Gwyneth Paltrow's duck 'cassoulet'

recipe

Gwyneth Paltrow's duck 'cassoulet'

No comments

I first had duck confit with my dad on a trip to Paris at a place called Josephine Chez Dumonet. I never realized how delicious, tender and yet crispy duck could be. When I discovered cassoulet (in which duck confit is the star) I was transported. When I stopped eating pork and red meat, I couldn't indulge in it any more, so I set out to make my own. This pork-free version is rich and deeply flavoured – a great one-pot weekend supper. I wish I could make it for my dad, he would go out of his mind.

Ingredients

2 410g cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 big dark green leaf from the outside of a leek
7 cloves garlic, peeled, 3 crushed, 4 finely sliced
Coarse salt
Bouquet garni of 3 sprigs fresh parsley, 1 sprig chervil, 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, and 6 peppercorns
4 slices bacon (of whichever variety), fat removed from all but 1, chopped into lardons
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 400g can whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
Freshly ground black pepper
4 legs duck confit, excess fat scraped off (strain the fat and save it for cooking delicious potatoes!)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 day-old baguette, cut into coarse crumbs (or pulsed 10 times in a food processor)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme

Cook Time: 30

Directions

More recipes like this

Combine the beans, leek leaf, 1 clove of crushed garlic, a large pinch of salt and the bouquet garni in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and lower the heat. Let it simmer over low heat while you proceed.
In a large heavy casserole dish, cook the bacon over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, or until beginning to render and brown. Turn the heat to low and add the onion and the 4 cloves of sliced garlic. Cook for 15 minutes, keeping the heat low.
Add the tomatoes and their juice, crushing them with a wooden spoon, a pinch of salt and a few healthy grinds of black pepper. Simmer on low for half an hour.
Meanwhile, put the duck legs in a large frying pan and set it over medium heat. Let the duck legs brown deeply on both sides, about 5 minutes a side, and remove to a plate, reserving the fat in the pan. Add the olive oil to the pan along with the 2 remaining cloves of crushed garlic, keeping the heat at medium.
Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, discard the garlic and stir in the parsley. At this point your tomato mixture should be cooked down.
Drain the beans, reserving their cooking liquid and discarding the leek, garlic and bouquet garni. Stir the beans into the tomato mixture, nestle in the thyme and the duck legs. Season with salt and pepper.
At this point, you can wait up to a day or two to cook the cassoulet – refrigerate the bean and duck mixture, bean liquid and breadcrumbs separately and bring to room temperature before proceeding. Or, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) gas 4. To finish, scatter the breadcrumbs over the top of the cassoulet and evenly ladle over 375ml of the bean cooking liquid.
Bake in the preheated oven until the breadcrumbs are nicely browned, about 30 minutes.