Ah duck. It’s a little bit exotic, and a little bit difficult to prepare at times, but this recipe is dead-simple. Can you heat an oven and put stuff in a baking dish? Then you can make this rustic, yet elegant duck leg recipe.

I used Muscovy duck, but feel free to play around with other varieties. Muscovy tends to be dark and rich while other breeds can be lighter or even more fatty. The other difference between breeds tends to be size. Muscovy is the size of a healthy chicken leg. So, if you can only get hold of a smaller breed, you may need to pull the duck out of the oven a little sooner.

And you’re probably asking yourself, “90 min??” Duck leg and duck breast doesn’t cook up quite the same as chicken. For duck leg, a lower temp and longer cooking time will yield better results.

Prep time: 5 min.

Cook time: 90 min.

Serves: 1 (easily scale up for more servings)

Ingredients

• 1 duck quarter (I used Muscovy)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
• 4 whole mushrooms, sliced in half
• 4-5 broccoli florets (stems removed)
• 4-6 whole cherry tomatoes
• 1 celery stock, chopped
• Small handful of green onions, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Thyme (fresh or dried)

Preparation

• Heat oven to 325°F

• Using the tip of a knife or other sharp object, poke holes all over the fatty side of the duck. Salt and pepper both sides. Place in baking dish, skin side up.
  • Note: Poking holes in the fat helps the fat melt in the pan. Be sure to puncture the skin well. Give it a good stab. You’ll feel it pop through.

• Add the carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, and celery around the duck leg. Sprinkle everything liberally with thyme.

• Roast for 1.5 hours (90 min.) stirring the vegetables at least twice during the process to coat them with the fat collecting on the bottom of the pan. Try to drizzle a little duck fat over the leg, but otherwise, leave the leg alone.

• Plate and drizzle remaining fat from pan over vegetables.