Easy to prepare and then leave in the oven for the duck legs to cook to meltingly soft perfection with a crisp skin. This is an excellent recipe for some calm entertaining. You could substitute onions for the leeks.
This dish takes about 2 ½ hours to cook.
For 6
A little olive oil to grease the dish
6 medium leeks, cleaned and cut into thin rounds
2 – 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
250 mls chicken or vegetable stock in a jug
6 Organic Duck Legs (don’t be tempted to use duck breast as they just don’t lend themselves to this method of cooking)
A small bunch of thyme leaves plus some extra to finish
Some sea salt flakes
Some garlic or herb mayonnaise and some baked crumbs to serve
You will also need an oven-proof dish large enough to hold all the 6 duck legs in one layer. A diameter of around 30cm would be about right.
- Pre heat the oven to 140c.
- Use the olive oil to lightly grease the dish and lay the sliced leeks in it.
- Use your hands to mix the crushed garlic in with the leeks.
- Whisk the vinegar, honey and mustard together in a small bowl and then whisk that mixture into the stock.
- Pour the stock over the leeks and garlic and use your hands again to mix it all together.
- Scatter the thyme leaves over the top together with a generous pinch of sea salt flakes.
- Add the duck legs and sprinkle with a further generous pinch of sea salt flakes and a little olive oil.
- Place the dish in the preheated oven and leave to cook for 2 ½ hours. The leeks and the duck should be meltingly soft, and the skin of the duck should be crisp.
- If necessary, trim the ends of the main bones of the duck legs as they can look unappetising. Scatter with the thyme leaves and serve with the baked crumbs and mayonnaise.
See also: – Vegetable Stock – Chicken Stock
