Method
Preheat oven to 170°C. Rub spices and salt
all over duck well. Cut zested orange in half and stuff inside duck
cavity. Place duck on a roasting rack, inside a roasting dish (so
the fat can drip out). Roast for 1h 30min.
With 30 minutes cooking time to go, remove rack and duck
and pour off most of the liquid fat that has rendered out. Replace
duck in the roasting dish with the kumara arranged around the duck.
Season kumara with salt and pepper. Continue to roast for 30min.
place couscous in a small pot and pour over ½ cup boiling water,
add butter and a pinch of salt, cover and leave to stand for
5-10min. Fluff up couscous, and mix with the orange zest, nuts,
cranberries or cherries and parsley.
When duck is cooked, remove from roasting dish and rest
for 15min while you make the sauce. Pour all duck juices (from
roasting pan and inside duck cavity) into a pot with the orange
juice and pomegranate balsamic vinegar. Place on medium heat and
rapidly simmer until reduced to a sauce, about 10min.
Mix kumara chunks with the couscous. Carve roast duck and
lay on a platter with gravy poured over. Serve with the kumara
couscous.