Firstly, in a small pot place the red wine, sherry, sugar, peppercorns, allspice, bay leaf and sprig of thyme and bring up to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the prunes and allow to steep for 1 hour.
Bone the duck out following the instructions on the Boning of Duck recipe attached below. Going around the legs and wings making sure you don’t make any holes in the skin. Work carefully around the breast bone, leaving the tenders attached to the breast. Trim any blood vessels off the meat once it is completely off the bone. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Drain the prunes and in a bowl, combine with the pistachios, mince, parsley and thyme. Pat the stuffing into a cylinder about 8cm in diameter and 8cm shorter than the duck.
Lay the stuffing in the middle of the duck and roll the meat tightly around it. Lightly score the skin in a crisscross pattern to release fat during cooking. This will allow for a crispy skin duck.
Truss the duck tightly using butchers twine. Cut even lengths of twine that will fir around the duck and are able to be pulled tight and tied off. Spacing 2cm apart place the twine under the duck with the close of the 2 ends on the bottom. Start from one end and tie 6 to 8 lengths of twine along the length of the duck.
Place the duck on a rack in a roasting tin and place in the oven.
Roast, basting after 20 minutes with the drippings from the pan for around 1 hour or until the middle of the stuffing reaches 60°C.
If the skin gets a little too dark too quickly, you can lower the temperature of the oven to 170°C and finish cooking.
Remove the duck from the oven and rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Carve 2.5 cm thick slices to serve.
