Making a hash of it

I made some sous-vide duck legs so I could make duck carnitas tacos. Good eats, and would make again. 

However, today's bonus brunch was even better. I'd never made hash before, but leftover duck carnitas + little gold potatoes + some of the remaining cherry tomatoes from the garden inspired me to try. 

Not sure what Grandma Jane would have made of this rendition, but I loved it. 

That's the thing about cooking for yourself...you can do things the way *you* want them. 

Sous vide duck legs

Duck confit is one of the foods of the gods. Since I have a chamber vac, thermo-circulator, and freezer, I don't need loads of duck fat to cook and preserve a reasonable facsimile. After this experiment, duck legs are my new favorite thing to sous vide.

My primary goal was to make duck carnitas, so I seasoned the legs with salt, Chimayo chile, and a little Pimentón de la Vera and added some orange juice, smashed garlic cloves, and fresh lemon thyme. Sealed one leg per bag and threw them in a 155 degree bath for about 30 hours. I wasn't sure how many I would use at once, so wanted to be able to freeze any extra. I ended up shredding all of it. And, thankfully, had leftovers.

The legs have plenty of fat to cook in. I scored the skin and poked some holes in the untrimmed fat. The only downside to this technique is that it's harder to reclaim the fat. I *should* have poured the leftover fat/juice in a tub and refrigerated. Then I could have peeled off & saved the fat this morning. I opted to pay attention to my guests, instead. Next time, I won't let it go to waste.

Duck skin cracklings

When I shredded the meat, I peeled the skin off and set it aside. It was kind of slimy and soft, so I wasn't sure how well it would fry up. I shouldn't have worried. It crisped up and was pretty much the highlight of the tacos. Sadly, I forgot to garnish my hash with the leftovers. Ah, well. They'll make great salad sprinkles.

Duck carnitas hash

I'm not good at eating leftovers, but I'm totally into cooking extra protein and saving it to make something else. I didn't *plan* on making hash for brunch, but after the coffee soaked in this morning, it seemed like the obvious choice. 

I skipped the poached eggs since I'd already had a couple leftover deviled eggs. (There are leftovers, and there are handy snacks.) Some recipes also call for cream, but that sounded way too rich for early in the day. 

I halved the little potatoes, tossed them in olive oil and seasoned with salt, Chimayo chile, Pimentón de la Vera, and black pepper. They went into a cazuela and got roasted for 45 minutes or so in a 400 degree oven. 

The rest was pretty much just assembly. 

I heated a small skillet and added the roasted potatoes and some of the leftover carnitas. 

Once the duck was heated through, I added a splash of Amontillado sherry and a little sherry vinegar, halved cherry tomatoes, and a handful of baby spinach and arugula. I tossed until the greens started to wilt, and plated it up. 

I finished with a little Crimson Cove alder-smoked sea salt. 

Had the Crystal Sauce handy, but didn't really need it. Yum.

What wine goes with hash?

I bought this Les Petits Diables because it seemed thematically correct for Halloween. 

And, I'm not quite ready to let go of summer.

Turns out, it's a solid Provence rosé and the fresh watermelon notes were a perfect complement to the richness of the duck.