Crispy Duck Leg with Lentils & Orange

Ingredients

• 2 duck legs
• salt and black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 200 g Puy lentils, rinsed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 400 ml chicken stock
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C fan. Score the duck skin in a tight crosshatch — through the fat, not into the meat — so the fat has somewhere to escape. Mix the five spice and smoked paprika, rub it all over the legs, then season generously with salt and pepper. Salt now matters: it draws moisture out of the skin and is the difference between crisp and chewy.
2. Lay the duck legs skin-side down in a cold, ovenproof frying pan and set it over medium heat. Cold pan, cold duck — the fat renders slowly and the skin pulls away from the bone instead of seizing. Listen for a steady, lazy sizzle for about 10 minutes, until a pool of fat has gathered and the skin is deep gold. Flip for 2 minutes, then slide the pan into the oven.
3. Roast for 60–70 minutes until the skin is mahogany and crackling and the meat pulls easily from the bone. Pour the rendered fat into a jar and keep it — that's roast-potato gold for next Sunday.
4. While the duck is in the oven, warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms with a good pinch of salt and cook for 8–9 minutes, stirring now and then, until everything is soft and the mushrooms have given up their liquid and started to colour. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter.
5. Tip in the lentils and the chicken stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook lid-ajar for 20–25 minutes, until the lentils are tender but still holding their shape and most of the stock has been absorbed. You want them creamy at the edges, not mushy.
6. Stir the shredded spinach through the hot lentils — it'll collapse in seconds. Add the orange zest, the orange juice and a splash of red wine vinegar, then season with salt and pepper. Taste, season, taste again: you're chasing a bright, savoury hum where the orange lifts the earthiness of the lentils. Adjust now, not at the table. Stir the parsley through at the last moment so it stays green.
7. Spoon the lentils onto warm plates and sit a crispy duck leg on top. Scatter over the extra parsley and serve with a lemon wedge on the side — a squeeze of lemon over the crackling skin cuts the richness and wakes the whole plate up.