When Chef Toby first tried Opito Bay’s black garlic sea salt, he knew it called for something special. The result? Roast duck legs with black garlic salt, spices and honey glaze. It’s a dish full of depth and savoury richness.
The black garlic sea salt also really brings out the best in our 2021 Founders’ Cellar Mustang Vineyard Pinot Noir, the wine pairing for this dish. This wine is exclusive to members of the Cloudy Bay Circle. Elegant, layered and expressive, this rare single-vineyard wine might just be the ultimate food wine.
Join the Cloudy Bay Circle today and get the July selection on time, including a packet of Opito Bay Black Garlic Sea Salt.
What Dan has picked for you
Pelorus NV
Crafted using the time-honoured méthode traditionelle, it's a fine example of elegance.
2022 Founders' Cellar Northburn Vintage Rosé
A finely balanced sparkling that comes from the young vine fruit planted at our Northburn vineyard.
2024 Sauvignon Blanc
One for the record books. It marks the 40th vintage of our iconic Sauvignon Blanc.
2023 Te Koko
Crafted with care and patience, it is textural, complex and beautifully expressive.
2023 Pinot Noir
Beautifully aromatic and enticing Pinot Noir from Marlborough, with a distinctly summery character.
2021 Founders' Cellar Mustang Vineyard Pinot Noir
Immediately and deliciously fragrant in the glass, offering notes of cherry and boysenberry.
For the July selection, Dan Sorrell, our Operations Winemaker, chose his favourite expression of the variety: the 2021 Founders’ Cellar Mustang Vineyard Pinot Noir, a wine that is available only to Cloudy Bay Circle members. Grown in the clay-rich soils of our Mustang Vineyard, this single-vineyard wine balances tension, finesse and bright fruit purity.
“ Pinot Noir is particularly special at Cloudy Bay because of its remarkable ability to express terroir. "
Dan Sorrell - Operations Winemaker
Opito Bay Salt
Chef Toby has created a spectacular winter dish that brings it all together: roast duck legs with Opito Bay black garlic sea salt, spices and honey glaze. It’s simple, comforting, and built to pair with Pinot. That’s serendipitous, because the Opito Bay Salt story started over a bottle of wine on a winter evening, when founders Erin and Perry decided to give up their corporate lives and dedicate themselves to the craft of salt farming.
FROM OPITO BAY TO MARLBOROUGH
Now, using buckets, a tractor and a trailer, Erin and Perry collect pure Coromandel seawater from the Opito Bay coastline. They then settle, filter, and carefully solar-evaporate the water in small batches to create big, translucent crystals that bring out the coast’s unique minerality. Finally, they harvest the crystals and, in this case, blend them with slow-roasted Marlborough black garlic.
Opito Bay salt is shaped by the seasons and reflects its environment. Summer batches are softer and more subtle, while winter harvests bring bolder, brinier character. Crafted with sunshine, patience and love, it’s the taste of a place in time.
Just like great wine.
Roast Duck legs with Black Garlic Salt, Spices and Honey Glaze
Serves 4
Prep 45 minutes
Cook time 120 minutes
Ingredients
4 large duck legs
⅔ cup clear liquid honey
Opito Bay Black Garlic Sea Salt – some for seasoning, some for the spice mix
½ tbsp fennel seeds
½ tbsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp cumin seeds
¼ tbsp caraway seeds
½ tbsp black peppercorns
4 red onions, peeled and quartered
4 clementines, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
400ml fresh chicken stock
2 tbsp marmalade
Method
STEP ONE
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7. Season both sides of the duck legs with a mixture of plain salt, Opito Bay Black Garlic Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper, then place skin side up in a heavy-bottomed roasting tray. Roast for 20 minutes, then add the red onion quarters to the tray and roast for a further 20 minutes.
STEP TWO
While the duck legs are cooking, prepare the glaze. Toast all of the spices in a pan on low heat. Leave to cool slightly, then place into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and process until coarse (you’ll want some chunks). Add a good pinch of the black garlic salt and then mix into the liquid honey. Set aside.
STEP THREE
Once the skin on the duck legs has started to caramelise, arrange the clementines and bay leaves between the duck legs. Mix the chicken stock and marmalade together and pour around the duck legs. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4, cover the roasting tray with foil, then cook the duck legs for a further 1 and a half hours.
STEP FOUR
Remove the foil and baste the ingredients with the remaining liquid, then drizzle the spiced honey all over the duck legs and roast uncovered in the oven for an extra 15-20 minutes or until caramelised and slightly crispy.
STEP FIVE
Serve with mashed potatoes or kumara and roasted parsnips, or braised red cabbage & roasted Brussels sprouts.
Salty and briny with gorgeous soft salt crystals, Opito Bay Salt is a reflection of the natural trace elements and minerals present in this nutrient filled Coromandel sea water.