Mushroom Duck Noodles

We used the leftover duck confit and rendered duck fat for this very easy, tasty one-pot meal. The veggie is frisee, but you can use any hearty green-- this frisee was a bit too hearty for salads, but cooking it down made it tender and delicious. The cilantro and mint brighten the rich duck flavor.

You'll need:
leftover duck meat from 2 legs, or confit some (see link above)
2T duck fat
1 large onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 bunch frisee
1c oyster mushrooms
2T dark soy sauce
fresh egg noodles
cilantro
mint

Heat duck fat until melted. Add onion and sautee until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and saute until mushrooms brown, about 5 minutes. Add duck and saute until crispy. Add frisee; cook until wilted. Add noodles and dark soy sauce; stir to coat. Serve, topped with chopped cilantro & mint.

Duck Confit

I've always wanted to do my own confit, but had never really gotten around to it 'til now. Hank Shaw's post on Simply Recipes convinced me to finally do it: perfect confit in only two hours! How could I pass that up? And the best part is, this really was the best duck confit I've ever had. Tender meat, super crispy skin, plenty of fat leftover for future cooking.

You'll need:
duck legs (1-2 per person)
salt
a pin or small sharp knife

Prick the skin on the duck legs all over with a pin or pointy knife. Don't go all the way to the meat-- you just want to make little holes for the fat to escape through the skin. Sprinkle pricked legs with lots of salt and let sit 20-60 minutes.

Place duck skin side up in baking dish that's just large enough. Put in oven at 300 degrees (don't preheat) and let cook slowly for about 90 minutes.

When the skin starts to look crispy, crank up the oven to 375 until it's really crispy-- about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes before eating.

If there are leftovers, eat the skin off of them *now* because it'll never be as good again.

chez johnny jump up

Ridwan made an incredible nine-course meal for John's birthday. I was lucky enough to attend and help out.

Here are some shots of the finished dishes (photos by Mike Seeman):

black truffle souffle

celery remoulade, frisee, crispy duck confit

fried artichoke, capers, lemon-heirloom jam

smoked salmon, baby greens,

matchstick potatoes, creme fraiche

kabocha squash soup, bacon lardon, fried bread

roast beef, yorkshire pudding,

horseradish cream, mustard

whipped delice d'argental, caramelized fig, balsamic syrup

carrot cake

poached pear, candied walnut

Duck Confit with Caramelized Onions and Cabbage

I wouldn't recommend buying much food at Costco (or much of anything, in fact, since I do advocate supporting your local grocery). They have some good cheeses (their Manchego is particularly delicious), but who needs that kind of quantity? The only thing I use regularly is the tall plastic sea salt grinder they sell for $3-4. But recently it was brought to my attention that they have started to carry Grimaud Farms duck confit-- two legs, ready to heat and eat, for only $7. That, my friends, is reason alone to go to Costco.


Duck confit is normally served with roasted potatoes (roasted in duck fat!) or in cassoulet. Here, I serve it with a cabbage-onion hash, which has a nice crunch to match the crispy duck skin and offsets the richness of the duck.

You'll need (serves 2):

1 package duck confit (2 legs)
5 savoy cabbage leaves, washed and sliced thinly-- the easiest way to do this is to stack the leaves, fold them lengthwise, then slice
1 onion, sliced
1T grapeseed or canola oil
1t red wine vinegar
chopped herbs optional-- I used tarragon & thyme because they were going bad in the fridge

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet. Add onions and a good pinch of salt; saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add cabbage, salt and pepper; drizzle with red wine vinegar. Saute until cabbage just wilts, 2-3 minutes. Push onions and cabbage to the side and place legs skin side up in center of skillet.


Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until crispy.


Finish under broiler for maximum crispiness. Remove duck. Toss cabbage with rendered duck fat and fresh chopped herbs, if using. Serve duck on bed of cabbage.