A couple of weeks ago I bought some frozen duck legs with the intention of making confit. I don’t use the traditional method of cooking them in duck fat, I cheat a bit by slowly cooking the legs in olive oil. It achieves basically the same result, some preserved duck legs you can pull out and use whenever you like, which made this little tart very easy to make.
The lengthy part here is making the tart shell. It doesn’t take much, just a quick 3-2-1 pie dough recipe but you need to let it chill, roll out, then blind bake before putting the filling in. Not a quick dinner but not an overly intensive one either. When you rest and chill the dough you’ve got plenty of time to caramelize the onions and let them cool. Make a quick salad, pop open a bottle of a crisp white and you’ve got a very delicious, savory, and light dinner. For a first go, this turned out really well. In the future I may play around with some other ingredients but the saltiness of the duck and the sweetness of the onions played off of each other very nicely. Best part is, I’ve still got two legs left!
Caramelized Onion and Duck Confit Tart
For the dough (will make one 9” round for the tart shell)
- 6 oz flour
- 4 oz butter, cold and cut into small cubes
- 2 oz water (you may only need 1 oz)
- Pinch of salt (a good one!)
Add the salt to the flour. Mix in the butter with your fingers until pea sized lumps form. Add some water and mix well. The dough will get sticky but eventually come together. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least a half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a generously floured surface roll out the dough into a 9” round. Place into a springform pan and press the sides, making a lip of about an inch or more.
Place some parchment paper or aluminum foil on top of the dough in the bottom of the pan and place pie weights, beans, or rice on top the foil/paper. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the pie weights/beans/rice and foil/paper. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until the shell begins to brown. Remove and add the filling.
For the filling
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 2 lbs onions, sliced
- 2 duck legs confit, shredded and sliced into lengthwise strips.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed skillet or pan over a medium high heat burner. Add the onions and allow to sweat then cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the burner to medium, cover and let the onions cook for 20-25 more minutes, until they turn brown. Remove from stove and allow to cool.
When the tart shell is baked and ready, add the sliced duck in a layer on the bottom, saving some pieces for the top. Put the caramelized onions on top of the duck layer, making sure it fills in around the pieces and covers the duck up to the top lip of the shell. Add the remaining pieces of duck to the top.
Place tart back in the 350°F over and bake for 20 minutes, until hot.
You can serve this warm or cold.
The Roaming GastroGnome 