This foie gras stuffing is not cooked in the bird and has an untraditional combination of ingredients.  It’s really pretty easy to prepare, but it is probably best prepared shortly before serving.  We’ve still included this recipe in our “make ahead Thanksgiving recipes” category, because it can be fully prepared ahead of time and reheated before serving.  If you plan to prepare the foie gras stuffing before serving, be sure not to cook the foie gras too much.  Otherwise, when it is reheated, the foie gras may get overcooked.  When prepared just before serving, the bread cubes (more like croutons) have a lovely crunch, which pairs well with the soft almost caramelized apples, rich foie gras, cranberries and wilted arugula.  For a more traditional, moister stuffing, simply add more jus.  When this foie gras stuffing is refrigerated and reheated, it will be much moister, and the bread cubes will be soft.  Reheating in a saute pan seemed to work just fine…

While a whole lobe of foie gras can be cut into 1 inch cubes, pieces of foie gras cut into small, but irregular pieces works fine too.  Hudson Valley’s Foie Gras Cubes are really perfect for this recipe and at $50 per pound, it’s a more economical product.

We prepared this foie gras stuffing with fresh duck breasts and used the juices from the duck breast along with some chicken stock.  This stuffing would also go well with turkey, chicken, quail, or squab.

2 pounds fresh foie gras, cut into 1-inch cubes (foie gras cubes work great)
6 medium-sized Honey Crisp or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cups chestnuts, roasted and peeled, cut in half or quartered
5 cups arugula, stems removed
1½ cups cippolini onions, peeled and cut into 1 inch wedges
6 ½ cups foccacia bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3/4 – 1 cup roasted duck, turkey, or chicken drippings/jus
4 Tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
2 Tablespoons sage, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Once all the ingredients above have been prepared, put the cubed bread in a bowl and toss with the minced garlic and olive oil. Toast the bread cubes in a 450 degree oven until golden brown, 5 – 10 minutes.

Heat a very large heavy sauté pan over medium high heat. Season the chunks of foie gras with salt and pepper and sear until golden brown, about 2 minutes. (If the heat is too high, the fat will turn brown, which is not optimal.) Remove the foie gras from the pan, leaving about ¾ cup of the foie gras fat in the pan. Set aside any extra foie gras fat for another use. Add the onions and apples and cook until golden brown. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the chestnuts. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and transfer to a large bowl. Wilt the arugula in the warm pan with some of the remaining fat, then add to apples, onions and chestnut mixture. Add the dried cranberries, the chunks of foie gras and the toasted bread cubes and mix well. Season with salt and pepper if needed and add the chopped herbs and duck, turkey, or chicken jus. The bread cubes will still be crisp. If a more moist stuffing is preferred, add more jus or use a high quality stock.

Serves 10 – 12.

I love this easy recipe for fresh duck breasts with wild mushrooms.  Any type of mushrooms can be used, even button mushrooms.  Dried wild mushrooms (reconstituted) would work well for this recipe, or any type of fresh wild mushrooms such as morel mushrooms, chanterelle mushrooms, or porcini mushrooms.  You can certainly add a drizzle of truffle oil if you would like, just before serving.

Fresh duck breasts or previously frozen duck breasts can be used with equally good results.  If you like your duck breast meat rare, be sure to take the duck breasts out of the pan before they seem cooked enough.  It’s easy to overcook duck breasts if you are not careful.

If you don’t have demi-glace on hand, use a dark chicken stock and reduce the stock in half before adding to the sauce.

Ingredients:

2 fresh duck breasts, about 1.75 pounds total weight

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup shopped shallots

8 ounces wild mushrooms or button mushrooms

1 teaspoon herbs de Provence

2/3 cup red wine, good quality

1 cup demi-glace

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Remove excess fat from the sides of the duck breasts.  Score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern, being careful not to pierce the meat.  Season the fresh duck breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.

Saute the shallots in the butter until translucent and soft.  Add the wild mushrooms and saute for about 5 – 8 minutes.  Add the herbs de Provence and the wine and reduce to about 1/3 cup.  Add the demi-glace and simmer until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 6 – 8 minutes.

While the sauce is reducing and thickening, heat a large heavy skillet to medium high. Place the fresh duck breasts skin side down and cook for about 5 – 8 minutes, or until the skin is brown and crisp.  Turn the duck breasts over and cook on the meat side for 1 – 2 minutes.  When the duck breasts seem still quite rare, take them out of the pan, cover them with foil and let them rest for several minutes.  The duck breasts will release juice, which can be added to the sauce before serving.

Slice the duck breasts and serve with the slices fanned on each plate.  Spoon the wild mushrooms and sauce over the duck breasts.  Serve with green vegetable or salad and mashed potatoes.

Serves 4

This recipe for Chinese Spiced Duck Breast w/ Seared Foie Gras, Caramelized Mango, and Asian Vegetables has a colorful presentation and complex flavor combination.  The bright green snow peas and baby bok choy presented with the intense orange mango, and red rare duck breast creates a beautiful visual on the plate.

Much of the preparation for this dish can be done ahead of time; however, there is a lot of sauteing that needs to be done right before serving.  In four separate pans, you will need to cook the mushrooms, the duck breasts, the foie gras, and the cabbage.  All of these things will be done almost simultaneously, starting with the duck breast, which will take about 10 – 13 minutes to cook, the mushrooms, cabbage and mango all take about 6 – 10 minutes, and the foie gras will take 3 – 6 minutes, depending on the cooking technique used.  The bok choy and snow peas will be served at room temperature, therefore, I suggest cooking them before the duck breasts.  Keep in mind also that the duck breasts need to marinate for 6 – 24 hours before cooking them.

This recipe is from Michael Ginor’s fabulous cookbook titled “Foie Gras A Passion“, a book which contains 80 foie gras recipes written by 80 different chefs.  We’ve prepared about half the recipes so far, and every recipe has been very good.

Ingredients:

Duck Sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 scallion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

1 cup dark chicken or duck stock

1/2 cup water

1 dried shitake mushroom

1 tablespoon mushroom soy sauce or regular soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons hoisin sauce

1/2 teaspoon Chinese chili paste with garlic

Pinch Chinese five-spice powder

Coarse salt

Chinese Spiced Duck Breast

2 duck breasts (magret de canard) about 1.75 lb. total weight

2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

Coarse salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

2 scallions, finely sliced

1 piece giner, 3 inches long, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

Asian Vegetables:

4 baby bok choy, about 4 ounces each, bottoms trimmed so they will stand on the plate when cooked

20 snow peas, trimmed

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

16 mushroom caps

Coarse salt

White pepper, freshly ground

1 small head Napa cabbage

Caramelized Mango

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons canola oil

2 tablespoons sugar

2 ripe mangos, peeled, pitted, and cut in half

Pinch coarse salt

Foie Gras and Garnish

Four  3 oz slices of duck foie gras or  eight  2  oz slices

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Scallions and cilantro for garnish

Instructions:

Duck Sauce

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the scallion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes, until the mixture is softened and fragrant.  Add the remaining ingredients except the salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the liquid reduces to about 1 cup.  Add salt, if necessary, and strain into a small saucepan.

Chinese Spiced Duck Breast

Trim away any excess skin and fat from the edges of duck breasts, leaving one side of the breasts fully covered with skin and fat.  Using a sharp knife, score the skin lightly in a crosshatch pattern being careful not to pierce the flesh.  Season the duck breasts on both sides with the five-spice powder, salt and pepper.  Spread the remaining ingredients equally over the breasts.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, but not more than 24 hours.

Season the duck breasts with additional coarse salt, and place in a cold, nonstick saute pan.  Place the pan over medium heat and cook until the skin is browned and crisp, about 10 minutes.  Turn the breasts over and cook for 2 minutes, to rare or medium rare.  Transfer to a plate and lightly tent with aluminum foil.  Let rest 5 minutes.

Asian Vegetables:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Ad the bok choy and cook until just tender but still firm, about 4 – 5 minutes.  Remove the bok choy from the pot and shock in a bowl of ice water.  Bring the water back to a boil, add the snow peas, and cook for 1 minute, until they are bright green.  Remove the snow peas and chock in the ice water.  When cool, remove the vegetables fro the ice water, dry, and set aside.

In a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil.  Add the mushroom caps and cook for 3 minutes.  Turn the caps and cook for another 2 minutes, until tender.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Cut the cabbage into quarters, leaving the core intact.  Heat the remaining oil in a saute pan, over high heat until very hot.  Add the cabbage pieces, cut side down, and cook until the cut side is golden brown, about 3 minutes.  Turn and cook for 3 more minutes, until the other cut side is golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.

Caramelized Mango

Heat the butter and oil in a saute pan set over low to medium heat.  Add the sugar and cook until the sugar begins to caramelize, about 6 minutes.  Season the mango halves with slat and add to the saute pan.  Cook until caramelized, about 5 minutes.  Remove form the pan and keep warm.

Foie Gras

Score the foie gras and season with salt and pepper.  If using fresh thawed foie gras, set a saute pan over medium high heat and sear the foie gras for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side.  If using flash frozen foie gras, place the still frozen foie gras slices in a cold saute pan.  Set the pan to medium heat and cook the foie gras for about 2 – 3 minutes on each side.  Either way, cook the foie gras until the outside is golden brown and slightly crisp, and the inside is just set.

Service and Garnish

Warm the duck sauce.  Spoon 2 tablespoons of duck sauce in the middle of four warmed serving plates.  Slice the duck breasts into 1/4 inch-thick slices.  On each plate, place 1/4 of the sliced duck breast over the sauce, fanning the slices.  Stand the bok choy above the duck breast and arrange the leaves to create a petal effect.  Place a piece of the sauteed cabbage on each plate next to the bok choy. Place the caramelized mango slightly overlapping the duck breast, and place the foie gras on top of the mango. Place 5 snow peas and 4 mushroom caps on each plate and garnish with scallions and cilantro.

How could you go wrong with a double decker club sandwich made with toasted brioche bread, foie gras mousse, spicy tomato jam, seared foie gras, duck bacon and pea shoots?  This recipe is very close to the original recipe which was published in Michael Ginor’s book “Foie Gras, A Passion”.  Since Hudson Valley Foie Gras now produces a delicious duck bacon, I thought this was the perfect recipe for it.  I replaced the “duck crackling” with duck bacon, and the result was heavenly.

Prepare this recipe as a main course.  It is far too rich to serve as an appetizer, and the sandwich won’t hold together if you cut everything in half.  Trust me, I tried it!

I’ve recently discovered an easy technique for cooking flash frozen foie gras, which I tried for the first time when I prepared this recipe.  If you feel so inclined, you might try this method.  Start with a cold heavy skillet.  Place the frozen slices of foie gras in the skillet.  Turn the heat to medium high and cook the foie gras in a more controlled method.  The foie gras should be golden brown on the outside and cooked perfectly medium rare on the inside.  The cooking process should take 5 – 6 minutes using this technique.  Alternatively, you can of course sear the thawed or fresh slices of foie gras in a medium hot skillet for about 30 seconds on each side.

Yield: 6 entree servings

Tomato Jam Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 large onion, minced, about 1/2 cup

1 piece ginger,1 inch long, minced

4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped

2 teaspooons black pepper, freshly ground

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground

Sandwich Ingredients:

8 ounces duck bacon

12 sliced of flash frozen portioned foie gras or fresh sliced foie gras, 2 ounces each

coarse salt

black pepper, freshly ground

1 1/2 cups foie gras mousse (pate de foie gras)

18 slices brioche, cut into rounds (fresh or toasted)

pea shoots

mustard oil

Tomato Jam: Combine the sugar and balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Let the mixture simmer until it thickens and caramelizes, about 10 minutes, being careful not to let it burn.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the mixture thickens to a jam-like consistency, 35 – 50 minutes.  Keep in mind that the jam will thicken further when it cools.  After cooling the jam, season to taste.

Duck Bacon: Saute the duck bacon in a frying pan until slightly crisp and golden brown.  Set aside.

Foie Gras: Season the foie gras with salt and pepper on both sides of each piece.  Sear the foie gras in a medium hot pan or use the technique described above starting with a cold pan and a frozen portion of foie gras.  Either way, cook the foie gras in at least two batches, set aside and drain on a paper towel.

Service and Garnish: To prepare the sandwiches, spread 2 tablespoons of the foie gras mousse on each of two brioche rounds.  Spread 1 tablespoon of jam over the mousse on each of the rounds.  Place a small handful of pea shoots over the jam covered rounds.  Top each with a slice of duck bacon, and a piece of seared foie gras.  Stack one round on top of the other and place a plain brioche round on top.  Repeat to make six sandwiches.  Garnish with mustard oil.

Cassoulet is a perfect dish to make for company on a chilly winter day.  Everything can be done ahead of time, then simply bake the cassoulet for about 30 – 40 minutes before you are ready to serve the dish, heat up the Saucisse de Toulouse and crisp the skin of the duck legs confit.  Serve cassoulet with a green salad with winter fruits such as persimmon, apple, or pear.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dried white beans (flageolets, navy or great northern)
• 6 cups of water
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves
• 1 carrot (cut in half)
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1stalk of parsley
• 1 rib of celery
• 1/2 pound garlic sausage, sliced, then slices cut in quarters
• 1/4 pound of diced salt pork or bacon
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of rendered duck fat or olive oil
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 1 cup peeled and diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 10 duck legs confit
• 6 links Saucisse de Toulouse
• 1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons of butter

Instructions:

Boil 6 cups of water. Wash the beans and put in a pan, add the boiling water, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let soak for one hour. Stud one of the peeled onions with the 2 cloves and add to the beans. Add the carrot, garlic, parsley, celery, diced salt pork or bacon, sausage, and salt. Bring to a boil uncovered, skim off the foam, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Chop the 2nd onion and the shallots and sauté in the duck fat until the onion turns light brown, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chopped parsley and the wine. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, and add to the beans.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until beans are tender, adding more water if needed. The bean mixture should be saucy, with about 1 cup or more liquid when finished. Remove the whole onion, celery, carrot and parsley stalk.

Put the bean mixture in a large earthenware or enamel casserole. Combine the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle over the beans, bake at about 350 until the breadcrumbs are brown (up to 40 minutes).

Towards the end of the cooking time, heat the duck legs confit in a frying pan over medium heat, fat side down. When the skin is crisp and browned, turn over just to heat and slightly brown the other side of the legs. Meanwhile, sauté the saucisse de Toulouse in a small amount of olive oil until browned. Cut the sausages in half. Remove the casserole from the oven, top with the duck confit and sausages.

Serves 8 – 10

An easy to make and refreshing salad with duck breast proscuitto, fresh figs, and a sweet and spicy vinaigrette!  The photo below shows this salad with warm goat cheese covered with toasted nuts, which is an easy addition.  Simply slice a piece of fresh goat cheese from a log, roll it in chopped nuts, and warm it in a frying pan.

Smoked duck breast, or Magret de Canard could be substituted for the duck prosciutto as well.

Ingredients:

Moulard duck breast prosciutto

Lettuce (butter, spring mix, or other greens)

12 – 16 Figs, cut into quarters
Red onion, sliced thin

2 tablespoons citrus infused olive oil

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

Fleur de sel

Instructions:

Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing the vinegar with sugar, salt, pepper and cayenne, then pour in the oil in a thin, steady stream while mixing with a whip or fork.

Slice the duck breast prosciutto in thin slices.

Mix the greens with the figs and onion slices.  Toss with vinaigrette.  Display the duck prosciutto on top of the salad, or place a small mound of salad on top of the prosciutto slices.  Top with a few grains of fleur de sel. Serves 4

I especially love to make this recipe for Seared Duck Breast with Foie Gras Stuffing and Sour Cherry Reduction a cold winter night.  Magret de Canard is best served rare or medium rare.  It is very easy to overcook the meat, which will result in a dry breast if you are not careful.  I always take the duck breast off the heat well before I think it is done.  After the duck breast sits for five minutes it should be cooked just perfectly.

You may use good quality store-bought chicken or duck stock for this recipe, though homemade stock is always better!  I try to keep a few cups of homemade stock in my freezer at all times.

Almost any prepared foie gras product will work with this recipe–foie gras torchon style, bloc of foie gras, or foie gras terrine.

Ingredients:

2 raw duck breasts (Magret de Canard)

1 tablespoon red verjus

¼ teaspoon soy sauce

Sauce

1 ¼ cup red wine

1 cup duck or chicken stock

¼ cup sour cherries

salt and cracked pepper

1 teaspoon cold unsalted butter

Stuffing

1 cup ¾ inch cubes French bread

1/3 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon minced garlic

1/8 cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped onion

pinch fresh chopped rosemary plus several sprigs rosemary for garnish

4 oz foie gras torchon or terrine cut into ½ inch cubes

Instructions:

Score the skin of the duck breast in a cross-hatch pattern.  Marinate the duck breast in verjus and soy sauce for at least 2 hours.

For the sauce, cook the wine over medium heat until reduced to 1/8 cup.  Add the stock and reduce to ½ cup.  Add the sour cherries and some cracked pepper and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.  Set aside and keep warm.

For the stuffing, Toast the bread cubes in a 350° oven until golden and crisp.  Saute the garlic, celery, onion and rosemary in the butter for about 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the bread cubes and heat for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock in another pan until it simmers.  Add stock a little at a time to the crouton mixture until evenly moist.  Add salt and pepper to taste.   Keep stuffing warm.

Put the duck breast in a hot pan, skin side down.  Turn the pan to medium high and cook until the skin is crisp and brown, about 5 – 7 minutes.  Turn over and cook for just a minute or two.  Remove from pan when duck is rare.  Set aside, covered.

Finish the sauce by incorporating the cold butter into the warm sour cherry sauce. Slice the duck breast into strips.

To serve, add the foie gras cubes to the stuffing and stir carefully.  Place a large spoonful of the stuffing on each plate.  Fan the duck breast over the stuffing.  Spoon the sour cherry sauce on top of the duck and stuffing.  Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs. Serves 2

Spicy Thai Chicken Salad is one of the few foods I buy already prepared.  For years, when we lived in Berkeley, California, I purchased this salad at Andronico’s market.  A few years ago I decided to attempt to make this salad myself.  Of course, I had to make a few changes, including substituting smoked duck breast for the chicken.  I love to prepare this salad during the summer.  It’s very refreshing and low calorie, and it is a great recipe for entertaining since it can be made well in advance.

Asian Smoked Duck Salad

Serves 6 -8

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 small head of red cabbage, cut into 1/2 inch dice

• 2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/2 inch dice

• 1 bunch green onions, sliced

• 1 ½ lbs. sugar snap peas, ends cut off and cut into thirds on the diagonal

• ½ cup cilantro, chopped

• 2 smoked duck breasts, fat removed, and cut into 1/2 inch dice

• toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Dressing

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• 2 tbs. rice vinegar

• 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

• 1 tbs. peanut or olive oil

• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper.

Instructions

Prepare all salad ingredients and mix in a large bowl. Sesame seeds may be mixed into the salad, and/or used as garnish when serving. Combine salad dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Pour dressing over the salad and mix well. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

My favorite way to cook is to find a recipe I like, substitute about 75% of the ingredients, and create a totally new recipe.  Last night’s experimentation was a big success! This absolutely delicious duck breast and foie gras recipe doesn’t take long to prepare, but does require some coordination on the timing.

Any raw foie gras may be used for this recipe, but the most suitable product is “foie gras cubes”.  The foie gras comes in a one-pound shrink wrapped package (retails for only $45).  Use the smaller pieces for the sauce, since they will be emulsified in the blender.  Reserve the larger cubes to sauté.

If black truffles are in season, you could certainly add thin slices of fresh black truffles to the mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 large duck breasts, skin scored with a diamond pattern (score in both directions) and seasoned with salt and pepper

4 shallots, sliced thin

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup cognac or brandy

2 cups rich chicken or duck stock

1 pound foie gras cubes, separate the larger pieces from the smaller scraps

salt and pepper

4 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 oz black truffle butter

1 head red cabbage, sliced thinly

1 red onion, sliced thinly

2 jalapenos, chopped (seeds removed)

Instructions: Place the potatoes in a pot of cold salted water.  Bring to a boil and cook about 15 minutes or until tender.  Smash the potatoes and add about 4 oz of black truffle butter.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Set aside to keep warm.

While potatoes are cooking, saute the shallots in olive oil with the sugar until caramelized.  Deglaze the pan with brandy or cognac and reduce the liquid to 1/4, about 2 tablespoons.  Add the chicken stock and continue cooking until the liquid is reduced to about one cup.  Pour the hot sauce into a blender and immediately add about 4 – 6 oz of the smaller pieces of raw foie gras while the blender is still running.  Leave the foie gras sauce in the blender to keep it warm.

While the potatoes are cooking and the shallots are caramelizing, put the duck breasts skin side down in a medium hot frying pan.  Cook for about 12 – 15 letting the fat render away, and allowing the skin to get crispy.  During the last minute or so, turn the breast over with meat side down.  Set the breasts aside and cover with foil.

Next, heat about one tablespoon olive oil and add the onion and jalapeno and cook until the onion is golden brown.  Add the cabbage and cook for about 10 minutes or until until cooked to your preference.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When everything is ready, heat the pan with the rendered duck fat to medium high and sear the duck breasts for a minute or two.  Slice the duck breasts.

While the duck breasts are reheating, heat another frying pan to medium high.  Put the reserved larger pieces of foie gras in the hot pan.  Turn the foie gras over as each side gets golden brown. Remove the foie gras from the pan and cover with foil.

To plate, place a scoop of black truffle butter mashed potatoes on the plate. Put a serving of cabbage next to the potato.  Fan the duck slices slightly overlapping the potato.  Pour the foie gras sauce around the edges (the empty parts of the plate), leaving a pool of foie gras sauce in each plate. Place the seared foie gras on the outside edge of the plate near the potato.

We made this dish a few weeks ago, and the combination of duck legs confit, grilled on the BBQ and this flavorful middle eastern couscous salad was delicious.  This recipe is ideal for entertaining because the salad can be made well ahead of time and the duck legs confit take no time at all to prepare.  If it is not convenient to grill the duck legs confit on the BBQ, just cook them in a pan over the stove, skin/fat side down, until the skin is crisp and the meat is warm.

Recipe: BBQ Duck Legs Confit with Israeli Couscous Salad

Ingredients

4 duck legs confit (confit du canard)

1 cup Israeli couscous

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or lemon infused olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped or sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 baby eggplants (3-4″ in diameter) or 1 large eggplant, cubed

sea salt

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

½ cup blanched and shelled fava beans

2 sprigs of mint, leaves cleaned and sliced in thin strips

4 tops of sprigs of mint for garnish

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

Sauté the dry Israeli couscous in about one tablespoon olive oil until slightly golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 cups boiling water to the couscous, cover, and cook until water is absorbed.  Rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the onions in a small pan. Cook the onions slowly over medium to low heat until the onions are caramelized.

Meanwhile, In a large frying pan, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook very slightly (do not brown). Add the cubed eggplant and distribute another tablespoon olive oil over the top of the eggplant, attempting to coat most of the cubes of eggplant with some oil.  Sprinkle salt over eggplant to taste. Cook eggplant until it is soft inside and crispy and slightly browned on the outside. To get the eggplant crispy, more oil may be needed.  Adjust oil as desired. Set aside.

Once the onions and eggplant are done, add them to the Israeli couscous in a large bowl. Add the fava beans. Whisk the lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper to taste and one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour over the couscous, onion, fava bean and eggplant mixture and mix well. Add the mint and feta and mix to distribute.  Set aside.

When ready to serve the meal, grill the duck legs confit, fat side down, on medium low heat.  Cook until the meat is hot and the skin and fat is crisp and browned.  The duck legs confit can be turned to cook on the side with little fat; however, it’s best to have the fat and skin side down the majority of the time.

Serve the salad slightly warm or at room temperature, with the duck leg confit on the side.  Garnish the salad with a few mint leaves.