Easy Duck Confit Casserole melt-in-mouth and generous

Name: Easy Duck Confit Casserole
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 6 duck confit legs; 8 large potatoes, peeled, washed, dried and sliced into rounds; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 15 sprigs of parsley, chopped; Salt, pepper

By AFTouch-Cuisine 5/5 (2 reviews)

Prep 30 min

Cook 20 min

Total 50 min

Servings 6 serv.

Duck confit is less fatty than you might think once you remove the excess fat. Here the legs rest on a bed of potatoes sautéed in the confit's fat, just for flavor. Ten minutes in the oven and it's ready.

Ingredients for 6 servings

Adjust for

servings

6 duck confit legs
8 large potatoes, peeled, washed, dried and sliced into rounds
3 garlic cloves, minced
15 sprigs of parsley, chopped
Salt, pepper

Step-by-step recipe

1 Preheat the oven to 300°F (150 °C). Rinse the duck under cold running water and pat dry. In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, place the duck skin side down. Cook until the fat melts and the skin turns golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the meat and reduced fat to a small Dutch oven, placing the duck skin side up in a single layer. Add enough lard to cover.

2 Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and place it in the oven. Cook until the duck has rendered all its fat and the meat pulls away from the bone, 2 to 2 hours 30 minutes.

3 To preserve the duck, pour a layer of fat from the Dutch oven into the bottom of a small terrine. Arrange the duck on top and strain the remaining fat from the Dutch oven over the meat. Add extra melted lard if needed to cover. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the fat, or the duck won't preserve properly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 week to allow the flavors to develop.

4 Preheat the oven to 390°F (200 °C). Place the terrine in hot water to melt the fat. Remove the duck from the fat. Wipe off excess fat and reserve it for other uses, it makes a wonderful substitute for butter in savory dishes.

5 Place the duck in a shallow baking dish and cook for 5 minutes. Pour off the fat and add it to the reserved fat. Continue cooking until the duck is very hot and the skin is crispy, another 10 to 15 minutes.

6 At the end of the potatoes' cooking time, sprinkle them with garlic and parsley.

A chef's advice

Keep the side dish simple: potato rounds sautéed in the confit's fat, a little garlic and parsley at the end, that's all you need. In Gascony, some cooks add rehydrated dried beans during cooking, which changes the texture a bit but requires more preparation. The real trick to watch: never remove the fat from the leg before cooking it in the pan, or it becomes dry. Start skin side down, two minutes so it gets crispy, then flip. The result should be golden brown, not pale.