Duck Soup
I pulled the pot of stock from the fridge and it shimmied. It didn't wobble. It didn't shudder. It didn't ripple. It didn't sashay. Nor did it undulate, shake like a bowl full of jelly, or shiver. No. It shimmied like a skinny 15-year-old girl doing a hula dance on a Polynesian island for her boyfriend.
A few weeks back I wrote an article for NPR's Kitchen Window on cooking duck. As with most of my NPR pieces, the hardest part was deciding which recipes to cover. I was tempted to do duck confit because of the holiday season and because duck rillettes made from the confit are so special as a holiday appetizer. But I figured no one was going to take on making confit during the holidays. I considered the classic Peking Duck, but then I'd have to also provide a recipe for crepes - which would have been off-topic. One recipe that I didn't include but really wanted to was duck soup.
I strained the liquid, discarded the solids, and reduced it to about a gallon. Now I had the essence of duck in a pot.
It seemed incumbent on me to provide a recipe for roasting duck, because for best results it's a two or three step process in order to extract the excess fat: simmer the duck for 40 minutes in a stock pot, dry it overnight, then roast it at high heat for 30 minutes. This process would utterly destroy a chicken or turkey but for duck it's, well, water off it's back.At then end of the roasting process you have the duck stock that had just sashayed out of my refrigerator. After roasting and mostly eating the duck I dumped the carcass back in the stock and simmered it another couple of hours to extract more flavor plus the gelatin in the bones. At this point I had about two gallons of liquid. I strained the liquid, discarded the solids, and reduced it to about a gallon. Now I had the essence of duck in a pot. I also happened to have a pair of roasted legs I hadn't eaten - but this was purely an accidental bonus of living alone.
After some internal discussion, I decided to make lentil soup. Whoooeee, we are talking some awesome soup here.
Duck and Bean Soup
Serves 6.
5 - 7 qt duck stock (see NPR article)
duck carcass
1 preserved lemon (or 1 stalk lemon grass, or the juice of two lemons)
1 lb lentils (I used the French du Puy lentils)*
1 carrots - peeled and grated
1 onion - peeled and finely diced
4 tbsp olive oil - separated
3 cloves garlic peeled and finely minced
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup assorted, pitted olives
Salt and pepper to taste.
Place the stock on the stove and add the duck bones and preserved lemon. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for two hours. Strain out solids and discard. Return to heat and reduce to about 4 quarts. Taste stock and if necessary add more salt.
In the meantime, brown the diced onion in 2 tablespoons of oil.
Add all remaining ingredients except last 2 tablespoons of oil to pot, return to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 1 - 2 hours until you like the texture - adding water if needed.
Taste again and adjust seasonings and serve with lemon wedges. I found that garlic bread was a perfect accompaniment to this soup.
*Note: I chose lentils (and any lentils will work), but I nearly went with cannellini beans, which would have also been great but would have taken 3 - 4 hours to cook.
Because I had a duck leg/thigh I stripped it off the bone, shredded it, and added it to the soup at the last moment.
Try this soup with...
Quick Cheddar Cheese Bread
Parmesan/Bacon Burger
Roasted Garlic Bread
Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | duck | beans | soup | main dish
Labels: beans, duck, main dish, soup
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