Reader recipe: Duck confit and lentil salad

Great to prepare ahead of time and it can easily be adjusted for more or less people.

Ingredients

6 medium	Duck legs (Main)
2 Tbsp	Sea salt
6	Bay leaves
1 Tbsp	Ground black pepper
500 g	Puy lentils
1 large	Onion, diced
1 large	Carrot, diced
3 cloves	Garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 stalk	Celery, diced
1 glass	White wine
500 ml	Chicken stock
1 bunch	Flat leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

Directions

1. First sprinkle the duck leg/thigh portions with the salt and pepper and put into a glass rectangular dish, add the bay leaves or choice of herbs, thyme is a good addition. Cover with plastic wrap and leave over night.
2. Next day wipe ALL the salt mixture off the duck portions with a paper towel and replace in the cleaned glass dish. Cover completely with melted duck fat and put into an oven at 100C for a couple of hours. It is ok to see a fine bubble but that is all. Cool in the fat and if fully submerged the confit duck will keep months.
3. Heat oven to 180C fan or 200C without fan. Put the duck portions on a wire rack over a dish to catch the fat. Cook the duck portions until the skin is crispy and the fat all rendered out.
4. For the lentil salad. Saute the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is transparent, add the lentils and toss with the oil and vegetables for a few minutes. Turn the heat up slightly and add the white wine.
5. When the wine is mostly evaporated, add the chicken stock to just cover the lentils, gently simmer until cooked al dente. The amount of chicken stock will vary so just dont let the pan totally dry out until the lentils are nearly cooked.
6. When the lentils are done, stir through the chopped Italian parsley. Arrange the duck confit on top of the lentils and garnish with some more chopped parsley.