Duck Confit Parmentier with Pipérade and a Garlic and Thyme Potato Puree
I believe you could describe the Duck Confit Parmentier as a duck confit pie. The duck meat is simply separated from its bones, shredded into smaller pieces and baked under a blanket of mashed potatoes. I like to add some Basque styled stewed peppers, pipérade (the recipe you can find below), to the meat and infuse the potato puree with garlic, bay leaf and thyme.
Serves 4:
- 4 duck legs confit, one per person
- a small handful of bread crumbs
For the potato puree:
- 1 kg of potatoes (of your choice, suitable for mashing)
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- a few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
- 1 bay leaf
- 60 g of butter
- about 200 ml of full fat milk (or more if needed)
- salt
- white pepper
Melt the butter in a pan. Once it starts to foam add the garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Fry gently for 5 minutes or so and leave to cool.
In the meantime place the potatoes in their skins in large pot, cover with water, season generously with some salt and bring the water to the boil.
Lower the heat down and boil the potatoes until tender. Drain the potatoes and leave to cool until easy to handle.
Peel the potatoes and pass them through a potato ricer. Return the potatoes to a clean pot, warm up the butter (discard the garlic and bay leaf) and pour it over the mashed potatoes, stirring all the time. Keep the pot on a medium heat and gradually add the milk, stirring all the while, until the mash turns creamy.
Season with some salt and white pepper to taste.
If it’s just the two of us I use two separate baking dishes, but for a bigger crowd one baking dish, roughly 28cm x 20 cm is more suitable.
Grease the dish with a little bit of the duck fat.
Neatly arrange the duck meat with the pipérade (you may not use it all) in alternating stripes, which makes the dish more visually appealing.
Top the duck layer with the potato puree, spreading it evenly and levelling it with the back of a spoon. If you wish you could run a fork all the way pressing it gently, in order to create a decorative pattern. Sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs .
Bake in the preheated oven to 180 C fan/ 200 C static oven for 25 minutes, until the top turns crunchy and golden in colour.
Serve immediately with a plain green salad on the side.
For the Pipérade
- 4-6 peppers (red and/or green, if available buy the long and narrow romano variety)
- 2 small onions (I like sweeter Roscoff onions), chopped or thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- a splash of white wine
- a few pinches of piment d’espellete (or use some paprika and/or smoked paprika)
- salt
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- about 100 ml of passata
Wash the peppers.
Cut them lengthways in half and scoop out the seeds.
Cut the peppers in 1cm strips.
Heat up the olive oil in a saucepan.
Add the onions and fry them for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and the bay leaf, and after 2 minutes the peppers. Fry everything for a few minutes stirring frequently.
Pour in the wine and wait until it has almost evaporated.
Season with some salt and a few pinches of the piment d’espellete. Pour over the passata, put the lid on and cook on a low to medium heat until the peppers turn tender but still holding their shape (about 15 minutes).
Taste and season again if needed.
