Nice Weather For Duck

It rained last week for the first time this winter. Traffic backed up for miles; people broke out their heavy wool sweaters. And I warmed up a big pot of duck with lentils.

As much as I enjoy Southern California’s dry season and the light, fragrant food that seems to fit it best, my heart really belongs to rainy days and their attendant stews. (Or maybe it just seems that way after six months of grilled chicken breasts and light pastas.)

Stew-making is cooking that really feels like cooking. No rushing about trying to avoid the heat; you can take your time. In damp, cool weather, it actually feels good to be in the kitchen.

This generously flavored dish was inspired by my customary parsimony. First, I found the little, slate-green lentilles du Puy from France at a real bargain price. Then, cruising an Asian grocery before lunch, I noticed duck legs on sale.

I love the flavor of duck but hate paying for a bird that is, after all, mostly carcass. These legs are richly flavored and meaty. If you can find them without the backbone portion attached, you’re even better off.

Putting the two together was no great feat--I’d been reading “Paula Wolfert’s World of Food” just that morning and had been thinking about her canard a la cuisse : duck you can eat with a spoon. Having the lentils already in hand (or in trunk, to be more exact) when I found the duck legs, I began to think about how the two would work together.

The flavors I wasn’t too worried about. Lentils have a dark, earthy quality and duck--particularly the legs--tastes rich and gamy; a nice combination. Furthermore, when cooked with red wine, as they are here, both pick up a fruity tang that makes them absolutely delicious.

Combining the textures would be a more interesting challenge. Usually, when you think of pairing a meat and a starch, the meat provides the chew and the starch is merely a soft backdrop. Think of a nice chop served with white beans. Or veal shank and risotto. Or anything and mashed potatoes. (Mmmm, mashed potatoes!)

But back to the dish at hand. If I could get that melting quality from the duck legs, it would be better to pair them with something firm and meaty. Lentils can work that way, as long as they’re not over-cooked and soupy. So I added just enough liquid to bring them to a risotto-like texture-- al dente and a little drier than normal.

And that’s just the way the dish worked out. The textures matched nicely and the flavors were strong and good.

The first time I made this dish, I didn’t bother marinating the duck legs, but I think I prefer them marinated--an overnight bath in a tart red-wine marinade cuts the fattiness a bit. It’s not a major difference, so if you’re in a hurry, skip the marinating and cook the duck in straight red wine with the braising vegetables.

Dealing with all the fat that duck contains is the biggest technical challenge in this dish. There are two ways to go about it: You can simply remove the skin (which contains almost all of the fat) from the legs and then cook the legs by themselves. The problem with this is that you need some of the fat from the skin to keep the legs moist. Cook them without any skin and they’re likely to come up stringy.

A better solution, though it takes a little more effort, is to brown the legs on the skin side first (not on the meat side--that’ll toughen them up faster than anything), and then, before you add the lentils, skim the cooked stew of all fat. You have to be really rigorous about this. On one try, I skimmed more than two cups of fat before I quit counting.

The best way to skim this dish is with a ladle. Push it bowl side down one level into the stew until the liquid just begins to trickle over the edges. Be patient: Hold it there until either the ladle fills or the liquids are almost entirely dark juice rather than golden fat. It will probably take several passes.

You also could prepare the stew the night before and refrigerate it until the fat hardens. It can be spooned off quite easily at that point, though you’ll probably end up losing some of the vegetables as well.

Besides, if you marinate the duck overnight to begin with, you would stretch this into a three-day dish, something I’d think twice about even in the rainiest weather.

BRAISED DUCK AND LENTILS

4 carrots

2 onions

2 stalks celery

2 cloves garlic

1 (750-ml) bottle red wine

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 whole cloves

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

6 duck legs (about 3 pounds)

4 plum tomatoes

3 slices prosciutto

2 shallots

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon oil

Salt and pepper

1 pound lentils

Minced parsley

Chop carrots, onions, celery and garlic.

In 2-quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring red wine, red wine vinegar, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 1 stalk celery, garlic, cloves and peppercorns to boil. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Place duck legs in 1 layer in large baking dish and pour wine mixture over. Cover tightly and marinate, refrigerated, overnight.

Next day, peel, seed and chop tomatoes and mince prosciutto and shallots. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with prosciutto in heavy Dutch oven over medium-low heat. When prosciutto starts to cook, add remaining carrots, onion and celery, shallots and tomatoes and cook, covered, until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 to 15 minutes.

While vegetables are cooking, combine remaining tablespoon butter and oil in large skillet over high heat. Remove duck legs from marinade, reserving marinade, and pat dry with paper towel. Sprinkle duck legs lightly with salt and pepper on both sides. When fat is very hot, add duck legs, skin side down, and brown well just on the skin side, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove duck legs from pan and set skin-side up atop vegetables in Dutch oven.

Pour off fat from skillet and strain marinade into skillet over high heat, scraping bottom to loosen any browned bits sticking to pan. Pour marinade over duck legs and vegetables. Place sheet of aluminum foil over, but not touching, duck legs and seal tightly. Bake at 300 degrees until duck legs are fork-tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

When duck legs are tender, remove from pan and set aside, covered. Spoon off as much fat as possible. Add lentils to pan, cover, and cook until lentils are soft, about 40 minutes, adding another 1/2 cup water if necessary to keep lentils moist, but not soupy. When lentils are soft, add duck legs to pan, cover and cook just until heated through, about 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with minced parsley and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

753 calories; 249 mg sodium; 95 mg cholesterol; 50 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 3.68 grams fiber.