This hearty dish is deliciously versatile. Serve simply as a stew once you’ve stirred the duck back in (reheating on the hob first briefly if needed) or, as is more traditional, baked with a crispy breadcrumb topping.
This duck and sausage casserole type dish is topped with crispy bread crumbs. It's also freezable so you always have a delicious meal to hand.
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Yields:
6 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
2 hrs 15 mins
Total Time:
2 hrs 45 mins
Cal/Serv:
716
Ingredients
4
duck legs
2tsp.
olive oil
6
chunky pork sausages
100g
smoked bacon lardons
1
onion, finely chopped
1
carrot, finely chopped
1
celery stick, finely chopped
4
garlic cloves, crushed
4
ripe plum tomatoes, about 400g, roughly chopped
Handful thyme sprigs, leaves picked
2
bay leaves
500ml
chicken stock
2
x 400g tins haricot beans, drained and rinsed
For the crumb
50g
fresh or dried breadcrumbs
garlic clove, crushed
Handful parsley, finely chopped
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Pat duck legs dry with kitchen paper, season all over and arrange on a wire rack set over a roasting tin. Roast for 1hr 30min, or until the meat is pulling away from the bones. Cool (reserve the fat in the roasting tin).
Step 2Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large casserole dish (that has a lid) over medium heat. Brown the sausages all over. Remove to a plate. Add lardons, onion, carrot and celery to the casserole and cook for 8-10min, until softened and starting to brown. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2min, until fragrant.
Step 3Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, stock and some seasoning. Bring to the boil, then return sausages to the casserole. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1hr, removing the lid for the final 15min.
Step 4Chunkily shred the duck meat and skin from the bone, discarding any fatty bits. Stir shredded duck into the casserole, along with the beans. Check seasoning.
Step 5In a small bowl mix breadcrumbs with the garlic, parsley, 2tbsp of the reserved duck fat, and some seasoning.
Step 6Sprinkle crumb mixture over casserole in an even layer and return to oven, uncovered, for 45min, or until bubbling and golden brown. Serve with some cooked greens.
Freeze Ahead:
Prepare to end of step 5. Cool then freeze cassoulet mixture and breadcrumbs separately for up to 3 months. To serve, defrost in fridge, then return cassoulet to a casserole dish. Reheat on hob for 10min, adding a splash of water if needed. Complete recipe to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
