

A Feast fit for a King.

a feast…

Wild dog table napkins, hand-embroidered by local ladies.

African wild dog table napkin

Kelli, Clive and Pictus One.

Kelli, Clive and Pictus One

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