Well, there you go. Summer came, you blinked and it whizzed past scarcely registering with us and here we are in Autumn already! Looking on the bright side, it’s a month of contrast that keeps us on our toes with some warm days, showers, wind, and plentiful larder with beef, fish and game all in their prime. Keats, the quintessential English poet summed it up beautifully;

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells...”

We have all the wonderful colours to look forward to, with leaves rustling underfoot on those slightly chilly morning walks. Afternoons can be balmy, sunrise and sunsets can be spectacular. Hawthorn, rosehip and rowanberries are all there for the picking as well as the more usual crab apples and sloes. Get out and get picking…there’s Gin to be made for Christmas!

September, for me, also marks the return of a good Sunday get together with good friends and good wine. A long walk followed by a leisurely, convivial lunch makes for a perfect day.

This recipe for a long roast duck with plums from the garden is perfect for a day like this as it will largely look after itself for a couple of hours. Something like a fennel and gnocchi gratin or some red cabbage is all that’s needed and can be prepared way ahead. The rich duck, with its crispy skin and the gently spiced plums demand something with lifted acidity and well-structured tannins. Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo Simane 2021 ticks all these boxes and more. Fresh cherries and a hint of earthiness hit all the right notes for this dish.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 whole oven-ready duck (approx. 2kg)

5g Coriander seeds

1 Star Anise

50g soft dark brown sugar

300ml fresh chicken stock

75ml red wine vinegar

2 Bay leaves

10g salt

A glug of olive oil

6 large ripe plums, halved and stones removed

Method

Toast the star anise and coriander seeds in a dry frying pan. When the seeds start to pop, put in pestle and mortar with the salt and crush to a fine powder. Add the sugar and mix well. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 140° (fan) 160°.

Lightly score the skin of the duck in a small criss-cross pattern.

Heat oil in large a casserole and brown the duck all over.

Pour off excess fat and set aside (keep for roast potatoes).

Return duck to casserole, breast side up.

Season with salt and sugar mix and wedge the plums around the bird.

Pour over the vinegar, stock and bay leaves.

Roast for about 2 hours till golden brown.

Turn the oven to about 220°c for 10 minutes to crisp up the skin.

Remove from oven and rest for 15 minutes before carving.

The Perfect Wine Match

Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo Simane, Barolo, Italy 2021

Delicate aromas of red and black cherry, rose petal, blood orange fused with leather and star anise spice. Ripe, soft, and silky on the mid-palate with rounded tannins that lead into a core of further dried red and black fruits with a dash of Chinese five spice.

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