Roast duck pizza–fancy schmancy, snooty, celebrity chef material? Or easy to make at home? I’ll give you one guess…
Speaking of celebrity chefs, I was watching an episode of Jamie at Home a couple weeks ago–the pizza episode, and yes, I did get this sudden urge to dress some fresh greens, whack ’em over a piping hot pizza from the outdoor brick oven, and serve it up on a rustic old cutting board. Is that guy set up, or what?
OK, back in Beijing now… Duck is so plentiful and relatively inexpensive here in Beijing that it would be a crime not to make more duck recipes. Frankly, I’m not sure where all the duck breasts end up, but duck legs are so plentiful, we decided to take action and make a roast duck pizza.
I’m sure all of this talk of various duck…parts sounds mildly horrifying to a vegan, vegetarian or animal lover (not necessarily in that order), and sometimes I do honestly contemplate crossing over to the vegetarian side. Really I do…
But not today. Definitely NOT today so never mind that thought…
Our fig tree back home does not producing ripe fruit until late August but when I saw these giant figs at the local market, it sure made me think about the imminent late summer harvest in New Jersey and hence, the birth of this recipe.
The richness of the duck along with the sweet figs, spicy arugula and hoisin drizzle is just a killer combination for this pizza!
(One of my other favorites is the earthy Wild Mushroom white pizza. If you’re looking for a vegetarian option, try Kaitlin’s perfect vegetarian pizza!)
On to the recipe!
Recipe Instructions
Rinse the duck legs and pat dry. Mix together the Shaoxing wine, hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, white pepper, and five spice powder, and rub the marinade all over the duck. It would be best to let the duck marinate overnight, but not essential.
Use the fool-proof pizza dough recipe featured in our Wild Mushroom & Garlic White Pizza. The dough recipe makes enough for 4 small pizzas, but the leftover dough can be frozen for use next time.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place the duck on a foil lined sheet pan. Roast the duck for about 45 minutes and finish under the broiler to crisp the skin a bit.
Once cooled, take the meat off the bone and shred it with a fork or just with your hands. Put about a tablespoon of hot water on the roasting pan and use a rubber spatula to deglaze it.
Toss the meat in with the juices and duck fat (we don’t play around here). If you’re a little squeamish about the amount of duck fat on the pan, then drain some off before you deglaze it. Set your lovely duck aside.
In a small sauce pan over low heat, add the water, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, salt, and five spice powder, and heat until it’s thick enough to coat a spoon. Set aside.
Preheat your oven to the highest temperature it can muster. You probably won’t be able to reach the pizzeria’s oven temperatures but try to come as close as possible. We got our oven in Beijing to almost 475 degrees F.
Roll out your pizza dough on your baking sheet and brush on a thin layer of your sauce. You can use some the drippings from the duck pan for this purpose as well. Sprinkle with cheese and shredded duck, and dot with fig slices.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. Toss your arugula lightly with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, and sprinkle over the finished pizza. Drizzle the pizza with a little more of your sauce, and serve!
