One of my favourite parts of my weekend is my weekly Kensington Market run. Since moving back to Toronto I’d often find myself there every few weeks to pick up some cheese, visit a fishmonger or hit up Chinatown for some goodies. As I’ve come to spend more time in the market I have discovered many more spots like my poultry shop, the big health food store, the West Indian spot, the big butcher (that recently closed), my Latin American spot and the tortilla spot (two totally different places). Chances are, if there’s an obscure ingredient on my weekly menu I can likely find it somewhere in Kensington. Because of this I now find myself hitting up the market weekly to cross a lot of items off of my list.
One of my fave places in Kensington is Sanagan’s Meat Locker. It’s this TINY butcher that I was about to wax poetically about but it turns out that I fully did that here. That’s how much I love Sanagan’s, I almost wrote the same post twice! My issue with Sanagan’s is that they have such an interesting variety of meats and cuts that there’s always something that I want to try and I often find myself impulse buying meat with no plan. On one Saturday afternoon I went in for bacon and the line was particularly long. While in line I decided to get some lamb tbones and then after some more time in line I decided to get duck legs. Nevermind that I’ve never made lamb tbones or duck legs before but I JUST HAD TO HAVE THEM. Of course once I got home I promptly threw them in the freezer and decided to figure it all out later.
This was the weekend I decided to make the duck. I love me some duck confit but the whole process just seemed entirely too taxing for me so I decided to pass. A lot of recipes for duck legs involve dried fruit and a braise that would render the skin a soggy mess. I don’t know about you but I fully think that crispy duck skin is the best and I wasn’t about to give that up. So I was pretty jazzed to find this recipe from Food & Wine. I liked that it wasn’t a confit but that it still promised crispy skin. I was intrigued by the sauce as well.
The recipe was easy to assemble and the ingredients were pretty basic. While the duck legs were in the office I started researching the correct internal temperature when I started reading about how duck really should be braised to make the meat sauce. Uh oh. This was fully not a braise. yes, there is liquid in the pan but the recipe says to keep the meat mostly out of it for the crispy skin. I could’ve freaked out at that point but I didn’t.
So how did my non-braised duck legs fare? While delicious and featuring crispy skin the meat was on the tough side. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I were to say that I kind of had to saw at it a bit. While cutting it was hard it was tough to chew but it certainly wasn’t tender. Flavourwise all was good but I think next time I’d probably confit the duck legs as that really is my favourite way to eat them. Also, my sauce wasn’t saucy enough (I think the bread was soaking up the liquid) so I had to keep on adding in more broth and wine (there are worse problems to have).
I served the duck legs with some mashed sweet potato and what can only be described as a yuppie farmers market salad. I combined pea shoots, sunchokes and beets with some olive oil and balsamic and called it a side. All the produce came from the farmers market and I definitely paid a premium but it was worth it.
Crispy Duck Legs with Toasted Hazelnut and Garlic Sauce
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
One 3-inch cinnamon stick, broken
Salt
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup chicken stock
8 Pekin duck legs (about 8 ounces each), trimmed of excess fat
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 cup finely diced crustless baguette
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 325°. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the onion, cinnamon and a pinch of salt, cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until very soft, 8 minutes. Add the wine and boil over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Season the duck with salt and pepper and set the legs skin side up on the vegetables; keep the skin out of the liquid. Bake the duck legs on the top third of the oven for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender and the skin is crisp.
Meanwhile, spread the hazelnuts in a pie plate and toast until golden, 10 minutes. Transfer to a towel and rub to remove the skins, then transfer to a mini food processor.
In a medium skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the bread and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until browned, 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden. Transfer the bread, garlic and oil to the processor and grind coarsely with the hazelnuts.
Transfer the duck to a rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Strain the pan sauce through a coarse sieve set over a saucepan, pressing on the solids; scrape the vegetables on the underside of the sieve into the sauce. Skim off the fat. Boil the sauce over high heat until reduced to 2 cups.
Whisk the hazelnut mixture into the sauce and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the duck.
(Recipe via Food & Wine)
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