Roasted Duck Leg Salad (With Red Quinoa, Blood Oranges, and Pistachios)

I enjoy cooking and dining on duck and am always on the lookout for a new way to enjoy one of my favorite repasts.  And, here is yet a new approach:  Red Quinoa with Blood Oranges, Pistachios, Herbs and Thyme-Encrusted Roasted Duck Legs, from Salade: Recipes from the Market Table by Pascale Beale.

Roasted Duck Leg Salad

I head over to Barons Meat and Seafood at the Alameda Marketplace and grab the last three duck legs and then next door to the Alameda Natural Grocery for blood oranges.  I season the duck legs with salt and peppers, score each one several times on the skin side, and insert a sprig of thyme into each cut.  The legs then roast in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for an hour.

While the duck is cooking, I prepare the other salad ingredients:  zest of several blood oranges, which are then peeled and the fruit chopped into small pieces, another blood orange quartered, a cup of red quinoa (which will simmer in 2 cups of water), several shallots thin sliced, 1/4 cup of pistachios, chopped chives and parsley, and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

Duck legs and other ingredients

The duck roasts and the quinoa simmers while I sauté the thin-sliced shallots in olive oil until soft and translucent.  I then add the blood-orange zest, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper and set aside.

Duck legs roasting, quinoa simmering 

 Shallots sautéeing, then with zest and basalmic

As soon as the quinoa is done, it joins the shallots and zest, along with the chopped blood orange fruit, pistachios, and chopped parsley and chives.  The assembly is stirred well and spooned onto the serving plates.

Shallots, quinoa, blood-orange zest 

and fruit, pistachios, herbs, balsamic

The salad mixture is topped with a roasted duck leg and a squeeze of the blood orange quarters.  Add a glass of Rodney Strong Zinfandel and the meal is complete!

Served, with wine, ready to enjoy