I roasted three green wing teal ducks last night. Yum. Here was how I roasted them.
I had removed the wings at the arm pit of the bird, keeping the drum sticks and thighs and skin of the bird intact and plucking feathers. After unthawing, rinsing under running water, and drying with a paper towel, I liberally salted and peppered the inside and outside of the birds. I then took a slice of bacon for each bird, cut the stip of bacon in half, put one half on the left breast, one half on the right breast, and tied the bacon in place with kitchen string. I laid a number of strips of bacon in the bottom of a heavy enameled iron casserole, placed the birds on their backs on top of this layer of bacon, and covered the casserole with its lid. I roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes with the lid on. I then removed the lid and roasted another 10 minutes. The birds were done and in great condition. They tasted very good. Allow two or three green winged teal for each adult, with side dishes to help fill the up. My complete menu:
roast green winged teal
wild rice/white rice pilaf
cranberries
buttered green peas
I drank a bottle of Spanish Rioja red wine (2000 Marques de Riscal Reserva) with this.
Here is how I make the rice. I cook 1/2 cup wild rice in 1/2 cup of venison broth and about 1/8 cup chopped dried porcini mushrooms. The mushrooms are optional. I boil this for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile I mince about 1/4 cup of yellow onion, sautee this onion gently in 3 tablespoons of butter, after 5 minutes add 1 cup of long grain white rice and continue to cook about a minute. After the wild rice has cooked, I put all the wild rice and venison broth into the pot with the white rice, I add 16 ounces of chicken broth (in fact, a 14 ounce can of chicken broth and a little extra water to make up 16 ounces), I add salt, stir everything well, I bring to the boil, I cover the pot, I reduce the heat to a very low level, and I let continue to cook for 20 minutes.
Venison broth is very easy to make. Keep some of your bones from your deer and any meat that you aren't grinding, boil this in a pot with water along with a whole onion or two, a bunch of parsley. Bring to the boil slowly and remove the scum that will appear on the surface of the liquid for maybe the first 15 minutes of heating. Boil gently covered for maybe 2 hours. Remove the bones and vegetables. Continue to boil to reduce the volume of the liquid and concentrate the flavor. This stuff is free and is very useful for many cooking efforts. I save the leg bones and rib bones for this purpose when I butcher my deer in the fall.
Roast Green Wing Teal
