Confit is one of France’s finest gifts to world cuisine. Meltingly tender, supremely tasty, and so quick to cook that it makes an instant gourmet lunch or dinner main course. The confit reveal all their flavour if baked in the oven until their skin becomes brown and crisp, served with potatoes roasted in the duck fat and a fresh side salad (a classic).
This quick and easy method of cooking duck confit legs takes 25 minutes and results in a crispy-skinned duck which is moist, tender and full of flavour, using the duck fat to create delicious potatoes at the same time.
You need a deep oven tray (two duck legs will yield about half an inch of duck fat). Layer this with sliced potatoes or potato wedges (our Chef uses Charlottes, but any small potatoes will work, depending on your preference). The trick is to slice the potatoes to the right size so the duck and potatoes are finished at the same time.
Place the duck legs on a rack above the potatoes, skin side up. Cook at 180°C for 20 minutes, tuyrning the potatoes after about 10 minutes.
For the last 5 minutes of cooking time turn up the heat to 230°C to 250°C to crisp the duck skin. Remove duck—if you’ve sliced or wedged the potatoes to the correct size they too will be cooked and browned.
Serve with salad. Voila!
You can add sweet potato, carrots or beets as well as, or instead of potatoes if you wish—any sweet root crop will work.