Emeril's Duck Confit Pizza

I love being able to combine business and pleasure.  The rules say that I have to do an annual sign audit at a bank where one of my reps offices on occasion.  That means a looonnnggg trip west of Indy.  All for about five minutes of work.  Bleech. 

Now, Saturday's normally a workday for me.  Actually, truth be told, Sunday is too.  I just tend to work more hours on Saturday than Sunday.  Connie'd found a blurb on the Mansfield Mushroom Festival several months back.  It'd been on our calendar ever since.  I didn't think I had a prayer of taking the time to head out there.  But for the fact that I was totally exhausted - physically and mentally - I'd never have done it.  If I didn't have a break, I was going to crack.  And, since I had to do the sign audit and really didn't want to take half of a weekday workday, heading west was perfect.  Off to Mansfield we went. 

I got up really early and got a bunch of work done so I'd not feel quite so guilty about taking a Saturday out of the office.  We checked Google maps so we'd have an idea where we were going.  The whole idea was to stay off the main highways as much as possible - while still doing the sign check.  Over the river and through the woods we went.  Please don't ask what the folks at the bank really thought about the crazy lady in the sweats and tennies who came in to verify that the SIPC sign was there.  They were very nice in spite of the fact that I looked a bit seedy.  Way out in the boonies, we found Mansfield.  Talk about a speck on the map!  If there were a dozen buildings in the town, I'd be shocked.  The first thing we came up on was the auction.  There were coolers lining several tables. 

The coolers were all full of gallon ziplock bags of morels.  Freshly picked morels.  The most gorgeous morels I've ever seen.  Now, in the grocery if you can find them, the morels go for about $40 a pound.  These were MUCH better quality and much less expensive. 

Needless to say, we bought a bag. 

Next stop, the roller mill.  The way flour used to be milled. 

There's no way to show you how the mill actually worked because it's just too complicated.  One of those you've got to be there types of things. 

Suffice to say, the building is filled with spouts and shoots and all kinds of things to move the goods around.  The machinery was fascinating. 

And, we explored every inch of it!

From the mill we went to visit the covered bridge.  It was built to allow the farmers on the west side of Raccoon Creek to get their goods across the creek to the mill.  A few years ago we got to explore another covered bridge.  This was a different type of construction and was called a burr arch as I recall. 

There were dozens of State Fair types of vendors hawking all kinds of goodies.  Tenderloins were one of the most popular choices.  Oh, and there were the folks selling junque.  Ugh.  Otherwise known as crap.  Do not make eye contact with those vendors or you'll need to extricate yourself from their grip.  They want to SELL you something.  Preferably something way overpriced that I'd not even take to the church rummage sale...  Ok, so we ignored those folks.

Time to head home.  And, time to read more cooking magazines.  That's one of the best things about adventures.  Or, even riding to the office with Connie.  I actually get to read cooking magazines.  FoodNetwork Magazine.  I ordered it because I love watching FoodTV - on the rare occasion I actually get to watch TV.  Now, I love the magazine.  I found a recipe for a pizza made with duck confit.  Something I've become very fond of but don't eat very often.  The recipe looked easy used up a lot of the arugula. 

We got our CSA share Friday afternoon. Overall, it was pretty skimpy but still good. Last week we got about six salads out of the greens. This week, I think we'll get 4-5. But, I may be wrong and we could get six again. We also got some green onions and a big bag of arugula. That meant when I saw the recipe for Emeril's Duck Confit Pizza I was thrilled to find something really different that would allow me to use most of the arugula.

What did we think?  Oh, my.  It was incredible.  The recipe showed one fried egg in the middle.  All I could picture was cutting that egg into quarters and having all the yolk run all over.  Not a good idea.  Four quarters, four eggs.  And, a LOT more arugula than the photo in the magazine showed.  By the way, I totally cheated on the crust.  Boboli it was.  NO time to make a homemade crust.  So, here you go.  For a total treat...

Emeril's Duck Confit Pizza

Ingredients:

Boboli pizza crust - or homemade
3T extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 oz shredded duck confit
4 large eggs
2 c baby arugula
1/4 c grated romano cheese
truffle oil

Directions:

Heat the garlic gently in the olive oil until the flavor has infused the oil. 

Brush the olive oil on the pizza crust. 

Top with the duck confit. 

Bake on a hot pizza stone for 8-10 minutes at 500.  While the pizza is baking, cook the eggs sunny side up in a small drizzle of olive oil. 

When the pizza is removed from the oven, top it with the arugula, then the eggs (sunny side up,) then the grated cheese.  Drizzle with truffle oil and serve. 

adapted from Food Network Magazine, Emeril Lagasse