Sometimes, dinner comes together so perfectly you can’t imagine why you haven’t done it before. It did so this week, when crisp-skinned duck legs shared a plate with plump ivory beans and pink, pickled onions as sharp as a surgeon’s knife. Crisp yet soft, sweet yet teasingly sharp, this was a meal, both frugal and luxurious, where everything seemed in perfect harmony.
The cannellini beans, cooked from dried, plumped up to the size of sugared almonds in a simple stock with shallot, celery and bay leaves. Drained, we then baked them in the same roasting tin as the duck and its fat, the dish moistened with a ladle of the beans’ milky, aromatic cooking liquor. The beans, their insides swollen with stock and fat, crisped a little in the roasting tin.
Nudging against the duck was the fresh, acid-sweet pickle of carrots, red onion and watermelon radish (I could have used mooli or even French breakfast radish). We mopped up the juice from our plates – a tantalising puddle of warm duck fat, cider vinegar, rosemary and salt – with winter leaves of deep red and mottled pink, that we had crisped in iced water before dressing them with a mustard vinaigrette.
We finished with a plate of fat-bottomed Comice pears that I had been ripening for a week on the ledge by the window in the kitchen, turning them daily until they were ripe and giving. I put them on the table, thoroughly chilled, with a thick plank of taleggio, its flesh mild and sweet and smelling curiously of autumn leaves.
Duck with cannellini
I use legs because their skin crisps more satisfyingly than that of the breasts and their flesh is infinitely more succulent and, curiously, cheaper. If they come wrapped in plastic, as is often the case, remove it, dry the skin with kitchen paper and let them come to room temperature before cooking. They will be all the crisper for it.
Serves 4
For the beans:
dried cannellini beans 500g
celery 1 stick
thyme 6 sprigs
black peppercorns 8
bay leaves 4
shallot 1, large
For the duck:
garlic 7 cloves
black peppercorns 10
olive oil 8 tbsp
duck legs 4
rosemary 10 sprigs
Soak the dried beans in a bowl of deep, cold water overnight. The following day, drain the beans, put them into a large, deep saucepan and cover them with water. Add the celery stick, broken in half, the thyme, peppercorns, bay and the shallot, halved. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and partially cover with a lid. Leave the beans to simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until they are tender enough to crush between finger and thumb.
For the duck, first season the olive oil with salt and pepper. Peel the garlic and put 3 of the cloves in a mortar or wooden bowl with a good pinch of sea salt and the peppercorns. Smash the garlic, salt and peppercorns to a paste with a pestle or the end of a rolling pin, then stir in the olive oil. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Rub the duck legs all over with the seasoned oil and set aside in a cool place for half an hour. Drain the beans, reserving a good ladleful of the cooking liquor. Brown the duck legs in a roasting tin over a moderate heat, turning them now and again, until each side is golden brown. Turn the legs plump side up.
Spoon the drained beans around the duck legs, tuck in the rosemary sprigs and the reserved garlic cloves then pour in the reserved ladle of bean cooking liquor.
Bake the duck for about 45-50 minutes, turning the beans over once during cooking. Serve the duck and beans with the pickle below.
Mixed vegetable pickle
I have been making these vivid pink pickles once a week, eating them with chalky white goat’s cheese, tossing them into leafy salads and serving them alongside grilled pork chops. The pickling liquor makes a cracking base for a dressing, too, with a little groundnut oil and a dash of sesame. I splash the pink juice over steamed rice, too. The pickles will keep, crisp and bright, in a covered bowl or lidded glass jar for several days.
Serves 4
small gherkins (cornichons) 50g
gherkin pickling liquor 150ml
carrots 150g
red onions 2, medium
watermelon radish 1, medium
cider vinegar 150ml
white wine vinegar 125ml
black peppercorns 18
white peppercorns ½ tsp
sea salt 1 tsp
sugar ½ tsp
Cut the cornichons in half lengthways, reserving 150ml of the pickling liquor from the jar. Peel the carrot, slice it very thinly, then add it to the cornichons. Peel the red onions, then slice into very thin rounds. Separate the rings and add to the carrot.
Peel and very finely slice the radish, then cut each slice into quarters. Add to the carrots and onions and set aside.
Put the reserved pickling liquor, cider and wine vinegars, black and white peppercorns, the salt and sugar into a small stainless-steel saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour over the sliced vegetables and cover with a plate. Refrigerate for 4 hours, preferably overnight.
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