SCD Roasted Duckling with Cherry Merlot Sauce

This was the star of our Valentine's day dinner. I decided to make this because, on our honeymoon, we had something similar at Terra in St. Helena and my husband always says it was the best meal of his life (fact: ducks have about twice as much fat per serving as chicken. So it's no wonder they are delicious.). People might be intimidated by cooking ducks if they haven't done it before.  I'm here to tell you how easy it is - because they have so much fat, they're hard to overcook. It takes a little bit of time, but most of that is unattended so you can do other things - in our case, that was drinking most of a bottle of Prosecco.

1 duck, about 6 pounds
Kosher salt

For the sauce:
1/2 pound cherries (frozen work fine in the winter)
2 Tbsp minced onion
1 tsp honey
1/2 cup duck broth (made by simmering the duck giblets during roasting)
1/2 cup Merlot or other red wine of your choice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and dry the duck and put it on a rack in a roasting pan, breast up. Sprinkle salt all over the bird and then take a sharp, pointed knife and poke the skin all over, about an inch apart. Don't pierce the meat underneath - the goal is to let the layer of fat between the skin and meat drain out during cooking. This will give the duck a nice crispy skin and keep your finished product from being greasy. Now put it in the oven and set the timer for 2 hours and 15 minutes. You'll want to check it periodically and use a baster to remove some of the grease from the pan. Toward the end, you might want to baste it once or twice. For the last 20 minutes, flip the duck over to let the back brown. When it's done cooking, take it out and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving.

When you take the bird out of the oven, start the cherry sauce. Put about 2 Tbsp of the duck fat into a pan and saute the onions in it until they are soft. Add the cherries and cook for another few minutes until they soften and you can smash them up with a spoon. Then add in the wine and deglaze the pan. Add the duck broth and honey and turn down to simmer until the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper and serve over the duck. My husband said that this was now the best meal he's ever eaten in his life - and my kitchen doesn't even have a Michelin star!