Braised/Roasted Duck Legs with Vegetables

By á-25087

Ingredients

• 2 duck legs, a little more than 1 pound total
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thick diagonal pieces
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 wedges each (I used Yukon Gold)
• 2 leeks, white and pale green part only, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• water

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Pat duck legs dry with paper towel and trim away excess fat, reserving fat. Season duck legs on both sides with salt and pepper. Place them skin side down in a large, ovenproof, dry, unheated skillet and place over a medium flame. Add reserved duck fat to the skillet to render it. Cook duck legs on the skin side 6 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn legs and brown them on the other side for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Remove any unrendered fat pieces from the skillet. If you have more than 2 tablespoons of fat in the pan (basically enough to coat the pan), spoon the excess off. Save it, though—you may still need it. Add the carrots and potatoes to the pan, toss to coat with duck fat and season with salt and pepper. Sauté vegetables for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown. Stir in the leeks (you can substitute onions, if you like) and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Add garlic and thyme to the pan and cook just until fragrant, 45 seconds or so, stirring. (Here’s where you may need to add a little extra fat to the pan. My duck wasn’t particularly fatty, so I actually had to drizzle some canola oil in the pan to not scorch the garlic.)

Return duck legs to pan, skin side up. Add bay leaf, broth and wine. Liquids should only come about halfway up the side of the duck legs; use less if necessary. increase heat and bring to a boil. Transfer pan to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Check liquids at this point. My wine and broth and mostly cooked away, so I added some water (not enough to come up to the original levels, but enough to keep vegetables moist).

Reduce heat to 350ºF and cook duck for another 30 minutes. Serve immediately, spooning vegetable mix onto individual plates and topping with duck leg.