Sautéed Duck with Sweet Potatoes and Kohlrabi

We cook duck many ways at our house. Plain roasted duck is still a favorite, although I occasionally cook the breast rare and then cook the legs in rat to make a confit. One of the easiest and tastiest duck recipes is to saute it on top of the stove. When it is halfway cooked, I add root vegetables that I grow in my garden-from parsnips to white or yellow turnips, sweet potatoes, and kohlrabi. Cut into large pieces and braised in duck fat. kohlrabi has a wonderfully sweet taste, slightly nutty. redolent of white turnips and cabbage. We serve the duck in pieces with the bones, because we love to suck on the bones right at the table. This is a dish to have en famille or with close friends.

The duck liver is added to the skillet for a couple of minutes at the end of the browning period. Sliced on toast and shared with my wife, I enjoy this cook's bonus with a glass of wine or an aperitif.

Cut a 5 and 1/2 lb duck into pieces. First, cut in half, then cut each half into the leg and breast portions. Separate the wings at the shoulder joints, and cut each breast and each leg in half. You will have a dozen pieces with the neck and gizzard. Set the liver aside. Sprinkle the duck pieces and gizzard generously with salt. Remove any extra skin from around the neck or lumps offat from inside the duck, and cut it into Ih-inch pieces.

Place the duck pieces skin side down in two nonstick skillets, and sprinkle the pieces of duck skin and fat around them. They should not overlap. Cook over high heat for 20 to 25 minutes, partially covered, so it doesn't splatter too much. After 5 or 6 minutes, check the pieces by lifting them with tongs to see that the skin is browning nicely.

While the duck is browning, prepare the vegetables. I like red garnet sweet potatoes, and prefer to use small, narrow ones. Peel 2 or 3 potatoes, and cut them into 1 1/2 inch chunks to have 2 pieces per person. Peel about 12 pearl onions and 2 or 3 kohlrabies, each about 5 or 6 ounces, and cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Separate about 12 cloves of garlic from the heads, leaving them unpeeled, and have a sprig of rosemary to add for flavor.

When the duck has browned for 20 to 25 minutes, the pieces will have shrunken considerably, the skin will be beautifully brown and crystallized. and a great deal of fat will have accumulated around them. Transfer the duck pieces, still skin side down, to a larger saucepan, so they fit in one slightly overlapping layer, add the fat and crackling from the duck, arrange the vegetables on and around the duck pieces, and top with the rosemary. Sprinkle with salt. The vegetables should be at least partially submerged in the fat. Bring to a strong hoil over high heat, and then reduce the heat to medium or low, cover tightly to create steam inside, and cook for an additional 30 minutes. By then, the duck and the vegetables should be tender to the point of a knife.

Transfer the duck and vegetables to a platter. You should have about 1 and 1/2 cups of fat, which can be reserved and refrigerated or frozen for use in sauteing potalOes or adding to pates or soups.

There should be a nice crystalliution of cooking juices in the bottom of the pan. Deglaze the pan with about 3/4 cup of chicken stock or water. Strain this mixture, and pour over the duck for a natural grary. Sprinkle with some chopped paisley, and serve this hearty country dish with an earthy red wine, like a Cahors, Madiran, or a California Syrah.