Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day but lunch is the best meal of the day. Or at least it should be – there’s so much variety you can have – sandwiches, soup, pies, salads, burgers, hot meals… it could be anything you want. But lunch has become a meal that has become a trope of boring, uninspired sandwiches and Tesco Value Meal deals that are consumed while sat at the desk of your joy-stealing day job.
But it doesn’t have to be like that! Lunch can be exciting again and I love a great sandwich – and one of the ultimate sandwiches is this duck confit sandwich. You have beautiful, slow cooked confit of duck, melty cheese, an awesome balsamic strawberry sauce and mustard mayo.
It’s not a quick sandwich by any means, but it requires very little effort! Duck confit is amazing by itself, but when you add in the sweet yet sharp balsamic strawberry sauce, this is a sandwich that will perk up any lunchtime and impress your friends and your tastebuds.
To really take this to the next level, make the sandwich using the rolls from my Soft Bread Roll recipe.
Pulled Duck Confit Sandwich with Strawberry Balsamic Sauce
Print RecipeIngredients
- For the duck filling:
- 2 x Duck Legs
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Rosemary
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- ¼ tsp Cayenne
- Goose Fat, for cooking
- 2 x slices of cheese
- Romaine Lettuce
- For the strawberry balsamic sauce:
- 3 tbsp Strawberry Jam
- 1½ tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- ½ x Red Onion
- 1tbsp Olive Oil
- 15g Butter
- For the Mustard Mayo:
- 2 tsp Mayonnaise
- 1 tsp English Mustard
Instructions
Combine the salt, pepper, rosemary, cumin and cayenne in a bowl, then thoroughly rub into the duck legs on both sides and place into a bowl and cover with cling film. Place in the fridge to marinade for three hours.
While the duck is marinading, we can make our balsamic strawberry sauce - firstly, cut an onion half - save half of it for another recipe - and cut the other half into strips and place into a saucepan with the olive oil and butter and cook over a very gentle heat for 30 - 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and jammy.
Let the onions cool for ten minutes, and then place into a bowl, add in the strawberry jam and balsamic vinegar, mix together thoroughly and place into the fridge for later.
Preheat an oven to 140°C (130°C Fan)/250°F/Gas Mark 2.
Once the duck has been marinading for three hours, wash the duck legs off and then pat dry thoroughly with some kitchen towel. Place into a roasting dish and cover in the goose fat, cover loosely with tin foil and place into the oven for 3 - 3½ hours.
Once the duck has finished cooking, carefully remove from the fat and place onto a plate lined with kitchen towel. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, then pull the meat apart off the bone with a couple of forks.
Place a pan over a medium-high heat and toast the roll in the dry pan for a couple of minutes until browned, and then add the duck meat into the pan and cooking the pan for a few minutes. Place the cheese slices on top of the duck meat so it melts onto the meat.
While the duck is cooking in the pan, mix together the mayo and the mustard and then add to the bottom half of your roll.
Once the cheese has melted into the duck slightly, remove the pan and construct the rest of your sandwich with the cheesey duck, then the romaine lettuce and then finally the balsamic strawberry sauce, and enjoy!
