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Tagliatelle with Slow Braised Duck Ragu

Ingredients

  • 4 duck legs
  • 3-4 tblsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion or 1/2 a large onion finely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 celery stalk finely chopped
  • 2-3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 2-3 sprigs of sage
  • 5-6 stems of parsley
  • Cheesecloth & kitchen string
  • 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1- 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock preferably homemade
  • 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes chopped
  • 1 navel orange
  • salt and pepper
  • grated pecorino cheese
  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 1 lb. of fresh homemade tagliatelle or dried pasta of your choosing. Gigli or gemelli also works well.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the duck legs with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. When hot and almost smoking, add the duck legs skin side down and brown well on both sides, about 6-8 minutes. Remove the duck legs and transfer to a platter. Spoon out about half of the rendered duck fat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and cumin seed, and cook until softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes being mindful to not let the garlic burn. Meanwhile make a bouquet garni with your herbs; wrap the rosemary, sage and parsley in the cheesecloth, tie with string and make a small bundle. Add the tomato paste to the veggies and toss it all in for about a minute. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Let the wine reduce a bit. Return the duck and all its drippings to the pot with the bouquet garni, the San Marzano tomatoes and their liquid, and enough stock to keep the meat submerged. Season with salt and pepper, bring it to a simmer, then cover it and transfer it to the oven for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. By now, the duck meat should fall right off the bone.
  • After it is cool enough to handle, take the duck legs out, pull all the meat off the bones, shred it and return it to the sauce. Discard the skin. Remove the bouquet garni. If the sauce is too thin reduce it on the stove top to thicken it. Zest about half of the orange into the sauce and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. When the sauce is ready, add your homemade pasta to the pot of salted boiling water you remembered to start 15 minutes ago. Fresh pasta will take 1 to 2 minutes to cook. When it rises to the surface, pour it out into a colander. Separately, put a large sauce pot over low heat. Add some sauce to the pot. Then add the pasta, a couple of pads of butter, and more sauce. Toss it all together over low heat until the butter is melted and the sauce has a nice silky consistency. Serve with pecorino.