Recipes

Black Cat Bistro - Main Course

summer salad with arugula, chicken confit, almonds, goat cheese and pickled wild blueberries

DATE: Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Ingredients

1 large handful of arugula
1 chicken confit leg, crisped in the oven
2 tbps (8 grams) toasted almonds, chopped
2 tbsp (30 grams) soft goats cheese
2 tbsp (30 grams) pickled wild blueberries

For the vinaigrette:
1 tbsp (10 grams) shallot, finely diced
1.5 tbsp (23mL) olive oil
2 tsp (10mL) lemon juice
salt & pepper

For the pickled blueberries:
1.5 cups (325mL) blueberry juice
1c (250mL)balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1c wild blueberries
5 threads of orange zest

For the chicken confit
250g kosher salt
165 g brown sugar
50g cracked pepper
2 sprig thyme
5 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves

Preparation

Boil juice vinegar and sugar together.  Measure berries and orange zest in a separate container.    When liquid comes to a boil, pour over blueberries and zest.    Allow to steep for as little as an hour or even better overnight

Cure the chicken legs in a heavy sprinkling of the cure mixture and place in a dish in the fridge with a weight over top over night.  The following day, rinse the cure from the legs with cold water.  Dry the legs and submerge them in warm duck fat .  Cover with foil and cook at 275F for 2.5 hours or until tender. At this point you can either pick the chicken from the bones to toss in the salad, or, chill the chicken legs overnight and warm them in the oven skin side down until the skin is crisp and serve whole with the salad