Duck cassoulet with orange, apple and hazelnut salad (Cassoulet de canard et salade frisée a l’orange, pomme et noisette)

This recipe uses Kaiserflesch, a smoked pork product similar to speck. If unavailable, use speck or smokey bacon. The Chefs' Line

• serves

  4

• prep

  40 minutes

• cook

  1:15 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

You will need to begin this recipe the day before

Ingredients

• 4 duck marylands
• 500 ml (2 cups) Belgian white beer
• 200 g Kaiserfleisch
• 4 Toulouse sausages
• 1 tbsp duck fat
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 200 ml full-bodied red wine
• 400 g can cherry tomatoes
• 800 ml beef stock
• 40 g tomato paste
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 1 small pinch espelette pepper (or cayenne pepper)
• 1 bay leaf
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 thick slices sourdough bread, rubbed with garlic, brushed with oil and chargrilled, to serve

Curing salt

• 100 g sea salt
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ tsp pink peppercorns
• 5 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked

White beans

• 200 g dried white cannellini or Great Northern beans, soaked overnight (or 2 tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed)
• 1.5 litres boiling water
• ½ brown onion, studded with 2 cloves
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 100 g kaiserfleisch, cut into 1.5 cm thick

Crumb

• 100 g crustless sourdough bread, roughly chopped
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3 sprigs parsley, leaves picked

Salad

• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp raspberry vinegar
• 125 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp walnut oil
• 30 g French shallots, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (tarragon, chives, basil and chervil)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp cracked pink peppercorns
• 200 g frisee leaves
• 1 head witlof, leaves separated
• ½ green apple, julienned
• 1 orange, segmented
• 50 g hazelnuts, lightly toasted

Standing time: overnight

Instructions

The day before, for the curing salt, blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until well combined. Place the duck in a container, add the curing salt and rub all over. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following day, rinse the salt off the duck under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel. Cut off any excess fat and score the skin of the duck legs.

Heat a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Cook the duck, skin-side down for a few minutes to render the fat and crispen up the skin, emptying the excess fat as you go. Turn and seal the other side for a couple of minutes, then transfer the duck to a pressure cooker and reserve the pan. Add the beer and 400 ml water, seal the pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes from the moment the pressure cooker starts whistling.

Meanwhile, for the beans, drain and rinse the soaked beans. Place in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until ready to be transferred to the sauce.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

Place the reserved pan over medium-high heat. Cook the kaiserfleisch and sausages until golden all over. Set aside on a plate and when cool enough to handle, cut into large pieces.

Heat the duck fat in the same pan over medium heat. Sauté the sliced onion until transparent. Add the garlic and carrots and sweat for a couple of minutes. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and cook off the alcohol for 2 minutes. Add the canned cherry tomatoes, stock, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf and paprika, then season with salt and pepper. Return the chopped kaiserfleisch and sausages to the pan and allow to simmer, uncovered until the duck is ready.

Once the duck is cooked, transfer the legs into a large ovenproof dish or 4 individual dishes.

Drain the par cooked white beans, gently stir into the tomato sauce, then pour over the duck legs. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the crumb, place all ingredients into a food processor and blitz to a fine powder. Set aside.

For the salad dressing, mix the mustard and vinegar together in a bowl, then slowly drizzle in the oils while whisking to emulsify. Stir in the shallot, herbs, salt and cracked pink pepper.

After 25 minutes, increase the oven temperature to 200 ˚C, remove the foil from the duck and sprinkle a thin layer of crumbs over the top. Return to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Toss the frisee, witlof, apple sticks and orange segments in the salad dressing and scatter the hazelnuts over the top.

Serve the Cassoulet hot, straight out of the oven in its baking dish with the salad and char-grilled sourdough on the side.

This recipe is from Series 2 of The Chefs' Line airing weeknights at 6pm on SBS. Episodes will be available after broadcast via SBS On Demand. Join the conversation #TheChefsLine on Instagram @sbsfood, Facebook @SBSFood  and Twitter @SBS_Food. Check out sbs.com.au/thechefsline for episode guides, cuisine lowdowns, recipes and more! 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

You will need to begin this recipe the day before