Duck legs with silky rich Veracruzan tomato sauce
This unusual, bewitching dish is a good way to convince doubters of the subtleties of real Mexican food. It is from Veracruz, where Cortez first landed in the Americas. At that time Spain occupied Sicily, so traders brought capers and olives with them to Mexico and returned to Europe with cacao, tomatoes and gold.
The olives, capers and sherry lend a piquant savoury character to this slow-cooked tomato sauce; the jalapenos a light touch of heat; the spices a gentle warmth and complexity; the tomatoes acidity and sweetness, cutting through the rich flavour of the duck. I always prefer to cook the legs and breast of the duck separately; the breast needs to be eaten pink so is seared quickly over a high heat, whereas legs, with more flavour, need slow cooking. Feeds four-six.
Ingredients
4 large duck legs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely diced
½ fennel bulb, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely diced
4 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 bay leaves (preferably fresh)
Handful of oregano leaves, or thyme
1 large cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 x 400g cans plum tomatoes
100ml Manzanilla sherry
200ml chicken stock
40g pickled jalapenos
40g capers
120g good-quality green olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Recipe
Season the duck legs generously with salt and pepper and leave for 10-15 minutes to come to room temperature.
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based casserole and put in the legs, skin side down. Keep the heat on medium-high and brown the legs, rendering the fat for about 15 minutes, decanting as much fat as possible halfway through and adjusting the heat so that the skin crisps and browns but does not burn. Once they are a lovely golden colour, transfer them to a plate. You should have about 4 tbsp of duck fat in the pan.
Add the onion, reduce the heat to medium and sweat gently for 5 minutes before adding the carrots, fennel, celery and garlic. Season generously and allow the vegetables to soften in the fat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Now add the herbs, spices, tomatoes, sherry and stock and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon and bringing everything up to a gentle simmer. Put the duck legs, plus any duck juices, back into the casserole and put a lid on the pan, slightly askew to allow some gently evaporation of the sauce. Stew very gently over a low heat, so that the sauce is barely bubbling, for about 1½ hours or until the duck meat is tender and falls away from the bones.
About 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, stir in the jalapenos, capers and olives. Check and adjust the seasoning and serve with brown basmati rice and some sauteed greens.
Kitchen Notes
Make more of the ragu than you need. You can eat the leftover sauce over steaming bowls of polenta or wide noodles such as pappardelle.
IMAGE CREDIT: Tara Fisher