Boston Food Blog | Recipe Journal and Boston Restaurant Reviews

Duck

Braised Duck Ragu Recipe with Fennel and Tagliatelle

You may think that the title of this post makes it sound like some big, heavy, complicated, difficult recipe to produce, but I want to assure you that it’s anything but.  One of the beauties of rustic Italian food is that it’s all relatively simple, even for an elegant meal such as braised duck.  This meal was almost done all in one pot, the only other hardware we used was the pot to cook the pasta and another small pan to being the pasta and braised duck sauce together with a little pasta water.

In terms of the sauce with the braised duck, well that’s actually pretty simple too.  There’s a protein: fresh organic duck legs that we bought at Savenor’s here in Boston – Some vegetables: standard mirepoix (carrots, onion and celery) along with garlic and fennel – Some liquid that starts as braising liquid and ends as the pasta sauce bringing everything together.  Other than that, a few herbs and a very simple garnish of basil and Parmesan and you have a dish that’s wholesome, hearty and a great way to serve duck!  Here’s the idea:

Serves 6-8

• 4 organic duck legs, skin on
• 3-4 medium carrots – cubed or diced
• 4 medium stalks of celery – trimmed and cubed
• 1 large yellow onion  – diced
• 1 large head of fennel – sliced in half and then cut lengthwise into strips
• 4-5 cloves garlic – rough dice

• 2 bay leaves
• A handful of dried mushrooms – porcini or shitake
• Around a cup of dry red wine (good quality preferred!) – I eyed it, like 1/3 of the bottle
• 1.5 cups good quality chicken stock
• 1 28 oz. can of peeled whole tomatoes (San Marzano preferred if you can find them)
• 1.5 lb dried Tagliatelle nests
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Basil and Parmesan for garnish

The best equipment to do this recipe in is your classic dutch oven.  If you don’t have one of those trendy Le Creuset or other models, then a good sturdy heavy bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid will do ok, but will make you stir more.

Start by removing the fat and skin from your duck legs.  Reserve a couple little pieces of the skin and fat though, instead of tossing it out straight away.  Salt your cleaned duck on both sides and pour a glug of olive oil into your pot that you should start over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is almost smoking, add the duck legs and sear on one side until it’s brown.  Flip them and do the same on the other side and then remove the duck from the pot.  Add in the reserved pieces of duck fat and lower the heat to medium.  Render out some of the fat, then remove the skin pieces and discard them.

Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic to the pot along with bay leaf and stir to combine.  You don’t want to color the vegetables, so stir often to prevent them from browning.  After 5 minutes or so, add the fennel and stir to combine.  Cook all of the vegetables together for around 10-15 minutes, then add the wine and the mushrooms.  Let the alcohol cook off for 2 minutes, and then add the tomatoes and chicken stock to the mix. Once the tomatoes are added, crush them up a bit with the back of a wooden spoon on the side of your pot.

Bring the mixture to a boil and then add lower the heat to low, maintaining a melow simmer.  Add the duck legs back to the pot and cover.  Let this cook for around an hour or until the meat starts to pull back from the end of the leg bone.  Once the duck is done, remove it and pull the meat off of the bones, shred the meat with 2 forks (should look a little like the pic) and then discard the bones.  Leave the sauce uncovered and turn the heat up slightly, then put the pulled meat back into the post.  Sitr frequently, letting the sauce cook down to your desired consistency – around 15-30 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking down, cook your pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water.  Once the pasta is finished, combine it in a warm skillet with a little pasta water from the cooking process.  Plate and top the dishes with fresh basil (chiffonade) and some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.