Duck Réveillon Cassoulet

Celticevergreen's Note:

New Orleans Creole cuisine offers this dish to us served during the Christmas Eve Réveillon. This recipe is from the Brennan family of New Orlean's restaurant fame.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 6 slices bacon, chopped (smoked)
• 6 (10 ounce) duck legs, quarters skinned
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
• 7 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 1 cup celery, minced
• 1/2 cup carrot, minced
• 6 cups reduced-sodium fat-free chicken broth
• 6 cups frozen black-eyed peas, thawed
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped and divided
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped and divided

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon, reserving 3 tbsp drippings in the pan. Set bacon aside.
2. Increase heat to medium-high. Sprinkle duck legs with half the salt and pepper. Add three duck legs to drippings. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining duck legs.
3. Add onion and garlic to pan and saute for 3 minutes. Add remaining salt and pepper, mushrooms, celery and carrot. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes or until very tender, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in broth, peas, half the thyme and half the parsley. Return duck to pan and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hours 20 minutes or until duck is tender. Stir occasionally, slightly mashing beans occasionally with fork or potato masher.
5. Remove duck from pan and cool slightly. Remove meat from bones and shred. Discard bones. Return meat to pan.
6. Simmer 20 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining thyme and parsley. Sprinkle with bacon.