Spaccatelle with Duck Ragu

Ruth has handed over hosting to Hillary from Chew on That for this edition of Presto Pasta Night and I'm back with a dried pasta called Spaccatelle



It's an interesting shape - a bit like a curved, fat linguine that's about the size of a finger. I'm matching this pasta with a flavoursome duck ragú.

Spaccatelle with Duck Ragú
[Serves 2]

Spaccatelle pasta

Duck Ragú
1 duck breast, skin on
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 carrot, diced
2 sage leaves, sliced finely
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
400 grams canned diced tomato (or use fresh tomato in season)
½ cup green peas
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano, to serve

Cook the duck breast:

Score the duck skin in a criss-cross pattern being careful not to cut through to the flesh. Give the skin a good grinding of sea salt.

Heat a heavy-based pan over a medium heat without any oil and when the pan has heated, add the duck, skin side down. The aim here is to render the fat from the duck skin as it will be in this rendered duck fat that the vegetables will be cooked.

Give the duck skin side about 5 minutes over a medium heat - the skin should have coloured and you'll notice that there's a good amount of fat in your pan.

Season with salt and pepper and turn the duck over and cook for about a minute or until the flesh has changed coloured - you don't want to cook the duck now, it will cook in the sauce.

Remove the duck from the pan and set aside.


Make the sauce:
In the same pan you cooked the duck, leave the fat in the pan and add the onions, carrots and sage and cook for about 15 minutes over a low heat until soft and beginning to caramelise.

Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.

Cut the duck breast into bite sized chunks and return to the pan along with the tomatoes and just enough water to slacken the mixture.

Simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and the duck to finish cooking.

Toss in the peas and continue to cook until the peas have cooked through.

Add the finished sauce to the drained cooked pasta - stir it through well and serve with a generous sprinkling of parmigiano.