Easy luxury: confit duck with potatoes

Time is always an issue, so I'm developing a little repertoire of dishes that almost seem to cook themselves. A family favourite is the all-in-one roast I've blogged about before. We're also partial to cooking a whole chicken with potatoes, all together in the same roasting tin. The bird is slathered with butter and dressed with the juice from a couple of lemons that have been halved and stuffed into the cavity and tucked among the large chunks of potato. I might also slice through a head of garlic and position one half at each end of the bird. A splash of white wine will help keep things moist. After a generous seasoning with salt and pepper, the dish can be put into a moderate oven and left alone to cook until the chicken juices run clear and the potatoes are tender. If you're feeling keen, you could deglaze the tin and make a gravy, or just serve with some green veg or salad and plenty of Dijon mustard.

Recently I cooked a rather more luxurious version of this kind of dish for Valentine's which was on a week night during the half-term holiday. It had been a busy day. I had a tin of confit duck in the cupboard, so decided to see how it responded to this hands-off approach. I peeled and thinly sliced some potatoes and arranged them in a small roasting tin, positioning the (deliciously fatty) pieces of duck on top, before roasting in a moderate oven until the duck skin was crisp and golden and the potatoes soft. (After about half an hour I poured off some excess fat and made sure the duck wasn't colouring up too much. The dish needed just over an hour's cooking.)

While it was in the oven we relaxed with a refreshing apéritif and then enjoyed the dish with some peas – easy and so good with duck – and a little home-made spiced plum chutney on the side. Such a simple dish is an ideal foil for some serious wine and we spoilt ourselves with a mature red Burgundy, the fresh acidity cutting nicely through the decadent duck fat. Fabulous.

Summery all-in-one roast

So tasty and almost unspeakably easy, this is ideal for a weekday supper or a more classic Sunday roast dinner. I just love this recipe as you feel as though you literally throw everything together, pop it in the oven, check a couple of times and, low and behold, you have a really satisfying meal.

In this instance I had some free-range chicken thighs and drumsticks, potatoes, red and yellow peppers and celery. Just remember to cut the vegetables into quite large pieces so that everything cooks together happily at the same time. Once you've added the chicken and vegetables to a large roasting pan, pour over olive oil. Using your hands, turn everything around so that it's well coated in the oil. I also included a couple of lemons (quartered), sprigs of thyme, heads of garlic (sliced through) and plenty of salt and pepper to season.

Roast in the oven at 200°C for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until the meat is cooked through. It's best to check a couple of times and give everything a good stir so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Dish up onto warm plates and enjoy (see opening picture). I also cook this dish with onions, carrots, courgettes, pork or lamb cutlets – whatever's handy. We had some gravy with our chicken, but a dab of mustard would be good, too. (By the way, this was the last proper meal we cooked in our old oven, so the colour does look a bit uneven.)


Wine recommendation

A ripe, oaked Mediterranean white would be a lovely choice such as Gran Viña Sol from Torres near Barcelona, or you could cross the border into France for some garrique-scented red from the Languedoc-Roussillon.