This is quite possibly the most gratifying combination of simple and delicious. Prepping and cooking is extremely easy, all you need is company to kill the time while you ~Wait & Hope~. We opted for playing cards (gin rummy, president, kemps) and drinking wine. The meal was so filling, when paired with wine, Erin remained conscious for no more than 30 minutes .
Ingredients:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dried thyme (few teaspoons)
- Bay leaves (crumbled, about 3 and a couple whole ones)
- Garlic (keep the skin)
- 4 duck legs (keep the fat)
- Little potatoes (purple and brown)
- Fresh rosemary
- Arugula
- Full-body red wine (we had Bordeaux, also recommended Burgundy, Cotes du Rhone)
Cooking:
- In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf pieces. Poke the duck fat (not the meat) with the tip of a sharp knife (this will help the fat melt, video for example). Sprinkle duck generously with mixture (on both sides). Place duck legs in a dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate, for as long as 24 hours, I did 6 because I forgot.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat oven to 325 degrees. Snugly arrange the legs fat side down in a dutch oven (you can also use an oven-proof pan and cover it with foil, but make sure it is tall enough so when the fat melts it won’t spill over). Add garlic and a few bay leaves. I used a whole garlic and separated it into 2 and cut the tops off the cloves. Another recipe suggested fresh ginger and hot peppers.
- Roast duck legs for 2.5 hours with the lid on the pot. I checked on it after 2 hours and made sure the fat was melted and everything looked okay, mostly because I am impatient.
- When the 2.5 hours are almost up, boil your potatoes in a large pot. Time ended up getting away from us so we cooked them on the stove, but you can put them in the oven with the duck at the end ( Recipe here ). Before putting them in the oven, dry them off and cut into halves. Add fresh rosemary and duck fat.
- Remove the duck legs and increase the oven temperature to 400. Place the legs on a cookie sheet and put them back in the oven for ~20 minutes, keep an eye on them. This will make the skin crispy.
After 2.5 hours roasting
At the end
- Bon apetit! Place the duck legs on fresh arugula and serve with potatoes.
Adapted from these sources:
