This is only the second time I’ve made duck confit. The first time I used a crock pot. This time I discovered making duck confit in the oven is more optimal if you have the luxury of baking in the oven for 3 hours.

What is Duck Confit?

Confit is French for preserve. When we refer to anything “confit” we refer to food salted and cooked in its own fat using a technique that was originally meant to preserve meat.

This cooking technique goes back at least five centuries as hunters and cooks would salt the meat, cook and preserve in its own fat. Stored in a cool place, the meat could be preserved for months.

We no longer need to worry about preserving meat for months, but the technique is still used, especially with duck legs which require a long cooking time. Other meats that you can confit include goose, pork belly, turkey, brisket. Sometimes you will see even vegetables confit or another favorite, garlic confit, (baked in olive oil).

Baked Vs. Slow Cooker

Now that I’ve made baked duck confit and the slow cooker method, I prefer baked. When the duck is baking even at a very low temperature, the skin browns a little. The slow cooker method is great if you’re wanting the meat for pasta or tacos, but it’s harder to keep the legs from falling apart.

Best Process for Oven Baked Duck Confit

• Step 1 – Salt duck legs. Prepare herb mixture and marinate duck overnight.
• Step 2 – Arrange duck legs in roasting pan. If using duck fat, heat and pour over duck legs. They should be fully covered. You can use olive oil if you don’t have duck fat and will not need to heat.
• Cover with foil. Bake at 190 degrees F. for 3 hours. Remove foil for last hour.
• Step 3. Heat a cast iron pan to high heat. Brown the duck legs skin side down to get a very crispy skin. I cover with parchment and place a heavy pot for about a minute. You could also cover a brick with foil. The point is to press down the duck legs to ensure crispy skin.
• Serve with prepared white beans, side of fingerling potatoes and a simple salad with vinaigrette to cut through the richness.

Garlic Rosemary White Beans

Beans are a great accompaniment to duck confit. Cannellini beans are especially creamy and serve as a great foundation to the dish, but you can use any kind of canned white beans.

• Plan on three to four cans of beans to four duck legs.
• Rinse beans under cold water, removing excess sodium. Drain well. Dry with paper towels.
• Heat olive oil and sliced garlic in frying pan.
• Add beans to olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
• Top beans with chopped rosemary.
• Top with more olive oil if needed before serving.
• Serve duck over a bed of beans.

What to Serve with Duck Confit

A simple salad with a lemon thyme vinaigrette is a perfect side for such a rich dish.

• Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
• Red Wine Shallot Vinaigrette

Favorite Baking Tools for this Recipe

• Oxo Baking Dish with Lid (My favorite as it’s great for storing)
• Tongs for Turning the Duck Legs
• Mezzaluna My Favorite tool for chopping herbs

More Recipes

• Stovetop Chicken Thighs with White Wine
• Chicken White Bean Soup
• Duck Confit with Lentils in Slow Cooker

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Oven Baked Duck Confit with Garlic Rosemary White Beans

How to Make Duck Confit in the Oven with Rosemary White Beans

Course Entree

Cuisine French

Keyword duck, Duck confit, duck legs

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Marinating Time 12 hours hours

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

Duck Legs

• 4 duck legs with thigh
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 shallots sliced
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme thyme, sage, rosemary
• 1 cup duck fat See Notes for Substitute
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley for ending garnish

Garlic Rosemary White Beans

• 3 cans white beans see notes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 squeeze lemon
• dash red chili flakes
• 2 rosemary

Instructions

Duck Legs

• Marinate Legs in fresh herbs, salt, pepper, overnight. Rub garlic onto the meatiest part of the legs.
• If using duck fat, gently heat before pouring over duck. If using olive oil, no need to heat.
• Rinse off under cold water. Use large baking dish for oven. Don't overlap and make sure you fully submerge in fat.
• Oven Bake: 290 degrees F. for 3 hours, prior to taking out of the fat and crisping.
• Crisping Duck: FRY METHOD: You can transfer skin-side down to frying pan to crisp skin. You can place something over to press duck into frying pan. I take parchment and then place heavy pot over the duck to ensure a crispy skin. BROIL METHOD: You can place duck skin side up under the broiler.
• Save the fat. You will now have some duck fat. Drain and freeze.
• Freeze: You can freeze the duck confit in the fat prior to crisping skin for up to three months. Defrost and then follow instructions for crisping.
• Rosemary Garlic White Beans
• Rinse canned beans and drain well. Dry with paper towels to get most of water off.
• Slice garlic thinly and cook in olive oil until golden. Add beans. Season with salt, pepper, chili flakes. Hit with squeeze of lemon.
• Add chopped rosemary and stir.
• Serve crispy duck over white beans.

Notes

Herbs: Use fresh thyme and Bay Leaf for Duck. Add in some sage if you have it. 

Fat: Duck fat is expensive. You can use a light olive oil or avocado oil in its place. I  also used a little broth in the crock pot. 

Lentils:  Use French Lentils or Brown Lentils. 

The post Oven Baked Duck Confit with Garlic Rosemary White Beans appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

You will want to make this easy Shrimp White Bean Soup when pressed for time, yet yearning a soup to warm you up on a cold but busy day, because you probably already have everything you need. Please read below to see the pantry items I always have on hand that help create delicious food fast.

I took advantage of store purchased chicken broth, frozen shrimp and canned white beans. Originally, I did an instagram post for BUSH’S® White Chili Beans and developed a quick and easy recipe in under 10 minutes. Not all of you follow me on instagram, and I didn’t want to leave you out. I used their canned white beans. Any canned white beans will work in this recipe.

In our extra intelligent generation, I’m often shaking my head, because people think all cooking is hard. It’s not. It just takes a few good cooking hacks to stay the course of eating real food at home.

Here are some of my Pantry Must Haves for My Pantry Hacks

Boxed Organic Chicken Broth.  I would seriously feel naked without chicken broth in the house, and I’m not always the one that makes it. I particularly like the six boxed set at Costco, and the Whole Foods brand. Not all chicken broths are created equally, and I avoid any that say “tuscan” which will mean a lot of flavors I’m not looking for. I want a clean chicken broth flavor, which I can use in lots of recipes, like this chicken and biscuits or this Italian Wedding Soup.

Chicken broth is more versatile than beef broth and is the broth I might use for beef and seafood dishes.

Shrimp White Bean Soup with Canned Beans

Canned Beans – I am not the biggest bean eater, but everyone in my family is, and there is so much you can do with a can of beans to add heft to a meal, or create a great appetizer like white beans bruschetta. I used Bush’s white chili beans, because they had some flavor already cooked in that would usually take hours.

Boxed Organic Chicken Broth – Seriously, you can have soup in minutes. I love the Whole Foods Brand. 

Frozen Shrimp – First of all, I was at a shrimp processing plant and watched freshly caught shrimp (that morning) being flash frozen, which is the freshest shrimp you can get if you aren’t living at the coast. I live in Nashville area and if the shrimp are fresh, they were just defrosted. This is why I prefer frozen shrimp which you can do so much with. Some of my favorites include this spicy shrimp quiche, this shrimp with zoodles, this shrimp avocado salad and this grain free shrimp scampi.

Olives – This might sound crazy to you, but a few sliced olives can perk up a dish, adding that salty, briny taste, adding a bit of acid and bite. Olives perked up this Chicken and Olives and this Seafood dish. 

Kale – You have to know by now I’m a huge fan of greens, and when I discovered kale could be frozen, I wrote about that here, because it’s a great add to brothy soups like this one.

Herbs  If I had to pick one dried herb to have on hand, it would be Herbes d’ Provence.  Most times I have  fresh on hand, especially Italian Flat Parsley – Most of the time I have a glass containing a bouquet of fresh parsley in my kitchen.  I have rosemary and thyme growing on my deck all year. You can grow herbs in your house or apartment with an Aero Garden.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Come on now. You had to see this coming. Olive oil is not just for salads or roasting vegetables. It can be a major player in a quick soup. Drizzle olive oil into soup and be enchanted. This is one more reason I start with a clean chicken broth. Olive oil plays a major role in this Italian sausage soup.

Parmesan Cheese and Pecorino Romano Cheese – We are in the Pecorino team most of the time and we like to grate a bit into almost every soup we eat. It’s an Italian thing, you can love or hate. We love especially it here in this easy Italian Wedding Soup. 

Dry Pasta – While I may not eat pasta very often, the family does, especially pastina which would work well in this shrimp white bean soup. This is a great way to add more bulk to a dish.

Canned Beans – The family loves them, and they work as a healthy filler. Not only can you add a can of beans to broth to make a quick soup like this shrimp white bean soup. Or make a fast white bean bruschetta appetizer.

Click HERE for Big Fat Shrimp Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Shrimp White Bean Soup

Easy ten minute soup, using canned white beans, shrimp, olives and boxed broth.

Course Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4 People

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 cans white beans do not drain
• 1/2 cup peppadew peppers see notes
• 1/2 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2 scallions sliced
• 10 Spanish olives
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley
• dash red chili flakes optional
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
• 1 tablespoon lime juice from fresh lime

Instructions

• Place peeled shrimp in a saucepan with a cold water. Once water begins to boil, shrimp are done. Remove and drain.
• Heat chicken broth up with three cans of beans (do not drain). Add beans, shrimp peppadew peppers, tomatoes, and oilves to soup.

Notes

If you don't have peppadew peppers, you can add peppers of your choice. You can skip these also.

The post Easy Shrimp White Bean Soup, and My Pantry Hacks appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If I had my way, it would always be summer and I would have an unending supply of fresh tomatoes to eat in a thousand different ways, 900 of them served with some kind of pasta.

I really don’t like to open cans of tomatoes. I prefer fresh food, but I do and I will when it’s the middle of winter or I need a tomato sauce for the more traditional Italian lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs.

One of my favorite ways to eat tomatoes is to roast them and use them for pasta and seafood or pasta and beans. When tomatoes are roasted in the oven, they caramelize and transform from a sweet fruit to something more sultry, and very concentrated in flavor. A little goes a long way, and gives the proper boost to more shrimp and white beans. And, for the vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian, roasted tomatoes, pasta, cannellini beans and little basil and you have a perfect meal.

And, it’s all done in under an hour, for mere dollars. (Remember the days, when we said, mere pennies?)

I began roasting tomatoes last summer when we planted our first garden and we couldn’t keep up with eating the bounty of tomatoes, thanks to DC’s hard work. On one of my whims to eat everything in our garden, I threw a bunch of tomatoes into the oven to see what would happen.

It was that easy. And then the fun began. I made roasted tomatoes with fresh pesto (we also grew basil) and served it as an appetizer with Italian bread. And, as you will see in coming posts, the roasted tomato became a frequent guest. We ate it on fish, chicken, in soup, stews, pizza, or just spread on Italian bread with some fresh basil.

These are large cherry tomatoes, but you can roast smaller grape tomatoes and you can roast larger roma tomatoes or homegrowns, by quartering them. Keep it simple… tomatoes, olive oil, sea salt.

Different sizes and different types of tomatoes will roast differently. These pictures will show you the process. Don’t get too concerned with a few dark skins, as the tomatoes will slip right out.

You might be asking what is bucatini? It’s a rather thick spaghetti, that is hollow. It has a hole running through the middle and is the official pasta in Bucatini all’Amatriciana, a dish very common in Rome, and the first time I had it. The Italians (in Italy) take the al dente process very seriously and the pasta (especially in this dish) will almost have a crunch. Cooking the pasta in this al dente fashion actually aids digestion, which is counterintuitive, but the Italians just “know” how to eat what and in what order to feel the best.

The brand I purchase comes in two-pound packages only, which means we need to invite people over. It’s fun to introduce friends to a pasta they mostly likely have not experienced. Part of the fun of dinner parties is to give guests a delicious meal and a new experience. You can make this dish with a macaroni too, such as penne pasta.

How about you? What is your favorite shaped pasta?

More Pasta Dishes with Roasted Tomatoes

Pasta Shells with Chicken Roasted Tomatoes (gluten free)

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Roasted Tomatoes

Toasted Quinoa with Roasted Tomatoes

Rosemary Focaccia with Roasted Tomatoes

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Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes

Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes, an easy twenty minute dish. Tomatoes are smokey and complimented with white beans and feta cheese.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes
• 1 pound bucatini or pasta of choice
• 2 pounds wild shrimp peeled, deveined
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tablespoons finely chopped fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 1 1/2 roasted tomatoes made from 4 cups fresh tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
• 1 can cannellini beans drained, rinsed
• 4 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese I use sheep’s feta, purchased in brine
• 1/2 teaspoon red chile peppers
• !Roasted Tomatoes
• 4 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt

Instructions

Bucatini with Beans, Shrimp Instructions

• Cook pasta according to directions minus 2 minutes (al dente). Use a large amount of water and good amount of salt. Drain immediately. Pasta should be yielding, yet firm.
• Sauté crushed garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil, just until soft.
• Add shrimp to pan, cook just until pink, remove shrimp to a dish, set aside.
• Mix beans with some olive oil, salt, pepper and fennel seeds.
• In same pan, add beans. until heated through.
• Crumble feta.
• Toss pastas with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili pepper.
• Add tomatoes, beans.
• Top each serving with equal amount of shrimp and 1 tablespoon feta cheese.

Roasted Tomatoes

• Cut a small x on top of each tomato.
• In shallow roasting pan or toss tomatoes in olive oil. Season with salt.
• Roast at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Turn at 20 minutes. The tomatoes will burst through their skins.
• You know they are done when they easily fall apart, and are caramelized. Don’t worry if some skins turn dark, just remove them. The tomatoes will have a rich, smokey flavor.

The post Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.