Duck Ragù with Dried Porcini

This happy concoction came about during our Christmas festivities, when we had some meat left  over after roasting a duck (see the recipe). I carefully stripped the remaining meat off the duck and made a pasta dish from it the following day. If you don’t want to prepare a whole duck, you can always ask your butcher for raw minced duck meat, perfect for slow and long cooking. 

Portion for 4:

• 250 g of roast duck meat, roughly chopped 
• a small onion, chopped
• a small carrot, chopped
• a small celery stick, chopped
• a handful of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in a small bowl or cup of warm water
• a generous splash of white wine
• 200-250 ml of tomato passata
• a handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped 
• a few sage leaves, chopped
• some fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 clove
• grated nutmeg
• salt 
• pepper
• olive oil 

To serve:

• 320-360 g of taglietelle or pappardelle pasta

In a medium pot heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.

Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Fry for about 10 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally.

Add the duck meat, give everything a stir and pour in the wine. Once the wine has evaporated add the passata, sage, rosemary, bay leaf and one clove. Put the lid on and let it cook on a lower heat for 20 minutes.

Squeeze in your hands the soaked mushrooms, roughly chop them and add to the pot along with the chopped parsley. 

Keep the water after soaking the porcini as you may need it for the sauce later on.

Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and let the ragù cook slowly for a further 40-50 minutes or so.

If the sauce becomes a little dry during cooking, add some of the water used for soaking the mushrooms. 

Taste and season again if needed.

Cook the pasta in a large pot if salted water according to the instructions on the packaging. 

Drain it and add to the pot with the very warm ragù. Toss everything well and serve immediately.

You can finish the dish with a small amount of grated parmesan cheese.