Tagliatelle With Duck Ragù Food

ORECCHIETTE WITH SPICED DUCK RAGù

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Add duck to pot and sauté until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer duck to plate. Add basil, garlic, thyme, cinnamon stick, and crushed red pepper to pot; sauté 3 minutes. Return duck to pot. Add tomatoes; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until duck is tender, about 1 hour. Remove cinnamon stick. Transfer duck to work surface. Cut all meat from bones; cut meat into strips. Return meat to pot. Season duck ragù to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over medium heat before serving.)
• Cook orecchiette in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta. Return to pot. Add duck ragù, arugula, and Parmesan; toss to blend. Divide pasta among small bowls. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

VENETIAN DUCK RAGU

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the duck legs and brown on all sides for about 10 mins. Remove to a plate and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and cook for 5 mins until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 min, then stir in the cinnamon and flour and cook for a further min. Return the duck to the pan, add the wine, tomatoes, stock, herbs, sugar and seasoning. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat, cover with a lid and cook for 2 hrs, stirring every now and then.
• Carefully lift the duck legs out of the sauce and place on a plate - they will be very tender so try not to lose any of the meat. Pull off and discard the fat, then shred the meat with 2 forks and discard the bones. Add the meat back to the sauce with the milk and simmer, uncovered, for a further 10-15 mins while you cook the pasta.
• Cook the pasta following pack instructions, then drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water, and add the pasta to the ragu. Stir to coat all the pasta in the sauce and cook for 1 min more, adding a splash of cooking liquid if it looks dry. Serve with grated Parmesan, if you like.

TAGLIATELLE WITH DUCK RAGù

Steps:

• Heat butter and oil in a deep 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until foam subsides.
• Meanwhile, pat duck dry and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
• Sear duck, skin side down, until golden brown and some of fat has rendered, about 6 minutes. Turn over and cook until browned, about 2 minutes more. Transfer duck to a plate, then add onion to fat in skillet with garlic, rosemary, and 1/8 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add wine and boil 3 minutes.
• Return duck, skin side up, to skillet, then add any juices from plate, stock, and tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a boil, then gently simmer, covered, 1 hour.
• Transfer duck to a cutting board, then skim off about three fourths of fat from sauce and discard.
• Purée sauce in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return sauce to skillet and boil, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 2 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes.
• While sauce reduces, finely chop duck with skin.
• Return chopped duck to sauce and season with salt and pepper.
• Cook tagliatelle in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente, then drain pasta and toss with duck ragú.

TAGLIATELLA FATTA A MANO AL "RAGù DI CARNE"

Steps:

• Tagliatelle.
• The process of making fresh tagliatella is simple but at the same time it needs attention and much love. Put 200g of "00" flour on a wooden board, make a hole in the centre and break the eggs in, add a drop of olive oil and a pinch of salt and with a fork then break up the eggs slowly pulling down the flour a bit at a time. Once this step is complete we move on to the "massage" phase. Knead the dough with your hands until it becomes soft and compact and stretches when pulled, once it reaches the right consistency leave it to rest for around 30 min in a cool place.
• Now comes the most delicate phase of the making of the pasta (in the local "Cossignanese" dialect this is called the "pannella") it is made by rolling using a long wooden pasta rolling-pin to stretch out the dough until it becomes 2mm thin. Use a little four to prevent the dough sticking to the board or rolling pin. It is important to keep all parts of the dough at a similar thickness as it thins out. Start with your hands near the centre of the rolling pin and move them to the ends of the pin as you roll so as to keep an even pressure over the whole area of the dough. Occasionally lift the dough and dust with flour underneath to ensure it does not stick. A special long thin rolling-pin is required to avoid creating flat spots on the pasta as the area of the dough increases.
• At this point the dough can lightly rolled up and cut with a knife to create thin strips 3/4m for "maccheroncino" and 7/8mm for "tagliatella" strips. The pasta is ready to use and since it is fresh it takes only a couple of minutes in boiling water to reach the "al dente" (to the tooth) stage. It can be topped with any suitable sauce: perfect is a "ragu" meat sauce but equally good is a mushroom or fish sauce.
• Ragu.
• In Cossignano the ragu is made with ground beef and pork. This is not "mince" that you might buy in a supermarket. In Italy we buy a piece of meat and ask the butcher to grind it for us so we know exactly what we are eating. Fry a finely chopped onion in a little olive oil, when it becomes soft and translucent add a diced carrot and a chopped stick of celery and cook together for a few minutes. Add 200 grams ground beef and 100 grams of minced pork, brown it with the addition of a glass of red wine. As soon as the meat is browned add salt and pepper to taste pop in a parmesan rind and pour about a quart of passata di pomodoro - pureed tomatoes. Cook for about two hours covered over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom.

DUCK RAGU WITH PAPPARDELLE & SWEDE

Steps:

• Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large deep frying pan over a high heat and fry the duck breasts for 2 mins on either side until well browned, then set aside. Tip the fat from the frying pan into a dish (keep it for later use if you like), and turn the heat on the pan down to medium, then add the rest of the olive oil. Tip the onion and fennel seeds into the pan, add a large pinch of salt and cook for 5 mins until the onion is starting to soften. Crush in the garlic cloves, then add the bay leaf, parsley stalks and thyme leaves. Stir well and cook for 2 mins more.
• Turn the heat up, then pour in the red wine and cook for 2 mins until it has reduced a little. Spoon in the tomato purée and tip in the can of tomatoes along with the stock, stir and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to low and return the duck breasts to the pan, cover and simmer very gently for 40-45 mins or until the meat is tender.
• Remove the duck breasts with a slotted spoon, put in a bowl, turn the heat up and reduce the tomato sauce for 10 mins until thick enough to coat your pasta. Use two forks to shred the duck, then tip the meat back into the sauce. Add the red wine vinegar and raisins, then season to taste. Set aside.
• When ready to serve, cook your pasta. Heat a large pan of well salted water, add the pappardelle and cook following pack instructions. For the final minute of cooking time, drop in the swede. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta water to add to the sauce. Toss the pasta and swede through the sauce. Divide between bowls and top with the toasted pine nuts, parmesan and a scattering of parsley.