Duck Mac and Cheese

I make mac and cheese for a living. Seriously... my job involves two things: making mac and cheese and cookies. So you think I'd get tired of it, but I don't. Especially since at home I can experiment more and use things like... DUCK!

My favourite step making mac and cheese is the roux. Cooking fat and flour until it smells like popcorn and reaches a perfect, nutty gold is somehow soothing. Except when my hand slips and I accidentally flick some on my face, then it kind of burns and leaves a little scar on my chin... but I'm more careful since that incident.

If you don't fancy duck, just replace the duck fat with butter and omit the meat. It's a pretty flexible recipe, but I definitely recommend using duck if you enjoy decadence. Duck legs are cheaper and they didn't dry out for me, but you can also use duck breast if you're feeling decadent financially too.

Duck Mac and Cheese
makes 6 very-hungry lady servings, 9 by 13 inch pan

4 medium onions, very thinly sliced

photo by Tannis Price

hunk of butter
2 fatty duck legs
salt

75 g duck fat (1/3 cup)
75 g flour (1/2 cup)
4 cups milk, scalded
nutmeg, cayenne, dijon mustard, salt and pepper
600 g old cheddar
75 g Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)

500 g pasta (I used mini farfalle)

Prep:

1  Preheat the oven to 350 F. Rub the duck skin with a bit of salt and score it to reveal the fat so it can render into your baking dish. Place the legs in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake one hour. Remove the foil and bake for half an hour more.
2 While the duck cooks, heat the butter over medium heat and add the onions, cook on low for almost an hour until they form a melty caramelized mass- add a dash of wine if they seem to be drying out too fast
3 Once the duck is done, lift the legs out of the pan and reserve the fat for the roux. Remove the skin and bone from the duck and chop the meat into pieces as big as you please
4 Once the onions and duck are ready, put a big pot of water on to boil and scald the milk while you grate the cheddar cheese
5 Cook the pasta for about 2 minutes less than the al dente serving time, you want it fairly firm

 Making the mac:
6 Once everything is ready to go, preheat the oven to 350 F
7 Put the cup duck fat in a very large pot over medium heat, once it's melted whisk in the flour and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Trust your instincts here please, when it smells like popcorn and gets all golden and smooth it is ready, don't settle for a beige paste and don't burn it!
8 Slowly whisk in the scalded milk, stirring constantly and heartily to avoid lumps. If it is clumping, turn of the heat and just stir it for a while until it is smooth
9 Once all the milk is in, cook the sauce until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of your stirring spoon, then stir in the spices, tasting as you go. Start of small and remember you'll be adding cheese so hold back on the salt
10 Turn off the heat and stir in the cheddar cheese and half the Parmesan until smooth, then stir in the onions, duck and pasta
11 Pour everything into a very large baking dish, top with the remaining Parmesan and bake for half an hour. Stick it under the broiler for a couple minutes if you want a browner top, watch it like a hawk!

This is a fairly step heavy recipe, but it's very much worth it. The duck doesn't fly at your face, it's more of a subtly rich flavour that is accentuated by the caramelized onion. I like to serve this with a baby spinach salad with apples, dried cranberries, toasted nuts and balsamic vinaigrette- it really takes the edge off the richness.

Enjoy with caution as a daily dose may make you forget all your troubles and just get happy.