Serves: 4
Now common all over France, confit duck was originally a speciality of Gascony, where it has been made this way for centuries. Traditionally, the duck legs were cured in salt before being slowly cooked in their own fat. The great thing about duck confit is that you can use the fat for seriously good roast potatoes or combine it with some of the shredded meat to make rillettes.
Ingredients
For the confit duck legs
- 4 duck legs
- 500g duck fat, at room temperature
- 2 bay leaves
- Small bunch of thyme
For the bean stew
- 50ml olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 400g tin borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
- 400g tin butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 25g tomato purée
- Large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2.
2For the confit duck, place the duck legs in a large ovenproof dish with a lid and cover with the duck fat. Add the bay leaves and thyme, cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours until the duck is very tender.
3For the bean stew, place a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add the beans and tomatoes and stir in the tomato purée. Bring to the boil and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes, then stir in the parsley.
4Carefully remove the confit duck legs from the dish and drain on kitchen paper. Place a non-stick frying pan over high heat, add the duck legs and fry until browned and crispy. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the bean stew.
IMAGE © PETER CASSIDY
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