September 2011 - Parmentier de Confit de Canard

Parmentier de confit de canard

(serves six)

Ingredients:

- 4 duck legs « confit de canard » (cooked in their own fat)
- 2 onions
- 2 shallots
- 10 potatoes
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 carrots
- milk and butter
- pinch of grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper
- a good handful of grated gruyere cheese (or any other hard cheese)

Method:

Wash and peel the potatoes, the sweet potatoes and one carrot, chop and boil in plenty of salted water.

Put the confit de canard (still in their packs or tins) in a sink full of hot water until the fat has melted. Reserve one table spoon of duck fat, discard the rest. Take the meat off the bones and chop into smallish pieces.

Finely chop the onions, shallots and the second carrot. Heat the reserved duck fat in a large frying pan and gently fry onions, shallots and carrot until golden. Add the duck meat and cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring frequently. Take care not to dry it out too much. Take off the heat and reserve.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C.

Mash the cooked potatoes and carrot with a fork or a potato masher, add milk and butter as needed and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Put one half of the meat mixture into an oven proof dish, mix half of the potato mash with the rest of the meat and arrange on top. Finish with a layer of potato mash.

Bake for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle the grated cheese over and pop under the grill for a further five minutes until golden and bubbly.

We serve this dish with Swiss chard, stir-fried with raisins and pine nuts.