DUCK RAGU

This one is one for many people to eat on a cold day. Get it on in the morning and slap it in your oven or slow cooker and it will pretty much be ready to go at the end of the day. It's a really nice alternative to a beefier ragu. You'll go quackers for this one! Ha!

5.5 Hours

Ingredients

(To Serve 6)

4 Large Duck Legs
2 Celery Stalks
2 Carrots
2 Shallots
1 Small White Onion
Lots of Salt & Pepper
Tablespoon Tomato Purée
1 Litre Veg Stock
200ml Wine
A Cinnamon Stick
4 Bay Leaves
A Bit of Star Anise
A Handful of Fresh Oregano
Tin of Whole Plum Tomatoes
A Parmesan Rind
2 Square Inches of 90% Dark Chocolate
Juice of Half an Orange
Zest of a Whole Orange
500g Pappardelle Past
Parmesan (To Serve)

Ingredients

Instructions

If you're using an oven and oven proof dish to slow cook then preheat to 130ºC. Prepare your vegetable bits. You'll need to peel your carrots and shallots and onion. Dice your celery, carrot, shallot and onion as finely as possible and set aside.
Pat your duck legs dry and throw them skin side up in a cold non-stick frying pan. Season generously with salt and pepper and then flip to season the other side. Heat the pan up to a medium heat and render out that fat while the duck legs crisp up. This can take a few minutes. Turn the heat up high and flip the duck legs to cook the other side. After about 10 minutes of frying, take the duck legs and set them aside on the plate. Pour all but about 2 teaspoons of the duck fat into another container. Save it. It's great for roast spuds.
In the same pan, add your diced carrot, celery, onion and shallot. Cook in the duck fat on a low-medium heat until softened. Don't forget to stir regularly. While it softens, boil a kettle and squirt a tablespoon of tomato purée into a measuring jug. Add a vegetable stock cube and fill with boiling water. Stir to mix everything together.
When the veggies have softened you can turn the heat up a bit on the pan and add the red wine. Season with salt and add your cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise and fresh oregano. Mix this over a medium-high heat and add your tinned tomatoes. Smash up with the back of a spoon and then use the tomato/stock mixture to rinse out the tomato juice in the tin. Add the rest of the liquid and mix.
If you're using a slow cooker then you want it on a low heat. Pour all of the liquid/sauce into the slow cooker or oven proof dish then add your duck legs. Add the parmesan rind, chocolate, a slice of orange with its juice and the orange zest. Mix all of this together and slow cook for 5 hours.
When the five long hours are up you can remove your duck legs and put them in a bowl to shred with two forks. Add all of the liquid into a pan and put on a high heat to reduce. Make sure to remove the cinnamon, parmesan rind and star anise if you can find it. Reduce by about half. Shred the duck whilst the sauce reduces and discard the bones. Add the shredded duck meat to the sauce and keep on a low heat.
Get a pan of water to the boil and add a tablespoon of salt. Cook your pasta to packet instructions but a minute less. Take the pasta off the boil but keep in the starchy water. For each portion you want to follow this process: use tongs to add some pappardelle to a large bowl, add a ladleful of ragu, add a pinch of salt, crack of black pepper and a grating of parmesan, stir together, serve in a bowl and top with a little more ragu, finish with parmesan. This will ensure that each portion is covered in a good amount of sauce but also that the pasta has been well coated. Dig in you mad head.