Duck Ragu with Pangrattato

The duck hunting season is almost upon us, but you don’t need to shoot one to eat one. Your local supermarket or butcher should have them on hand, making this duck ragu from Martin Shanahan a great alternative to the Sunday roast.

1 whole duck

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Ragu sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 stalks celery, finely diced

1 large carrot, peeled and finely sliced

1 large onion, finely sliced

4 slices smoked streaky bacon, finely sliced

1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

¼ cup sherry vinegar

2 cups red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup tomato passata

1 x 400 gram tin crushed tomatoes

500 grams dried pappardelle

Pangrattato

cooked duck skin (see recipe below), roughly chopped

1 tablespoon rosemary leaves

two thick slices white bread (you can use ciabatta or sourdough)

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Duck: You can roast the duck the day before or morning of the meal.

Remove the duck from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Pat the duck dry inside and out and season all over.  Roast for 2 hours. Cool. Remove the skin of the duck and set aside for the pangrattato. Pull off all the meat and roughly chop to a similar size. 

Pangrattato: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process to rough crumbs. Heat a little olive oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat and cook the crumbs until golden and crispy. You can do this right before serving or while the sauce is simmering but make sure you place it in a preheated oven to keep in hot. 

Ragu: Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan and add the celery, carrots and onions. Season with salt and pepper and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Increase the heat to medium and using the same pan, add the bacon and rosemary leaves. Cook until crispy and brown.

Add the sherry vinegar and red wine and cook until the sauce is reduced by half. Return the sautéed vegetables to the pan along with the tomato paste, passata and tomatoes. Bring to the boil and then simmer over a low heat for 30-40 minutes until the sauce starts to reduce and thicken. In the last 10 minutes add all the shredded duck meat to the pot.

To serve: Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling well salted water until al dente. Drain and return to the saucepan.

Mix half of the ragu through the pasta then divide between four plates. Spoon the remaining ragu over the top of each serving and sprinkle over the pangrattato.

Serves 4