Duck Prosciutto with White Beans
Wondering what to do with the duck prosciutto and duck stock you just made (or plan on making)?
I love the combination of duck and white beans, so last night I threw a few things together and was pretty happy with the results.
This recipe was the result of total experimentation. I had a little help from my new copy of The Flavor Bible on a couple of ideas. Of course, we all have a concept--based on our eating habits and culinary experience--about foods (and herbs and spices) that compliment one another, but The Flavor Bible is an detailed exploration and marvelous book-length compendium of flavor harmonies. In a practical sense, it gives you a great deal of freedom to use what you have on hand and many, many options when you're staring into your pantry desperately trying to create something out of "nothing."
I knew I wanted to use my duck stock, duck prosciutto, and white beans. So I looked up duck in The Flavor Bible and found, under "Flavor Affinities," "duck+cloves+garlic+orange+prunes+red wine." I didn't have any prunes and I wanted to use kumquats instead of oranges, but I used this suggestion to get started. Here's what I ended up with:
Duck Proscuitto with White Beans
2 cups dried white beans, soaked*
5 cups duck stock
1 bay leaf
3 whole cloves
4 whole peppercorns, crushed with the back of your kitchen knife
1 TBS olive oil or duck fat
3 kumquats, minced (about 1 heaping TBS)
2 shallots, minced (about 2 TBS)
1 TBS port
salt to taste
3-5 thin slices duck prosciutto per serving
Using pre-soaked white beans (either traditional overnight soak, or quick soak: cover beans with 2 inches of water, bring to a boil over high heat, cover and turn off heat and let the beans sit for one hour, drain them and they are ready to use), cover with duck stock. Add bay leaf, clove, crushed black peppercorns. Bring all to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, adding water occasionally if needed. At around 40 minutes of cooking time you will begin to notice that some of the beans begin to break down. I love this creamy consistency. If you don't, taste for doneness and as soon as the beans are cooked just right for you, take them off the heat. If you're like me keep the beans on the heat for 5 or 10 minutes more, stirring periodically to keep the beans from burning on the bottom.
Meanwhile, just before the beans are done, put the olive oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add the shallots and kumquats and sauté for 3 minutes or so. Add the port and stir the mixture for a minute more or until the port is absorbed and the alcohol has evaporated. Add the shallot, kumquat mixture to the beans. Salt to taste (in my opinion, white beans require a little extra salt.) Remove the bay leaf from the beans and serve them topped with thin slices of duck prosciutto.
The beans are very subtly flavored and are really quite different from white beans made with water or pork stock. Not to mention the unbeatably lovely aroma of duck stock filing the kitchen. The kids devoured the meal; though, they had one slight misconception--that the duck was bacon--I did not bother to correct. I made a simple salad of butter leaf lettuce, olive oil, and light sprinkling of fleur de sel--topped with some very delicious, fresh, tiny mandarins the girls picked out at the market--as an accompaniment.
