Roast Duck with Vanilla Pears, Red Cabbage and Dumplings

Preheat oven to 180°C (approximately 350°F).

For the duck: Peel onions and chop. Cut apple into quarters, remove seeds and chop. Peel carrots, rinse and trim celery and cut both into slices. Season duck inside and out with salt and pepper. Fill with apple and 1/3 of the onions. add rosemary then close and secure opening with toothpicks.

Place remaining vegetables in a roasting pan and put duck on top. Rinse orange in hot water, remove a piece of peel and add to roasting pan. Peel remaining orange, fillet orange sections and cut flesh into pieces.

Place duck in the oven for about 30 minutes. Then pour in broth and let the duck stew an additional 1.5-2 hours. Baste throughout with the gravy.

For the red cabbage: Remove outer leaves of cabbage, cut in half, remove stalks and cut with a vegetable slicer into thin strips. Heat butter in a pan then add cabbage, apples and cloves. Pour in water, cassis and red wine. Add sugar and vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

For the dumplings: Cut rolls into slices, place in a bowl and pour warm milk over to soak. Cook shallots in hot butter until translucent. Add egg to squeezed out rolls, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, mix gently and leave for 30 minutes. Shape mixture into dumplings. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil, add dumplings and cook for about 15 minutes in gently boiling water.

For the vanilla pear: Mix wine, juice, sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil with a vanilla pod slit in half. Rinse pears, cut into quarters, remove cores and poach pears in sauce until al dente.