I love having lentils on hand for salads and holiday comfort food like this duck confit preparation, inspired by a recipe in Gerald Hirigoyen’s Bistro. There is no easier, no seemingly more extravagant holiday dinner than this. Don’t even try to make the duck confit on your own with the excellent packaged ones by Fabrique Délices and D’Artagnan on the market. Since confit is an ancient method of preserving meat, you can rest assured that a couple packages will be fine for a month (or three!) in your refrigerator.
Duck Confit with Lentils
serves 4
(if you’re only cooking for 2 (or 1), cook fewer duck legs but make the same amount of lentils, they are great left over)
4 packaged duck confit legs (Fabrique Délices and D’Artagnan both make great ones)
1 ½ cups dried green lentils
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
if you have them in the kitchen: 1 bay leaf, 1 fresh thyme sprig, 1 fresh parsley sprig
stock or water
Vinaigrette :
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
a few grinds of fresh black pepper
- Make the lentils up to 2 days ahead, store in refrigerator. You can also make the vinaigrette ahead and dress the lentils or not. Your call. Store vinaigrette in the refrigerator as well. (Always good to have a nice salad dressing on hand.)
- Any extra lentils can be stirred into a rice or quinoa salad or eaten alone as a salad.
- Duck confit is an ancient method of preserving duck, so go ahead and buy a couple packages and keep them in your fridge – they will last months. You’ll thank me when you have them on hand for an impromptu, but seemingly extravagant, dinner.
