Sunday lunch preparation started early today. Naan bread needs time to rise so I made that quite early, just after feeding the pigs. Next was the duck leg confit. This involves taking the rendered duck fat out, and putting the marinated duck legs in to cook in the fat. This is slow cooking, and fat cooks really hot so you only need a low fire. Like olive oil, duck fat has a very high burning point so this can be used many times over, it is fantastic rich oil.
Duck legs were cooked in oil for about an hour, just enough to make soft meat, not too much that it falls off the bone. The flavour and texture of this meat is remarkable.
My own recipe for using this duck confit is quite simple, and duck confit can be used in a wide range of ways. In this case, I cooked the duck legs in some peanuts with garlic and a bit of red chili. Side vegetables consist of what’s available, for now it’s squash, carrots and red bell peppers. Just a quick simmer in freshly squeezed coconut milk to keep the vegetables crisp, not overcooked.
This is then served with the naan bread. The rich sauce of the duck and vegetables go very well with flatbreads, you really clean up your plate with that bread, it’s wonderful doing that!
In a previous post, we showed how the duck breast is prepared. We still have some duck bones to use in stock or some brown sauce. That’ll be for next time. Bon appétit!
