Sunday, March 25, 2012

Confit duck legs with green lentils and Chorizo

I have a real penchant for rustic dishes and for me there is not much that can beat the succulent and delicate flavor of confit duck.
In this dish I have married my confit duck legs (you can follow the confit preparation on my youtube channel: www.youtube.com/renskitchenchaos) with green lentils and nuggets of spicy Chorizo sausage.
I am a big fan of the French Cassoulet but it can be a little bland at times, so I find this dish a little bit more interesting. The green lentils have of course a unique flavor of their own but it's the contrast the Chorizo gives to this dish that really ties it all together. I also include whole cooked garlic cloves which are like little gems you fall upon in your plate. This is a really simple dish to make, even if the whole process of confit-ing the duck can take a little preparation, there is nothing here that is complicated. It's an ideal Sunday lunch that you will plan a week before so that you have all the ingredients ready and get ready from the Friday onwards, I insist, none of the steps take time, it's just that you need time between each steps to get the best results. On Sunday, putting the dish together takes one hour maximum and the result will be remembered for ever!
Here is how it goes:

First you need these ingredients (for 2): 2 confit duck legs, green lentils, onion, garlic bulb, Chorizo sausage, chicken stock cubes.

You start bu making the chicken stock by dissolving the stock cubes in about a liter of hot water.

Remove the duck legs from the fat they were preserved in, try and wipe of as much fat as you can but don't be obsessive about it. Keep the left-over fat in a jar to make another dish another day. Put the legs on an oven dish, skin side down.

Chop up the onion, separate the garlic cloves (but keep the skins on) and chop up the Chorizo into large slices.

Soak the lentils in hot water for about half an hour, then cook the lentils for a further half hour in the chicken stock.

10 minutes in the lentils cooking, stick the duck legs in a preheated oven at full whack for 10-15 minutes of warming up and skin crisping. 

In some of the confit fat start coloring the onion, whole garlic cloves and Chorizo. The sausage will imparts it's delicious spicy oil to the mix and the cloves will infuse a gentle garlic flavor. After about 4 minutes, remove the garlic cloves and add them to the lentils and stock to soften them. 

When the lentils are soft, strain them and add them with the garlic cloves to the onions and Chorizo and stir through. 

After 10-15 minutes, remove the duck legs from the oven. You are now ready to plate up!

Simply spoon the lentil mix on a plate and put the duck leg on top. 
Bon appetit!


 





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